Chapter 2: Two Years Later
Aoso stomped his way down the halls of his dormitory level. His electric eyes glaring death ahead of him and his hands balled at his sides. No one dared to stay in his way as his tall frame swept passed those stopping to talk and laugh or those headed to extra classes. The sixteen year old boy was livid; and rightfully so. Two years into his partnership with Zero has been hell. Before she had come along, he was the star. Everyone looked up to him, everyone feared him, everyone respected him. He was to be Senki's next student, and the next possible heir to become leader of the Faction. But no, she had come along as Senki's student prior to even joining the Faction. And despite her having not been part of it officially until two years ago, she had taken the top seat from him. She was the star that girls and boys alike looked upon in awe. She was more often than not out fighting, accepting sparring challenges, than in class and yet she still got perfect scores on their exams. Aoso didn't understand. Was she even human?! Just as bad was the fact that they were actually able to read one another perfectly despite their differences. It had taken some adapting on his part, and he hated to admit it but the two of them made one hell of a duo. Azen and Alour hadn't won against them even once, once Aoso and she got used to one another. It was both thrilling and annoying beyond compare at the same time.
"You're scaring people again," the familiar voice of one of his friends brought him out of his thoughts. When he turned to see who it was he sighed and saw Azen. Pretty golden eyes bore into his frame, "Where are you off to?"
"I'm finding the bitch," Aoso issued, "We're coming up on our graduation test in a year and we're being sent on a pre-test remember? I have to go get her seeing as that we're to leave tonight by midnight or we can say goodbye to becoming Faction members for real". Which he wouldn't dare have. "You have any idea of where she might be?"
Azen smiled a knowing smile before nodding, "Oh I know where she is. I heard that she and Mukatsu were going at it today and that's why she wouldn't go out on a date with me. You wanna go watch?"
Mukatsu? She was fighting him? Aoso's blue eyes widened. That boy, no, he was certainly a man, was the top student of his age group just as Zero was at the top of her own. He was a beast of a man, half giant half human who didn't know nor understand the concept of holding back. He in the past had killed all he challenged, and had done so with the very intention of making certain that he would become the best of the best with no one around to challenge him. The teachers and other higher ups did nothing about this, as they saw it as an exceptional method of weeding out the weak and those who could not defeat the odds. It wasn't exactly fair, however, given that more than anything the odds were pitted against the victim three times over. "….That idiot!" It wasn't that he was worried about her dying, as he knew that she literally couldn't for whatever reason, but rather he was worried about losing his partner in a different way. At this point in time, if he were to lose her, he would have to wait to take his pretest, thus pushing back his actual test that was due to occur in about a year. He didn't dare allow that happen.
Aoso let Azen take the lead, following him passed the throng of people that seemed to get thicker the deeper into the massive submarine they went. That was both good news and bad. It meant that the area of battle was bound to be near by, but that it was getting more violent than most. He shoved and shoulder checked people to the side, none too gentle as he made certain to stay close to his friend as he ignored the cheers for Mukatsu to take the girl down. When he finally reached the front, he stopped. They were fighting in one of the largest gyms offered to the 'senior' students, basically the perfect place to do battle without going topside which they would have needed to file for permission to go. The room like most of the gyms had light tiles and darker walls, light fixtures up high and out of immediate reach to keep them from getting damaged. The poor walls and floor had seen better moments however and before it could be used again major repairs would need to be done. There was, in fact, a gaping hole in the floor itself. His eyes first spotted Mukatsu. True to his giant bloodlines, he was huge. So much so that he could nearly reach the lights up top without jumping. His hair was an ashen gray, brown streaks ran through it. His eyes were a rose pink strangely enough which made his already pale face seem even more so. He dressed in nothing but trousers, rugged and brown and obviously not well kept given the holes in it. In his hand was a blade that could only be called a giant butcher knife.
