Hey hey heeeeey XD New Chapie up for you guys! I am intentionally fleshing out Meryl and her world a little bit before proudly sending her off (actually shoving her XP) into the 18th century ;P Hope you enjoy XD As usual constructive criticism and reviews are always welcome XD AND OF COURSE, enjoy!

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Previously in Chapter Zero:

He was shocked to say the least. Sparring among the pupils was Meryl his childhood friend, looking fierce, powerful and intimidating with her killer moves. She was completely different to the Meryl he had grown up with who was shy and vulnerable. This Meryl was strong, centered, confident and, well… extremely beautiful. When they first met after all these years, Meryl had jumped into his arms in utter glee, something she would have never done. He was startled by her reaction but also thrilled beyond belief that she felt that way for him. It was comforting for him to know that after all these years of absence, he was still important to her.

After their first encounter, they started hanging out a lot like old times, reminiscing, playing video games, watching movies and simply chattering away. They met on a regular basis, so he was up to date with her life and so was she with his. She told him she was a war vet, gave him the overall picture of her Marine Corps life while sparing him of the gruesome details and he told her about his career as a programmer. However, the one topic that never was breached was their relationship status. As far as Kazuma could gather she was not in a relationship and she probably gathered that he wasn't in any as well.

"Sure, you can come crash at my place. I have a sofa bed in my living room." Kaz said with his boyish grin on his face.

Meryl looked at him, her blue grey eyes misting over with gratitude. She quickly looked away and cleared her throat to repel her emotions.

"It's getting late. Let's go get some dinner," he suggested perceptive of her mood, "I know that awesome Japanese restaurant just a few blocks away."

"Okay." Meryl smiled at him with gratitude.

CHAPTER ONE

~ Marine buddies versus friends ~

It's been 4 weeks since Meryl crashed at Kazuma's apartment in Brooklyn and slowly she begun to hate it. Kaz was not the problem; in fact he made her stay so enjoyable and comfortable that he gave her space when she needed. He was a great help by being so generous and caring. The problem was she had nothing to do especially when Kaz was at work 5 days a week and sometimes until 8 PM. She had nothing to keep her busy other than delving herself in Kazuma's latest consoles and video games. No news from Master Kang by email, phone or through Kazuma and it had been only 4 weeks! She was going to die of restlessness and boredom!

She lived in Kaz's beautiful apartment made from a re-purposed warehouse which contained other separate apartments below them. When seeing his apartment from the outside for the first time, Meryl was expecting the worst. The weathered down faded red brick building built along a busy street stood imposing on this busy street looking miserable. Other than having many neat restaurants and stores nearby and a subway station right smack across, it left a lot to be desired. Its ugly exterior peppered with large clusters of industrial and lifeless windows did not seem to bode well.

However, she was oh so wrong. When she had set foot in his apartment, she was blown away and speechless. The entire upper floor belonged to him; it was one large spacious room which flowed into many intersections containing first entrance area, living room area with the kitchen built across the living area which then flowed into his closed bedroom. This entire spacious room stretched from one end to the next like one large rectangle. They entered from the end of the rectangle.

The interior was designed in a manner to show off the industrial red bricks while also complementing its rough exterior with the softness of the wood. Vanilla colored beams decorated the ceiling while also vanilla laminate wooden floors covered the entire apartment floor. All furniture was made of light colored wood, mixed with some medium colored ones. The colors of the fabrics such as curtains, towels, carpets, etc. remained along neutral colors along blues, blacks, browns, grays and whites with a random and unexpected pop of colors from couch pillows or the bedroom bed sheets. The bachelor pad was designed in a way that the focus of the spacious room was the intricacies of the rough red bricks harmonizing with the soft wood. But admittedly it lacked some feminine touch, especially some color and maybe some plants and maybe some life? Otherwise, it was a very visually appealing, sleek and modern apartment.

Anyway! Meryl couldn't believe her eyes and had to look at Kaz with disbelief. He laughed at her reaction, telling her everybody he knew reacted like her too. His older sister, Reina, had a hand in this. Designing the lay out and decorating the interior to meet his standards. He fought with her over the colors and they settled with keeping this neutral with an occasional pop of color.

They entered the room on the top floor and walked from one end of the room, walking through a large living area with soft black leather couches grouped towards a large furniture compromising of a book shelf with nice surround system, a large flat screen, rows upon rows of DVDs and video games and a few shelves dedicated to his precious consoles.

The windows were on the opposite wall shining into the direction of Kaz's treasure trove, but the distance of the flat screen to the windows was far away enough that it couldn't create a glare on the screen. They continued to walk to the extended part of the living room containing a dining table fit to host 8 people at least and across a splendid kitchen built with again a mix of soft light colored wood and black marble. Beyond the eating area was a closed area which was his bedroom with a King size bed more towards the right of the room while his desk filled with his other gadgets (an impressive PC with several screens which would make all gamers drool) was placed against the window on the left of the room.

It was a beautiful apartment. Meryl had of course nothing to complain about and she was grateful beyond belief for being able to stay there, it was pure luxury! But idling around, as a martial artist and a war vet, for 4 weeks was quite the torture.

