Title: The Taming of Shiho Hahnenfuss

Author: paws_bells

Beta-ed by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Shiho Hahnenfuss and Yzak Joule

Type: Continuous (InComplete)

Genre: Humor/Romance

Word Count: 5106

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Gundam Seed/Gundam Seed Destiny belongs to Morosawa Chiaki and Fukuda Mitsuo.

Summary: Post GSD. When good girls go bad, their bewildered commanders are suddenly left wondering what on earth is going on. One-shot series.

Created on: 24/06/13

Completed on: 28/06/13

Chapter Last Revised on: 02/07/13

II. The Missing Piece

It was during a formal matchmaking meeting that Shiho Hahnenfuss quietly accepted the realization that something was missing in her life.

It had started out as a tiny, niggling doubt a few months back, but it had slowly grown into something bigger and more pressing as time passed. It bothered her, this indescribable feeling that was intangible, but yet constantly lurking in the corner of her mind. She had tried to ignore it at first, pushing it aside in favor of her work at ZAFT and other miscellaneous responsibilities, but by now, that tense feeling felt like a perpetual thorn in her side, impossible to disregard, and she had no choice but to address this roiling discontentment of hers.

Something felt missing – as if she was incomplete.

It was disconcerting.

Even as she was privately having her revelation, Shiho's expression remained as tranquil as ever as she sat across from her dinner companion at that moment, listening with polite attentiveness as he spoke eloquently on the subjects of his research on astrophysics and cosmology. They had both only just met earlier that evening, but the conversation was flowing pleasantly enough, and the nice food and the ambience of the elegantly posh restaurant in downtown Aprilius One that they were dining in made the experience a rather positive one.

His name was Matthias Leclercq, and like her, he hailed from a long line of scholars. His superior Coordinator genetics also ensured that he possessed the looks to go along with his immense intelligence – he was tall and dark-haired, good looking in a slightly disheveled, absentminded way, a scientist by occupation, and he was only three years her senior. Even though he did not ooze charm and charisma quite the way a certain Officer Elsman did, his quiet, honest passion for his work was genuine and quite nice to behold – not to mention, he had also been very polite and courteous towards her from the very moment they met, a perfect gentleman.

As a prospective husband, Matthias did not seem like a bad catch, and Shiho knew for a fact that he would likely fit in well with the rest of her family.

They were both the children of prominent noble Houses, after all; she the only daughter of Councilman Hahnenfuss of PLANT Maius, and he belonging to the Leclercq clan of Aprilius City who were famous for their scholastic achievements. The Hahnenfuss House, though having recently ventured into politics for the past couple of decades, had always been more traditionally well known for their accomplishments in the scientific and academic fields. Her mother was a famous Mathematician and professor lecturing in Maius' most prestigious university, and before her father took up his Councilman position fulltime, he had been at the helm of Hahnenfuss Industries, spearheading the large, family-run corporation that specialized in cutting edge, practical mechanical engineering and robotics solutions for both civilian and military usage, the leadership of the latter now taken over by her older brother.

Instead of following her only sibling into the research and development laboratories of their family business, Shiho had chosen to enlist in the military instead, excelling in her studies and graduating from the academy with top honors, earning herself the right to wear the elite red uniform of the ZAFT army. She had been thrown unceremoniously into two wars almost immediately after her graduation, and had fought and miraculously survived both trials by fire as an MS ace pilot, gaining the status of decorated war veteran in the process along with the rest of her battle comrades. It had been four years since the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, and now, at the age of twenty two, her parents had deemed her old enough to start considering for her future for the long run.

Shiho had always been a dutiful, obliging child growing up, and now that she was an adult, her calm, logical nature ensured that she blandly went along with her parents' suggestion – arranged marriages between PLANT's aristocratic families had always been the norm for most of the upper class social elites, and Shiho had always known that she would one day be expected to make a good match as well.

It was funny though, that she was feeling so uncharacteristically restless recently, and she did not quite know what to make of it.

What am I missing?

"I do apologize, Shiho, I have been told that I tend to ramble too much when it comes to my work," Matthias spoke then, looking quite chagrinned.

Shiho shook her head slightly. "It's alright, I don't mind," she replied politely, reaching for her wineglass at the same time. "It's wonderful that you are so involved in your occupation, Matthias."

The dark-haired male smiled sheepishly, pleased and embarrassed by her sincere compliment. "What about you, Shiho? What is your work like?"