It wasn't until Mukatsu moved that the two managed to spot her. She had grown exponentially in two years, puberty having been quite kind to her. Her long blue hair she would be considered rather beautiful by most men. Her frame was lean with muscle well toned and kept to perfection; fat was not something that could be seen on her save for her breasts. Her hair was long, down to the middle of her back, and ran down in choppy layers whilst straight bangs brushed to the side framed her face. Her eyes, as reddish-purple as ever, lit up her healthy tan face, making it look like she was looking into one's soul rather than them as a person. She wore a v-neck crop top whose back was longer than the front and flared around her rear and hips like a cape, a gem toned purple where as her pants were black and battle worthy tucked into combat boots. Given that she had long since broken the halberd she arrived on the submarine with, she had been supplied with a new one. The staff of this one was red, the tassle towards the round butt. The blade itself was the shape of a single flame, resulting in two blades each of which a wave rested in. It was simple, but those higher up decided that it was worthy of her.
The two stood against one another covered in blood and bruises. Their locks caked in their own life liquid and their breaths coming in sharp gasps. They had been at it for a while. But while Mukatsu looked ready to tear off the young woman's head, she in turn looked as calm as ever. In her two years training on the sub, she had learned how to fake emotions quite well. However she had yet to learn how to truly regain them as the others had. It was a training concept of the Faction. Strip the child of everything, including their ability to show emotions, and train them into drones. Then, once they could actually fight, teach them when to give in to their emotions and just how to turn them off and become drones again. She didn't exactly figure out how to turn them back on just yet, only mimic what she saw.
"She's been holding her own fairly well for a while now," the two young men, Aoso and Azen, jumped as Alour's voice appeared next to them. His skills at keeping in the shadows and pulling from them out of literally nowhere had grown quite well in two years. "What took you two so long to get here?"
"Unlike you, you love sick idiot," Aoso grumbled, "We were in our classes. You'll get punished if they find out you were skipping again," his 'grades' so to speak weren't the best compared to his own though they were far higher than the average boy or girl their age. "What's the score?" Regardless of being a recorded 'spar' or not, the first to kill or at the very least third blood was an unspoken rule. That person to make these would win. It helped to keep official score in the eyes of both the fighters and the viewers.
"Two for two," Alour issued, "With Zero having the favor. She's broken a good number of his bones and the wounds she's left on him are far larger than those he's left on her". It meant that should it come down to it, he would die first. The proof was in the large gash across Mukatsu's chest, and the other running over his left cheek end ending between his brows. His nose looked ready to fall off of his face. She bore a decent sized gash on her left leg, running all the way from calf to hip, where as the other was a mere scratch on her forehead. However head wounds bleed, thus the red stuff had already spilled into one of her eyes irritating it and halving her vision. Alour had been watching the fight from start to finish. Out of the three of them- Aoso, Azen and himself- he got along with Zero the best and had managed to make something of a friendship over the past two years. He said something of one, because of her emotional issues. He knew however that over all she was fond of him, although he still very much yearned for her love instead.
As Zero and Mukatsu went at it, Aoso found himself watching the young woman's movements closely. It had been a very long time since he actually got to analyze her movements or even watch her fight….Actually come to think of it he didn't think he ever had before. She was graceful and swift; not a single movement was wasted and no angle was under-evaluated. She was efficient with each swing of her halberd, directing the blocking bangles of Mukatsu down, up and to the sides in order to find the opening she was looking for. He dare say she reminded him of a lioness when in battle, strategic and careful with each and every movement. He found it to be strangely graceful and dare he say hypnotic almost. He didn't even realize he was speaking until the praise was leaving his mouth. "I didn't realize she was this-"
"Beautiful? Stunning? Amazing? Godlike?" Alour offered as his lips pulled up into loving smile. It was no secret that he loved her. He told her every day one way or another and he didn't hide it around anyone either. What was wrong with being in love? The higher ups didn't even bother to stop him, not really caring it seemed.
Azen chuckled, "I'd have to say that she's seductive, sexy, dangerously alluring". He nodded to himself but found himself also agreeing with his quiet friend. He didn't just want to get into her pants after all. He wanted to capture her heart first and see where that went yes, but he didn't intend on seducing her. He merely thought that she was more than those pure words the taller male offered.