One day, on a Friday evening of November, Kazuma unexpectedly arrived home at 4 PM. When he saw her in the living room couch going through some of his computer and gaming magazines, he gave her an even broader grin.

"Welcome back. You are early?" noted Meryl with a surprised smile.

"Got off of work because… I got a surprise for you."

Meryl placed the magazine back on the black coffee table and got up.

"Kaz… I think you have spoiled me enough." She chuckled with amusement while maintaining a modest expression.

He was really spoiling her too much and she felt guilty. Kaz waved his hand dismissively at her. He pulled out his mini IPad and handed it to her. Her eyes grew wide in disbelief and she gaped at him.

"Do you remember me telling you of that lodge that my parents own near the Adirondacks Mountains in Upstate New York?"

Meryl stared at him and back at the pictures on his IPad in front of her and nodded mutely as she was completely taken aback by what he was implying.

"Well, we will stay there for 2 nights. We will leave tonight, stay tomorrow night and leave Sunday afternoon."

"Are…are you serious?" she asked him meekly, unsure that she had heard him correctly.

He nodded affirmatively with a grin.

"The cooking is all taken care of and I hear the hiking trails are really nice around this time." He added.

It took a few moments for a smile to creep up on her face and when it did, she jumped into his arms with a squeal.

It took them at least close to 2 hours to get to their location by car. They passed through the urban jungle of the New York state heading North and more in-land where cities gradually thinned out and grew sparse, hamlets of towns sprouted here and there, trees begun to appear as if invading human civilizations as they passed different counties. The farther they went the smaller towns, the greater number of trees and the more expansive the forest wildlife were and before you know it, snow-capped mountains with pockets of azure glistening lakes pooled at the bottom.

Finally, after ascending a winding gravel road, passing thicker and denser forests, they entered a clearing where a beautiful log cabin stood. It was built upon a clearing overseeing a glistening lake. The log cabin's appearance was a mix of traditional and modern, its top half consisted of the traditional logs laid out horizontally and crisscrossing each other at the corners of the house. The bottom half of the house was built with carved stone tiles, acting as a solid foundation to the house while also adding a modern twist to it. The way the roof arched and slopped, reminded Meryl of some of the traditional Scandinavian huts owned by Vikings. Large windows decorated the house on all sides even at the bottom stone foundation of the house. Kaz parked the car not too far off from the stone tiled patio which leads to the stone stairs behind the house and its grill and also into the lower floor of the house. They walked onto the patio with their luggage with Meryl still gaping at the surroundings and the log cabin.

The air was chilled, fresh and so pure. The smell of wet leaves, wet moss and wet ground mixed with burning wood lingered, autumn colors were apparent in the leaves of the trees, decorating the forests with batches of reds, yellows, browns and some barren branches. Soon, frosty weather will invade this territory making it inhabitable until the spring season. Kaz had picked a perfect time where nature was transitioning into the last stretch of autumn and preparing for the eventual onslaught of snow. The temperature dipped a little bit at this altitude and breathing was still comfortable.

Kaz opened the door with his keys and let Meryl step into the log cabin first. Meryl was once again blown away by the interior.

"The Maeda family sure knows how to decorate… Is it Reina's doing?" Meryl placed her hands on her hips, looking around her in awe.

Kaz chuckled.

"Yup, my family seems to innately have good taste, except me, but you are right, Reina did this."

The entirety of the interior design was made of the same logs re-purposed into the walls dividing the rooms, the furniture, wooden floors, kitchen layout, stairs, etc. except it was sanded down, smoothed out and lacquered. The rustic look was still intact except for some minor modern touches which were the modern appliances in the kitchen, its black marble counters and metallic fridge.

The immediate focus when entering the log cabin was the mountain backdrop poking out from the large wide windows in the living area. The shape of the log cabin was rectangular with its length facing the lake and mountains while its shorter sides had the book shelves, kitchen and one large fire place made of the coarse stone tiles. Surrounding the fireplace were dark leather couches with a coffee table at its center.

There was a second floor which had two separate bedrooms with one bathroom and another bathroom on the first floor.

Overall, it was best getaway in the world. Kaz had observed Meryl's awe with pleasure. He took off his shoes at the entrance as it was custom in Japanese tradition and went upstairs to drop off the luggage in their separate rooms.

It was already 8 PM by the time dinner had been served. Kazuma had prepared a traditional Japanese dinner, consisting of miso soup, a slice of lightly salted salmon, white rice and some stir fry vegetables.

"I am sorry there is no TV up here, except for a telephone line and Wi-Fi." Said Kazuma as he deftly finished plucking the last bits of salmon with his chopsticks.

They sat across from each other at the small oval dining table, enjoying the soft music in the background and the good food. Meryl smiled and waved her hand dismissively at him.

"I don't mind. I like being close to nature like this…" she said but then paused to reflect on the next sentence she uttered, "the best time I had in the Marine Corps was with nature… the beauty and harshness of it all - I adored it."