"I enjoy my work too. I split my time between Armory One in Lagrange 4 and the ZAFT Headquarters in Aprilius One, dealing with research and the test piloting of new MS at the former and simple bureaucratic issues and office work pertaining to my team in the case of the latter."

The corners of Matthias' eyes crinkled as he smiled. "That sounds positively idyllic," he commented. "It's good that the wars are finally over, isn't it?"

Shiho nodded, returning his easy smile with a small quirk of her lips. "Yes, it's nice that we are living in peaceful times once more."

The meal commenced with more small talk as the couple deftly avoided the issue of their families, though it became inevitable that it was finally brought up as dinner eventually drew to a close. The pair made a striking picture as they left the restaurant – Shiho had worn a simple blouse and tailored pants that accentuated her slender legs and feminine figure, and Matthias, in his dress shirt and jeans, had complemented her in both physical appearance and demeanor. As they both stood outside the dining establishment, Matthias glanced at the quiet, amethyst-eyed woman from the corner of his eyes and fought the urge to rub the back of his neck in nervousness.

"Erm, I enjoyed myself this evening. If you don't mind, Shiho," he mumbled then, looking quite self-conscious and shy as he did so. "I would love to meet with you again."

The brunette studied the awkward male with serious eyes, and at last, she slowly nodded. "I enjoyed dinner as well, Matthias," Shiho simply echoed his sentiments. "I certainly won't object to another outing."

Her demure response seemed to please her dark-haired companion, judging by the earnest smile growing on his face, and after making some arrangements to contact each other in the near future, they finally parted ways.

It was a nice night in Aprilius One, and so Shiho decided to take a walk instead of just hailing a cab to bring her straight back to her apartment. It was a Saturday evening and all around her were large groups of revelers and party goers, and the downtown scene was so active and colorful with the hodgepodge mix of humanity that the brunette could not help but meander off to a nearby bench to sit down and observe her surroundings instead. The people all looked so happy in their blissful little bubbles – courting couples in love, boisterous gatherings of friends enjoying their time with each other – all so animated in their joy and contentment at the moment that Shiho could not help but just stare, attracted to their expressive displays of emotions and feelings.

She herself had never quite experienced such excessive sentiments before – being a rather serious, sedate individual by nature and also working in a rigidly structured military environment that tended to discourage emotional outbursts and flairs for the dramatic as a rule of thumb. These people –civilians, she would guess – seemed quite happy though, and it made her wonder what it felt like to be just as carefree.

I want to be happy too, Shiho abruptly decided.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at the unexpected admission that came from her heart.

She wasn't exactly unhappy with her life, per se. She had a secure, high paying job doing what she liked. She was highly accomplished; well respected and acknowledged as a hero and military veteran for her efforts and services contributed to both of the wars she had participated in. She had a good relationship with her family, was from an affluent background, and had never lacked for anything in her entire life. All of her basic needs were well taken care of, and the next stages of her life perfectly planned out and ready for her to get on with. Her life was perfect.

…Perhaps just too perfect.

No, she wasn't unhappy. But she wasn't exactly happy, either.

She had always unfailingly done all the things that were required of her without complaint and hesitation, fulfilling them perfectly like they were just little goals and stepping stones to get on and over with and then to the next ones because they were what was expected out of her – because wasn't this what everyone else was doing too?

Why then, did it feel like she was missing out? Why then, did it sometimes feel like it was getting harder and harder to breathe, to relax, that the world was slowly closing in on her, that the pressure was getting to be too much?

I don't want to live like this, she realized quietly, that's not what I want.

There must be more to life than just this, right?

How do I be happy, anyway?

Shiho had to think hard about that question for a while, because she really had no idea where to start. That upset her greatly. When had she became so complacent with herself that she no longer even knew what made her happy?

Happiness is…being able to do what you want, right?

But…what do I want?

…Shiho was stumped to realize that she had no idea what she wanted to do. Standing up from the bench, she started to walk away, a small, distracted furrow sitting on her brow, her head buzzing with thoughts as she slowly made her way back.