Aoso scoffed. Seriously? Shaking his head he denied. "Crazy good is what I was going for". She was all of those things he supposed as he wouldn't deny that she was pretty and sexy and beautiful and seductive, though he dare not say that to them let alone to her. He watched as finally the woman went for the killing blow, dashing around the slowed massive arms of the exhausted elder. She skillfully swept under and between his legs, literally cutting them out from under them, causing him to fall to his knees uselessly. When he began to fall forward and tried to catch himself, she cut the tendons in his shoulders as though her halberd were a medical blade. Mukatsu cried his pain and fell face first.
Zero walked forward and gripped the man's head by his hair, lifting his face off of the floor as she held her weapon to his throat. "Yield". She issued as she looked down upon him with cold eyes.
Mukatsu snarled, blood bubbling between his lips. He refused to fall at a woman's hand. Especially by the hand of woman that refused to spread her legs for him and his power. "Go fuck yourself with that halberd, cunt".
If she knew how to show her emotions, she would have honestly been insulted. But instead she just mimicked the expression smoothly. "Pig," she grunted and effortlessly slit his throat. The people around her cried as his veins showered her and the area around her with blood. When the rain stopped, she flicked her blade clean, and turned to face the eyes that bore down on her. She always felt them when they were watching, those electric blues. Demanding her respect and yet silently- even if unknowingly giving it to her first. Stunning red and gold eyes stood on other side of those blues. She always felt those eyes too for various reasons. While she couldn't show it on her face, she liked the boys that stood as she approached them. They had earned her respect, and their individual personalities were certainly worth her time. "You were watching," she issued to her partner. She knew Alour was, as he was there when the fight started. And she only assumed Azen would find out and grow curious. Aoso hardly ever showed up to her fights and half the time only did so to yell at her for skipping class again. And he only arrived by the end of the fight, where she would kill or knock out her victim. In fact she would not be surprised if that was why he was there right then.
Her voice had gone from a higher drone that made him want to punch puppies- not that it had ever been of a high pitch- to a smokey sound that sent involuntary chills down his spine. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her, although she wasn't that much smaller than he. "Tch yea, so what?"
"Did you enjoy it?" He of all people was the only one that had yet to truly praise her. He had never in the two years they've been partners he had never said so much as a 'good job' or 'thanks for your help' to her. And while she honestly didn't care about that, hearing him do so would prove that she had earned his respect further.
Aoso did honestly enjoy the fight, and he found himself pleased to see her coated in the dead man's blood. But really why would he tell her that? He hated her after all. "Normally you're done by now. Plus now you're a mess. Go get a shower and get new clothing. We have our pre-graduation test that we have to leave for. We leave in an hour. If you're not out of the shower by then, I'll drag you onto the departing ship by your tits. Got it? Ow! What the hell?!" It wasn't just one hand that smacked him, but two one from either side.
Alour's red haunting eyes glared down at Aoso blandly. "You'll not so much as look at her naked body. Understood? If she's late you'll inform me. I'll get her for you".
Azen shook his head, "No no no. Alour you're far too much of a gentleman to interrupt a lady's shower. I'll help her bathe extra fast though she's not late. So don't you even think of laying a hand on her Aoso".
"You're both idiots! This isn't about who gets to see her naked first!" he couldn't have cared less about that. "It's about her getting done her shower in time!" Scoffing at the other two, he turned back to Zero, opening his mouth to make certain she understood the consequences for making them late. However there was no one there for him to yell at. Instead there was just a puddle of blood that was connected to a trail that led away from the three of them. That bitch left in the middle of their argument! She always did that! The moment he got distracted from talking to her or yelling at her, she walked away! Asshole!
Zero made her way through the halls, striding up the stairs confidently to get to her dormitory floor. People she passed stayed far away, either knowing who she was or not wanting to get blood on them. Or both. She didn't bother to try and clean up Mukasu's dead body, knowing that someone else would. It was a bad habit, but she cared not. She felt gross, covered in the blood which was starting to cool and dry. She no longer left behind a trail, or not as heavy as one, as she finally made it to her room. She shared a room with two other girls, though she didn't talk to them. When she opened the door, she found one of which studying and the other posing in the mirror. The one studying what appeared to be lock picking methods would be a good soldier. The other however was obviously due to fail the graduating test. How she managed to pass her pretest was unknown to Zero. But then again she didn't care. She propped her halberd next to her bed after making certain that there was no blood on the blade. She would clean off the staff later. And after grabbing a clean copy of what she was already wearing, she headed for the bathroom.