Kazuma watched her intently as her eyes had sunk to her dishes, finishing off the rice and salmon, with heaven forbid, a fork as it took her still too long to finish her meals with a chop sticks. His eyes took a serious air, studying with calculation while planning his next move. He seemed hesitant to pursue what he intended, but then he straightened his back, gathered his dishes together in front of him.

"Meryl."

She raised her eyes to meet his concerned but guarded brown eyes. Meryl knew that look, he was about to broach a serious topic.

"I know it is none of my business. Everybody takes a different path in life, but…" He began lowering his eyes temporarily on his dishes and then he raised his eyes clear with intention "Why didn't you come to me for help, when all this happened? My family and I would have helped you in a heartbeat."

Meryl's body tensed up. Why was her body even tensing up from her past? She did what she thought was right, she wanted to escape the hellhole she was in and came across the Marine Corps. Why cower in fear, disgust or hatred? She served her country, protected it and saved lives in Iraq. She has no regrets of her Marine Corps life, she learned more about being human than all the years she would have spent in college or work. Yes, she was scarred by it, yes she was still a bit on her toes by habit, but she was still Meryl, still a woman, still a human who survived the war on Iraq. She had gotten mentally and physically stronger. She was endowed with mixed martial arts that taught her to defend herself by any means necessary and to kill. She tamed that beast with Kung Fu which made her more at peace with herself. She learned the importance of life and also how vulnerable it was.

Meryl gathered her dishes and got up to place them in the sink. Kazuma got up and did the same. She began to wash the dishes as he leaned against the counter, looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Kazuma. I know that I could have and it would have meant the world to me," she sighed. "But I was an emotionally unstable and distraught teenager with no family anymore. I didn't want social services to intervene or have my mother take me in again. My mother… well, you know what she is like. So, I found my family among the Marine Corps, as simple as that."

She locked eyes with his earnest ones; she felt a growing tension emanating from his body.

"Every minute you spent with the Marine Corps, you could have died."

"Well, I didn't Kazuma, isn't that important?"

Kazuma sighed with a hint of annoyance in his tone, trying to keep himself centered and calm.

"Have you thought how this would have affected your friends, my parents and… me?"

Meryl in all honesty shook her head, keeping a straight face as she looked at him.

"No, how could I? I was just a teenager."

Kazuma locked his jaw, more irritation flowing through his body but he took another deep breath.

"Promise me that you won't do this again." He stated succinctly almost enunciating every word.

"Kaz-

-Promise me!"

Meryl's attempt to justify herself died, startled and bewildered by his sudden firm tone. She saw a storm of emotions brewing in his eyes although his facial expression and body language remained composed.

"I still cannot forgive you that you disappeared for 5 years without telling me." There was a hint of betrayal in his voice that only Meryl knew how to read "I… I thought we were friends, I thought you would trust me enough to tell me this, at least a letter, an email, a phone call for fuck's sake. Then you resurface 5 years later under Master Kang's tutelage and with an honorable discharge by the Marine Corps."

"Why are you bringing this up, Kaz? I moved on and so should you."

Kazuma huffed reproachfully at her statement and he drove his long fingers through his hair.

"Either the Marine Corps has desensitized you and crippled your basic social interactions or you have simply become dense – you had friends that cared for you before the Marine Corps even crossed your mind."

"Kaz! You are being unfair! I told you I was a distraught teenager, fresh out of high school!" she reprimanded him, standing her ground. "How can you expect any logic, common sense or understanding from a teenager? Why does this bother you so much?"

Kaz slammed his fist on the counter, silencing Meryl instantly. This was the first time Kazuma ever did this, which probably meant this argument will end soon with either one of them storming away. He took a deep shuddering breath to calm his nerves, his brewing brown eyes piercing hers in such intensity that she had difficulty keeping eye contact with him. Never. Never had she seen him this riled up like this.

"Why does it bother me so much?" he repeated with a strange calmness and forced ironic smile on his face. "Because, you made me - us - unworthy of your friendship. You chose to entrust the Marine Corps with helping you cope with the passing of your grandparents, your health and your problems over your actual friends that have been there much longer with you throughout your turbulent years. Most importantly, you have forgotten that people outside of the Marine Corps cared for you. You have no idea how much… I cared for you."

His piercing eyes vibrant with the most intense emotions she has ever seen in his eyes before, she finally saw the hurt in his eyes. He glanced one last time at her then he left her side and disappeared up the stairs and slammed the door shut of his room.

Meryl stood there, speechless, bewildered and shocked. His words stung her like a shower of bullets to her body, but she couldn't move or duck away from them. Every word was undeniably true. She scoffed ran her fingers through her long straight light blond hair and paced around. His petty words shall not affect her! She was a Marine for fuck's sake!

She mumbled to herself, replaying the words he said. She found herself going up the stairs and entered her room across of his. Her luggage had been neatly placed against her queen size bed. She threw herself on her bed, welcoming the comfort of the freshly washed sheets. She kicked off her pants, sweater, socks, and bra and now just clad in a long t-shirt and underwear, she buried her face into the bed.

After mulling over his words for what seems like hours. She finally felt the gravity of sleep, dragging her deeper and deeper into slumber land. Her ultimate conclusion at the end of this:

Fuck this shit.