It was the little things, right? What about those things that she had always thought she would like to try or attempt at least once in her life, the things that she had thought or dreamed about when she was younger, what seemed like such a long time ago, but didn't have the time – or the courage – to do? She could start now, could probably start with something small-

As if her resolution had abruptly removed some invisible blocker in her mind, all of a sudden, there were so many ideas filtering through that she was momentarily overwhelmed. All those years of rational self-control and deliberate repression had amassed in her an unhealthily huge amount of unfulfilled wants and wishes, and right now, Shiho Hahnenfuss was like an unsupervised child in a candy store.

It felt disorienting.

It felt liberating.

It felt good.

For the first time in a very long while, the brunette's blood quickened with anticipation and excitement that had nothing to do with the anxious, jittery fever of an impending space battle, and everything to do with the pursuit of her personal wants and desires. It was as if she had just been granted a new perspective on the world, and everything was fascinating and brand new once again. The glass ceiling that she had imposed on herself had been broken, and without that cage holding her in, she was technically free to do whatever she wanted.

I just want to be happy.

It felt like the right thing to do, and the mere thought of it immediately made that suffocating pressure sitting on her chest ease a little, made her feel so much better. Her violet eyes glowed with conviction. She was heading towards the right direction.

It was wonderful.

Shiho swiftly hurried home, now filled with an empowering sense of purpose and urgency, her mind running at a hundred miles an hour. When she finally got back into her apartment, she immediately dropped everything and speedily grabbed a pen and a notepad from her side table. Huddled on her couch, not even bothering to change out of her clothes first, she started to scribble out all the thoughts and plans swirling about in her head like a person possessed. Ideas kept pouring out of her like an unending tide, and it felt like hours before her mad writing finally slowed, her hand cramping badly, an uncomfortable crick in her neck and an ache in her back from her ungraceful sitting posture that her old nanny would have berated her for if the latter ever found out how she was comporting herself right now.

But Shiho was smiling, cathartic contentment flowing in her veins as she sat there relishing in the absolute quiet of her living room, feeling at peace with and proud of herself.

It was good.

It didn't take very long before the niggling urge to get started on her new project immediately nudged her out of her momentary feelings of bliss and satisfaction, her perfectionist nature kicking in hard and stubbornly insisting that she start working on her plans right away. Looking down at the notepad in her hands and carefully, reverently going through the numerous pages of her overly zealous, enthusiastic writings, the young woman paused every now and then as she stared at the more…frivolous demands scrawled messily in there, things that she would never have dared written down or openly stated under the usual, rational influence of her calm, logical state of mind, but nonetheless still her secret desires and wants all the same.

Shiho hesitated, biting her lip with uncharacteristic indecision as she stared at her own handwriting, fleeting uncertainty and misgivings creeping up on her before she shook her head resolutely and banished them all away. Resolve crept into her violet eyes and cemented her determination. These here were all the candid, unbiased wishes of her heart, each pure and pristine in their original form, untainted by her fears or shame or doubt, the stark honesty of her soul poured out onto paper in a rare moment of lucid clarity. And now that Shiho was aware of their presence, she wasn't about to just bury them back deep within herself and forget about their existence like she had done for the last twenty two years of her life.

It would feel as if she was betraying herself somehow, and a fundamental part of Shiho went stiff with resistance at the very idea of it.

No more.

No regrets.

Here was the chance to something new, here was the chance to happiness, and for once, Shiho was going to take a blind leap of faith and reach out for it, everything else be damned. It would surely be an interesting experience, at least, and already, the usually placid, unfussy brunette was feeling quite impatient to begin.

She was going to learn how to live for herself from now on.

Though I should probably start by drawing up a neater list first…

It took Yzak Joule a grand total of five days before he finally noticed that all was not right in his office.

Mostly, it was the immense backlog of unanswered correspondence that had somehow piled up in the ZAFT servers seemingly overnight that had cued him in to the fact, as well as the overwhelming stacks of documents that were sitting on his desk with impudent audacity, tall enough to be towering over his head and taunting him with their incompleteness and varying degrees of color coded urgency at the same time. While he was usually able to (barely) get on top of the necessary evil that was ZAFT's bureaucratic system most days, it was not something that he particularly enjoyed doing and would therefore put off if he could manage it, choosing to deal only with the more pressing and important matters and ignoring the rest. Even so, most of the latter issues that ended up on his desk would somehow miraculously resolve themselves without much interference from him, so the fact that he was now facing what looked like an epidemic of the paperwork kind had definitely taken him back when he entered the headquarters that morning for yet another day of dull paper pushing and unbearable office politics.