Or she would have if not for the girl who was posing. "If you think you're going to track your filthy bloody self into our clean bathroom again after I finished cleaning from the aftermath of your last fight, you have another thing coming!" She glared violently into Zero's glowing gaze, defiant and unwilling to bow under the pressure of those eyes. She didn't understand what Alour saw in this woman, following her around like a lost puppy. There were other girls he could do that for! Her pretty emerald gaze hardened when Zero continued to stare silently. "Well?! You are going to comply aren't you?!"
"I have to go prepare for my pretest with Aoso," she replied and turned to the bathroom again. "Move out if you're so tired of cleaning up after I already had". It wasn't as though she left any washed away blood laying around. She cleaned up her trail and made certain that things were as pristine as when she had entered the room. The green eyed girl was just a compulsive cleaner. She did so when bored, angry or nervous.
"You bitch!" she snarled in kind, and strutted her way forward. Zero always talked like this and it always pissed her off! They both knew that the reason why they were forced to room together was in hopes that Zero would be a good influence and she and the girl studying. Miss Green Eyes however didn't care. She planned from the beginning to be a failure, having found out that she wasn't cut out for the Faction as it was. But once one joined, the only way to leave was to die or be discharged by a higher up. She made to punch Zero, too far gone to realize it was a bad idea. A bloodied hand grasped her wrist and drug her in just close enough for the taller female to headbutt her of all things. With a cry of pain she wretched herself free, stumbling onto her butt. The blow was hard enough to make her own flesh bleed some as she grasped at her cranium with wide tearful eyes. When she went to demand an apology though, Zero was already turning on the shower. "I fucking hate her!"
Sighing the studying girl paused in her work. She put down the book and turned in her chair to meet the other's green eyes. Her own were the color of a sunset, her hair kept up in a neat bun with a clip and her flesh a gentle tan, she was a pretty figure despite being short yet lanky. Gills rested on either side of her neck, showing that she was at the very least part Fishman. "Sasha, you do realize that she takes any and every challenge seriously right? You should be able to remember that by now".
Sasha in all her black haired glory stood to her feet and stomped out fo the room with a cry of, "You're a bitch too Yosa!"
But Yosa merely shrugged and flipped the tempermental Sasha off before turning back to her book. The shower soon turned off after that, gaining Yosa's attention again if only partially. She felt the shift it he air rather than heard Zero exiting the room, the smell of vanilla and fresh air wafting to her nose. "You beat Mukatsu then?" She was one of the many that admired the blue haired woman. She was someone to strive to be, being as strong as she was.
"He's dead," the other replied as she sat down and prepared to clean her weapon. That came before packing regardless of what Aoso thought or said. She used a cloth of water to first take off the grime, and then another warmer one to get off what had dried. Third was a cloth covered in a sort of rub made specifically for halberd staffs. It kept them strong and flexible like young bamboo rather than brittle and dry and weak. She repeated the process with the blade itself, and made certain to clean out the tuft of decoration toward the butt of the staff.
Yosa watched the other young woman carefully clean her weapon of choice. It was a strange preference. Given that the Faction taught mostly things that would be considered under handed, you'd think someone of Zero's caliber would choose something less noticeable like a hidden blade or even throwing knives. Guns at the most. Instead, she carried around a massive beast of a weapon this way and that as though she were from a normal branch of the Navy. And she made it work too, even in small corridors. Yosa was needless to say a fan of her fellow student, and strove to be like the other. "You should get packing though," her eyes drifted to the figure in the doorway. There was only one person permitted to do so without having a halberd thrown at their head. Azen had tried, and nearly lost his life. And many of Sasha's 'friends' were treated the same way. She offered Alour a small smile and a dip of her head. Another she looked up to and, dare she say it, even have a crush on. Though to have romantic feelings for a fellow like Alour wasn't uncommon among the girls her age.
