Alright, so i sincerely apologize to anyone who was actually looking forward to another chapter in this story. I became extremely busy with life things since i posted this. Granted, there's no excuse for having it delayed for so long, it's also partially due to my laziness and lack of inspiration. however, i do not intend to abandon this story, you can be sure of that.

On with the chapter!

Raven stared hungrily at the food laid out before him. Rebecca almost expected to see a bit of drool coming off his mouth, though that would be quite uncharacteristic of the red-haired swordsman. She stood aside and watched with a triumphant smile on her face- she was quite proud of her handiwork, especially since it elicited such a reaction from the usually calm and collected man. She figured he must have a healthy appreciation of good food, which made her happy; it was something she would remember later on.

There was an impressive display of cooked meat on the table. She'd discovered that there was an abundance of wild birds in the area, and as such she had managed to hunt down quite an assortment of fowl. It was a bit of a pain to pluck the feathers, but decisively worth it, she mused. She had prepared only a few varieties for the meal- they weren't necessarily small- and seasoned them with some herbs she brought from home, along with a small vegetable dish. He hadn't asked for it, but she didn't feel like it was a complete meal otherwise.

"You made all this?" he asked, sounding almost impressed.

"Sure did!" Rebecca replied, smiling. "And there's more that I'm saving for later, the things were running rampant around here. Go on, tell me what you think!"

She watched as he sat down and slowly bit off a piece of meat from a leg bone, chewing thoughtfully. As he tasted it, he raised a single eyebrow slightly, nonplused. However, he returned to the usual passive stare fairly quickly. It was a delightful sight, she thought. Raven, making such an interesting face! She giggled internally, doing her best not to show it.

He looked at her and said "good! This is good eating", perhaps with a somewhat surprised tone. He continued to eat the food with a bit more purpose. And was that… a small smile at the corner of his lips?

"Aha! You do smile, Raven!" she said happily. It was rather difficult to tell what was going on beneath that passive exterior of his, and she felt accomplished that she had witnessed him showing such an outward sign of emotion.

He lost the smile almost immediately when she mentioned it. "…I'm human. I smile, I cry."

She made no effort to suppress her giggle this time. "I find it hard to imagine you crying, Raven." Then her voice took on more of a sincere tone. "But you know, you have a nice smile. A rather handsome one actually, if I do say so myself. For some reason, it reminds me of my brother…" She drifted off, losing her usual cheery demeanor and subconsciously clutching her arm. It wasn't something she liked to be reminded of.

Raven paused in his eating for a moment and gave her a look she couldn't quite decipher. He was such a hard man to read sometimes. "That's the second time you've mentioned your brother… you miss him, don't you?"

Rebecca was surprised to hear this from him. He usually didn't take much of an interest in other people's feelings, or so she had observed so far. But it seemed he could find it in him to notice when something was bothering her. She thought back to when she mentioned her brother the first time, and he had given her that look that she could tell masked hint of sympathy. She found herself rather touched at his concern, and this combined with the sadness associated with her missing brother caused tears to start forming in her eyes, much to her dismay.

"Yes, of course I do. He's my brother, someone I trusted and relied upon for years. And then he just up and vanished… He never writes or anything, and he's been gone for over five years. Sometimes I feel like… maybe he's forgotten about me…" She wasn't sure why she was breaking down in front of Raven and telling him these things, she didn't want to look weak in front of him. But something about his presence was comforting. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself hugging him about the waist.

Instantly he stiffened. She took that to be a bad sign. She looked up at him, and saw a wide-eyed expression on his face. She guessed he wasn't used to having anyone show so much affection towards him. She wasn't even sure why she had hugged him herself. It just felt… right. She had always been friendly and quick to warm up to people, anyway.

Raven, on the other hand, did not take kindly to it. After an awkward moment of staring at each other, he pushed her away. Rather harshly, in fact.

The swordsman seemed unable to meet her gaze as he spoke. "I don't know what you see in me. But I'm not someone you should be getting so friendly with…"

Rebecca stared at him with doe eyes. What did he think was so bad about himself? "What are you talking about?"

Raven turned his gaze back to hers. She was startled to see that he seemed to show no emotion again, just as she had seemed to be coaxing it out of him. He was the epitome of cold and distant as he said the next few words. "We shouldn't talk anymore. Goodbye."

And with that, he left her tent in a rush.

Rebecca was dumbfounded. What had she done? She curled up in her tent, new tears beginning to pool in her eyelids. She had found someone seemingly sympathetic toward her plight, and she had foolishly driven him away. What was up with him and being as distant as possible from everyone? Was he really just so cold?

No, she thought. She'd glimpsed a part of him that was kind and caring. She knew there was a good person in there. She'd just have to dig him out herself. Granted, that would be difficult with him avoiding her… she decided she'd have to get some outside help with that when she had the chance.

well that ends the chapters that are based on supports, it's completely original content from here on out. i tried to make them differ ever so slightly from the original text to keep it somewhat fresh. anyway, we have some conflict now! next chapter we'll be seeing what raven's thought process was behind his actions in this chapter, in case you're confused.

reviews are always helpful! i feel like i do well in the technical side of writing, while i have a bit of a hard time keeping the content from feeling a little stunted. any comments/suggestions on how i can improve would be appreciated!