This was not what he signed up for when he enlisted into the military years ago, but it was an inescapable fact that the higher echelons of the ZAFT command chain were responsible for all administration affairs and bureaucratic activities of the Teams and divisions under their jurisdiction. As the Commander of the Joule Team and the two Nazca-class Destroyers Voltaire and Rousseau, he was accountable for everything from the ships' weekly maintenance schedule to the dental benefits of the men and women who worked under him. Needless to say, that was a lot of responsibility for someone who hadn't even wanted to be in charge of all that trouble in the first place, and Yzak's eyebrow twitched something fierce as he glowered at his overflowing desk.

Shrugging off his coat and hanging it up in the corner, the silver-haired Coordinator stalked over to his desk and took his seat. He was not pleased to find his line of sight to the door immediately obscured by the papers stacked around him – actually, at that moment, there was nothing but paper for as far as he could see. Also, he couldn't even see his desk – it was that cluttered – how on earth was he supposed to even work like this? Scowling even more irritably than before, Yzak wasted no time picking up the phone and dialing for assistance. Swiftly punching in the numbers of a familiar extension on the interface, he quickly snapped out the moment the call connected.

"Hahnenfuss. In my office. Now."

The short tempered male didn't wait for any confirmation from his capable subordinate and hung up on his side unceremoniously, grumbling under his breath as he started the unpleasant process of wading through all that paperwork. He was indignant to quickly find that the various documents were not even properly sorted according to the departments that they had been sent from and by level of importance like they usually were, and there was something of everything all over the place. It was very unlike Hahnenfuss's usual modus operandi – the Major had always been very thorough and conscientious in her work – and was so staidly dependable and trustworthy that he had actually drafted her to assist in the various day-to-day issues of Team Joule, freeing him up for more important matters like the running of his flagship Voltaire (he had put Dearka in charge of the Rousseau since the other Captain was always strolling about the place with seemingly nothing better to do) and dealing with the downright annoying political agendas of the higher ups of ZAFT's military commands and the PLANT Supreme Council.

As such, Yzak was not amused to have to face this mess in his office so early in the morning, and before his first cup of coffee, to boot. Speaking of which, Hahnenfuss had better be prepared to appease his temper because it was already starting to boil over, and getting worse by the second.

"What on earth is this," he muttered to himself as he booted up the computer and was immediately greeted with a flood of incoming messages from the ZAFT servers. There were the usual insufferable demands and requests for meetings and information from the different department heads for the discussion of various matters (he would pretend that he didn't see these), memos and notices passed down from the ZAFT administration (deleted immediately after reading), silly office referendums and polite/idle/worthless communiqué/greetings between the high ranking officers of ZAFT (deleted immediately before reading), and then there were-

Huh?

"…ZAFT Annual Bakeoff Contest? May the best pastry win? T-shirt…Design Competition? Display your inner style..? ZAFT Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction: Summer Swimsuit Edition? Love yourself a soldier…? What the hell?!"

The expression on Yzak face was incredulous. What were all these ridiculous subject titles doing on his screen and who was the perpetrator foolish enough to hack into the military accounts to send out these sort of memos to the entirety of ZAFT?! Was this a bloody joke? There were even more of the questionable messages as he continued to scroll through his inbox, and the fair-haired male was so flabbergasted by his discovery that he nearly forgot about Hahnenfuss when a soft, timid knock sounded against his door.

Sharp blue eyes focused, and the White Coat lifted his head, already scowling once again.

"Come in!"

The door opened with a soft, pneumatic hiss, and then shut just as quietly seconds later, but since Yzak was still surrounded on all sides by stacks of papers, he was not able to see the Major immediately as she entered. That did not stop him from speaking to her right away, though.

"You know, Hahnenfuss, if you wanted my attention, then you could have just asked," he snapped irritably. "What's the meaning of this?"

When the usually quick witted female took too long to reply, Yzak finally stood up to glower properly at her, fully intending to have his answers right away. "Are you hard of hearing today or what-"

A pair of wide, terrified brown eyes stared back at him, and after a split millisecond's pause of surprise, Yzak's frown deepened. "You are not Hahnenfuss," he stated rather flatly and redundantly, looking at the young Red Coat soldier whom he had never met before. "Who the hell are you?"