Zero lifted her head and nodded to the red eyed man, his purple hair thrown over his shoulder as he leaned against the doorway. She thought it made him look suave when he did that, attractive even, though she never thought to act on his interest in her. Likely she never would. "Aoso sent you?" Aside from her, Alour was always with either Aoso or Azen, they were his chosen friends he had told her. When he nodded she returned the exchange and tossed him her weapon. He was literally the only person on the entire submarine permitted to hold it without her attempting to kill him for it. She trusted him with her life. And though it didn't show on her face, she certainly found amusement in his struggle to keep it from hitting the ground. It was a heavy bastard, the staff constantly changed to weigh more and more every couple of weeks. She set to packing what she thought was needed before taking her murder tool from her friend. "Take me to him".
"Right. This way," Alour returned before nodding once to Yosa.
The kind girl called after her role model, "Good luck!" and then returned to absorbing information through what seemed to be osmosis.
(From The Ashes)
They had departed without a single word, boarding onto a ship after saying their farewells to Azen and Alour. Zero promptly turned down Azen's offer to go on a date upon her return, and she nodded to Alour's heart felt good luck. However he and his partner would need that luck more, as they would be leaving soon for their pretest as well. After settling into the small cabin they were to share, she promptly opted to explore the ship. She hadn't been on one in two years of course and before then she hadn't been on one for seven years. Aoso had gone and done his own thing, which consisted of things she didn't bother to figure out or learn about. He could do his own thing if he so pleased- which he did. She in the mean time found herself weaving around the ship hands consisting of failed Faction members. Their destination was that of a simple island with a simple ocean-side town. There, they would blend in for six months as a newly married couple. She would find a job at a bar as song entertainment. He would be a farm hand. She wasn't exactly looking forward to letting him hold her by the waist, but it had to be done. Their little game of pretend had to be perfect.
So, with the thought of her future job in mind, she decided it would be best to practice. She closed her eyes, feeling the wind as it trickled through her long hair. Gentle, as though caressing those listening with a soft brush of her fingers, she begins to sing. It is a song she had learned from Yosa, the other girl having learned it from her home island. It was apparently about a girl in a new world. Honestly Zero didn't know for certain, and honestly she didn't care. She would have said that it was a nice feeling, singing, that it freed her soul. However she never actually knew freedom. Not once in her life. With a sigh, the final note leaving her parted lips, she cast her eyes to the darkening sea. They hadn't left until about an hour ago and it had taken her some time to explore all that she could. She turned her gaze away, and made way for the kitchen as the meal bell rang for all to hear. However, she stopped before she could so much as continue forward. He was standing there, staring at her as though she were someone different.
He had been training in the ship's suck ass dojo, bashing upon the bags hanging there as though never touched in the first place. He beat at them, causing them to swing and smack into the walls and ceiling over and over. To the point where the bags had given way, the sand spilling from ripped fabric. He had continued from that point in to beat the air, sweat dripping from each and every pore of his body. It fucking sucked, so much so that he couldn't get over the fact that he would be forced to handle the girl as though she were his lover. He never had one before in the first place. It didn't help that he had to play pretend with the bitch he hated so deeply. Hearing the dinner bell what seemed like five minutes after he had started training, he slowly brought himself to a stop. And, figuring the woman had already gone for food, he made his way topside to the deck. However, as he made his way upwards, he found himself listening to a voice. It was a gentle sound, something that soothed his ears, the blood that boiled from hard work. He was impressed, given that the voice was neither too loud nor too soft. And it held a lilt to it that was fitting to the warm evening air. What he did not realize, however, was that the singer was in fact the very woman he hated in the first place. Blue eyes opened to a widened position, his jaw slightly slack as he listened to the final notes leaving her.