The boy, most likely a graduate fresh from the ZAFT military academy, hurriedly executed a salute to his commanding officer. "Commander Joule, sir! I'm Lieutenant Luca Carlier, newly transferred to the Joule Team, Identification Number three-two-two-six-"

Yzak impatiently waved off his subordinate's introduction. He had personally processed and approved of the young MS pilot's transfer a few weeks back, it was just that he hadn't met the latter officially yet until now. "At ease, soldier. I recall who you are now. What do you want?"

The copper-haired boy looked briefly confused before he saluted again. "Commander Joule, you asked to see Major Hahnenfuss. I'm her temporary replacement, Sir."

That was something that he had not known.

"Temporary replacement?" he demanded sharply, the volume of his tone rising together with his displeasure. "What temporary replacement?"

The young lieutenant flinched and struggled to hold onto his composure. The man standing before him was completely intimidating, never mind that he should have looked less threatening surrounded on all sides by a sea of paper. The young Red Coat had heard all sorts of horror stories about his new superior, and it was beginning to seem that each and every one of them were true. "Major Hahnenfuss is on ELOA as of four days ago, Commander Joule. I have been assigned to take over her office duties in the meantime, Sir!"

She was on emergency leave of absence? Yzak's eyes narrowed. But most importantly…

"SO YOU ARE THE DUMBASS WHO LEFT THIS MESS ALL OVER MY DESK!" the White Coat bellowed without warning, finally finding the culprit who was giving him a headache this early in the morning. His startled subordinate eeped as he proceeded to chew him a new one, and his angered yelling was so loud that he could be heard all the way from the other end of the extensive office floor. That was a good thing, for Captain Elsman eventually strolled in to see what the racket was about and deftly rescued the traumatized young lieutenant from the demonic clutches of his commanding officer.

"And take all these with you and don't bring them back until they are properly sorted!" Yzak yelled after the frantically fleeing form of the young Red Coat, much to his best friend's look of amused exasperation.

"Hey, buddy, relax," Dearka commented at the red-faced Yzak. "Don't scare the poor kid off; we happen to be shorthanded right now, you know."

The silver-haired male looked like he wanted to reach over and throttle the tanned blonde then. "Don't you have anything better to do right now?" The Joule heir snapped irritably.

Dearka shrugged nonchalantly. "Just dropping in to see how you are coping without Shiho around to clean up after you." Glancing briefly at the sheer pandemonium in the room, the Black Coat winced theatrically, much to Yzak's twitch of aggravation. "Things not going so well, huh?"

"Where the hell did Hahnenfuss go, anyway?" the Commander burst out then. "And why was I not informed at all about her ELOA application?"

Dearka wandered over to his friend's desk and very unceremoniously started to flick through the latter's inbox on the computer without even asking for permission. "Geez, man, you really need to clear out your inbox." Tapping on one particular subject title that he was specifically looking for out of a lengthy list of others, the Captain of the Rousseau opened the digital message and caught Yzak's attention with it. "You were informed by HR five days ago, my friend." And sure enough, there was the proof sitting there on the touch screen. "It's not Shiho's fault that you missed the memo."

"I'm her goddamn commanding officer! I think I should have a say on whether her leave is approved or not. We are going to be having a joint training exercise with ORB in a few weeks' time – she knew that! How can she just go off without a word?! That's completely irresponsible! I should have her demoted for this!"

Yzak was scowling ferociously as he sat back down and started angrily shuffling papers around, trying to sort them into some semblance of order but giving up quickly when there was clearly not enough space to even do that. "Stupid greenhorn," he muttered, frustrated. Dearka observed his friend, his brow raised at the Joule's visibly foul mood.

"If you just read the rest of the message, you will find that Major Hahnenfuss followed protocol to the very letter. Her code of conduct is exemplary, and she has never applied for leave before in all of her years of service to ZAFT until now. You have no case, Yzak." He paused, and then continued." Besides, she's only on office leave – she's on as usual whenever we go to Armory One and is still slated to be onboard the Voltaire when we conduct the joint exercise with ORB."

"Great. So I have to handle the paperwork all on my own now." The Commander did not sound happy.

Dearka had to grin at that. "Well, you have Lieutenant Carlier to assist you."

Yzak just swore like a sailor, the expression on his face so sour that it could curdle milk.

"Come now," the blonde coaxed his extremely unamused friend. "He can't be that bad."

"CAN'T BE THAT BAD?!" Yzak exploded. "DO YOU MEAN, 'CAN IT GET ANY WORSE?!' LOOK AT MY DESK!"

The veritable gust of outrage nearly bowled the Black Coat over, but Dearka was too used to Yzak's fiery temper to even bat an eyelash over it.

"…To be perfectly honest, Yzak, Carlier's primary duty is just to deliver these documents to you and make sure that you receive them – nothing more. The sorting, color coding, all the other little things that Shiho does on your behalf are extra services, probably because she knows what a big wuss you are when it comes to this. Well, she won't be around for at least a while, so you might as well start getting used to doing this by yourself just like all the other Commanders do."

To say that Yzak was astonished by this little tidbit of information would be an understatement. His anger drained away to be replaced by surprise. "Wait a minute. Are you serious?" he demanded to know. "I thought all the others have access to this type of assistance as well."

"We wish," Dearka retorted dryly. "That subordinate of yours comes into the office early and finishes late all the time just to help you sort out your paperwork and filter your mail. That's not part of her job scope, if you will recall. She's only supposed to deal with the day to day administrative matters of the team - that's dedication, right there. Unfortunately for her though, she works for the ungrateful you, who yells at her all the time."

"I don't yell at her all the time," Yzak muttered defensively. So that was why he had never seen those ludicrous messages in his inbox prior to today. She had been silently helping him hold onto his patience (and sanity) all the while.

Dearka quirked his brow. "Sure. Must be some pretty special sweet nothings that you are whispering in her ear then, since the entire floor can hear them loud and clear as well."

The silver-haired Commander sputtered, turning a dull shade of red. "Shut up, Dearka," he hissed at last. "We are not like that. Hahnenfuss and I share a perfectly professional relationship."

The golden-haired Coordinator refrained from rolling his eyes. "Yeah. I can tell."

And it was such a pity too, that his best friend was so completely dense and oblivious when it came to such matters, for Shiho had revealed very subtle signs of interest a few years back. That window of opportunity was probably already closed by now, unfortunately, since if the pretty Major still retained any semblance of romantic notions towards their Commander, then she was no longer showing it as far as Dearka could see. It really was too bad; those two would have been good for each other.

"Well, good luck sorting out all this then, Commander Joule," the Captain drawled with unholy cheerfulness. "I need to return to my work as well. Try not to get buried under the paperwork – holler if you are drowning."

"Elsman," Yzak growled, glowering at him at the same time. "Do you want to die?"

Chuckling, the blonde pushed off from the edge of the desk and prepared to exit the room. "Of course not. But, you know, I'm pretty surprised that you are taking this so well."

Yzak narrowed his eyes. "Why do you say that?" he demanded.

"You do realize that you will be on your own for the foreseeable future, right? Shiho's on indefinite leave of absence."

It was then, that the other shoe finally dropped.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'INDEFINITE LEAVE OF ABSENCE?!'"

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Hm, so yes, here is the second installment of TTOSH. There's no ShiZak interaction in this chapter – I was hoping to lay out a bit of foundation and build up some background story first before I really get started. Anyway, I hope some of you will enjoy this. =)

Just so you know, last chapter was something of a test chapter, to get me accustomed to writing the characters. This installment is technically the official start of TTOSH, but do treat the first chapter as a prelude to the storyline.

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As mentioned above, Shiho's background and family history are all speculation on my part. There's so little information about her and I could not help but fill in the blanks with my own overactive imagination, so don't be surprised if you find anything off or incompliant to the GS/GSD canon-verse.

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In this fic, Shiho is twenty two years old, and Yzak is twenty three.

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FYI, Matthias Leclercq and Lieutenant Luca Carlier are my OCs. Don't worry; they are just secondary characters whose sole purpose is to move the story along. They will not feature prominently in this fic, but do watch out for their cameo appearances every now and then.

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There's only so many ShiZak fics to go around in FF Net's archives, and out of those, I found that there were quite a few revolving around the theme of arranged marriages. So here's my take on it. In TTOSH, there are arranged marriages, but it's more of an 'omiai' matchmaking type of arrangement, as opposed to the more common 'throw two protesting and unhappy individuals together and force them to sign the marriage contract' variety that's prevalent in the fandom. In other words, a family can choose from a list of potential matches, and then, if both sides are agreeable, a meeting will be arranged for the prospective couple, and if all goes well, then courtship, engagement, marriage, etc. may commence.

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Thanks for reading!

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-paws