He hadn't realized that the woman could sing, although she was to be a musical entertainer at the bar where they'd be blending in. Her sky blue locks drifted gently as a breeze washed over them both, her glowing vermilion eyes meeting his own gaze. For a second, the most bare of split seconds, he swore he saw a look of surprise on her features. But before he could even wonder if it was real or not, he noted that her face and eyes were void of all emotion as usual. Strangely angry with this, he turned his head away and scoffed, eyes dark as he turned away from her. He took back whatever it was he thought about her singing. It sucked ass. It probably broke glass. It could kill a man if listened to long enough. She walked passed him as though he was never there, head held high as usual. The bitch needed to be kicked off her high fucking horse. He waited for her to fully enter the dining area before casting his eyes back to where she had been singing. Where the setting sun had framed her body, the breeze made by the sea causing her hair and clothing to drift this way and that. She looked almost- No, forget that. Shaking his head Aoso headed in for dinner as well.
The storm was harsh, unforgiving and sudden. Just as any storm on the Grand Line was. The hands of the ship rushed all over, gathering in the sails and throwing down an anchor in hopes that they wouldn't be thrown too far off their path and to keep the ship from capsizing. Lightning consumed the sky above, burning away all in its path as it leaped from cloud to pitch black cloud. And as the waves crashed over the sides of the vessel, Aoso stumbled around on the deck as he tried to get to safety. It wasn't his job to secure the ship, but rather stay alive. He snarled at nothing in particular when he was thrown into the nearest mast, hands scrambling to find a grip even as a wave decided that he needed to get wet. The water was cold and immediately sapped away his energy. Upon reflex his mouth opened in a surprised gasp and his muscles tensed. The retreating wave soon attempted to drag him along the soaked wood and into the watery abyss. He had none of it, and held tight to the mast he had been thrown in to. Only once the wave was fully gone did he shake his head to get his bearings and continue in an attempt to get below deck.
The cries of the startled crew hands did not bother her as she stabbed her halberd ruthlessly into the deck as a howling wind tried to shove her into the waiting wave that drenched her and took what energy she had. Only once she found herself to be safe did she continue. She had been at the back of the ship, furthering her exploration from before, when the storm so suddenly hit. She had little to no issue with getting across the ship in her own attempt at shelter. She too could care less if someone died, which was punctuated by the way she stepped around a flailing man as he tried to find a hand hold while the ship nearly turned over even whilst anchored. She felt no remorse as the sea gobbled him up, giving him a most likely near instant death. And she ignored the insult she received from another who had seen it all happen. The fact that the man failed to hold his footing was probably why he wasn't a Faction member. She was fully prepared to go inside and change into some dry clothing.
That was until something caught her eye. A stirring, disturbing, feeling hit her gut as she watched him scramble and clench at what he could as he was drug back by the mighty sea. His electric blue eyes, while they did not glow like her own, were easy to spot in the savage darkness that surrounded them. Her body moved before she could assess the situation, lifting her trusty weapon over her shoulder and throwing it like a spear. She wasn't surprised that it landed perfectly within his reach, nor did it surprise her that he refused her help despite his obvious desire to live. What did surprise her was the fact that she had raced after him even after trying to help him the first time. She rushed, tumbling nearly as the ship rocked violently, and gripped her halberd with one hand and his own with the other. So tight did she hold him that she thought her bicep might pop. She heaved, grunting heavily as she made to pull him from the sucking wave and into full on safety. And as the water gave in to her, she drug him literally below the surface of the deck. It was dry and surprisingly warm there despite the bone chilling water that soaked them both.
Aoso heaved as his heart worked to calm itself down. Adrenaline pumped in his veins, making the world seem brighter and time flow slower. He wasn't certain if it was from the cold or from the adrenaline itself but either way his muscles even trembled. He stared at Zero, her own frame panting and he could see the pupils of her glowing eyes enlarged to her own adrenaline. Through the darkness below deck he realized that she too was trembling though she obviously worked to suppress it. "Why'd you do that?" he could remember a look of honest panic on her face and it confused him. Was she worried for him or herself? Was she making that face on purpose or was it her body doing it naturally? He thought either way she was incapable of making such expressions or feeling anything along those lines. When she didn't answer, he growled and promptly grabbed either of her arms. From there, he shoved her against the wall even as the ship continued to rock and sway violently. The cries of the captain's demands could hardly be heard over the savagely howling winds. "Why did you save me? You could have easily left me to die. The pretest is about blending in, not keeping the other alive and we haven't even begun".
Zero didn't know why she had moved, she just did. As she felt the ship shift, so too did she. She used his unbalance to sweep from his hold, reversing their positions as she placed a forearm across his throat to make sure her point got across. "i am uncertain. My body merely moved on its own". She left him with those words, leaving him utterly confused and uncertain.
(From the Ashes)
The village of Lark was a quaint little place, best known throughout the surrounding islands to have the best blacksmiths and top notch chefs. The roads were mostly dirt or cobblestone, and the houses were of brick with thatched roofing. The women were pretty and the men hard working, the children honest even when they were breaking the rules. The people mostly kept to themselves and away from new comers, however got along with one another. Quaint and homely, that's the kind of place it was. It was peaceful. It was a place where those trained for battle at all times, those who never went more than a day without some type of violence, often failed at keeping their composure.
Unknown to most, the village was used to the tests that Zero and Aoso were to go through, and were compensated for their troubles. The thing was that they were never told when future Faction members would be arriving, nor how many or what they would even look like. It was their job to find out who were the fakes, though there were real Faction members hidden away on the island as well. The transition from ship to island was a smooth one. The pair had arrived in the middle of the night and they were escorted to their temporary home and settled in before sunrise. Living together in close quarters was something new for the duo. Neither had so much as thought of sharing the same room let alone the same bed as one another. Having been given a full day to get used to this due to their lack of experience, after exploring the island on their own they met back up during the evening.
Aoso stood awkwardly on his side of the bed, dressed in nothing save for a pair of shorts. His well cut frame bathed in the dim lighting of the room. There was a single bed in the entire building, and they had orders to share it. It irked him to no end. Him? Share a bed with the bitch changing in the other room? He knew that they were to act as a couple but was this not taking things a bit far? Either way, should he climb in and go to sleep, not worrying about anything, or should he wait for her to get in first? He was tired either way, and had little to no patience for anything to begin with. With a long harrowing sigh, he opted that he would just head to bed himself. He pulled back the blankets and made to climb in, only for his attention to be given to the figure stepping from the other room and into the sleeping chambers. His eyes widened. Zero wore as little as he did if not less. Her top covered her breasts and abdomen as it should, but her arms were bare and the stomach area was nothing but mesh. The bottoms she wore were form fitting, hugging her widening hips and showing off long well muscled legs.
She felt him staring, though he was saying nothing. She had no intention of minding him at all, though, seeing no reason to as she made certain to remain as casual about the situation as possible. It was embarrassing yes, but she realized it was needed in order to complete the pretest. So she would grin and bear it all the same. She knew that the moment she had stepped onto the island, that she would have to also step into the role of loving wife. Granted, she knew the test did not officially begin until tomorrow, but she also felt that she needed a head start. Something that would pull her fully into the swing of things. She did what came to mind first and made her way around the bed to the motionless Aoso whom just watched her move as though she wasn't even real. As though she was part of some strange testosterone driven dream. She thought nothing of his stiffened shoulders as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled the both of them together. Her gut issued that she pull him down to her, letting her lips meet in the most chase of kisses. "Good night, Aoso," the look would have been complete if she managed to smile even falsely at him. No such luck on that end.
However it didn't matter to the young man who stood motionless even as she climbed into the bed and set to sleep. He stood there, motionless as he stared at her frame laid down under the covers of their shared bed. And then he remembered the gentle welcoming warmth of her lips on his. It brought a red hotness to his face, which soon traveled down low. He refused to allow this to continue, however, as he continued to stand there and thought of more sickening things. Like seeing Azen naked, or Alour actually trying to flirt. Or Zero waking up, crawling across the bed and hugging his waist tight. Slowly pulling him onto the surface of the bed, and then climbing- No! He snarled to himself. How was it that his mind had so easily switched gears out of nowhere?! With a seething glare sent at young woman, whom was rather guilty one way or another, he slowly climbed into the bed. He made certain that he slept at the edge of the mattress, and promptly closed his eyes. The next day would be, needless to say, the beginning of a very long six months.