Layfon-sama – Chapter 2
Well, it's another chapter! I'm pretty obsessed with this one right now – it's because I've sort of lost the trail for my other two stories (Chrome Breaker and A New Kind of Threat), so for right now, until I've gotten this story REALLY going, I'm going to be focusing on it. After that, I'll take a look at my other two stories and see if I can't figure out what to do with them (or, by some miracle, remember what I wanted to do with in the first place).
If I can't figure out a decent plot for them, though (or remember the old one), then I'm going to put them BOTH up for adoption.
B/C, you see, unlike this story, I didn't plan those out on paper – it was all in my head... a very bad mistake on my part. And the fact that my PC was taken away for practically the entire summer didn't help... no, actually, that just made it worse, since I write these stories on my laptop.
Well, hopefully it will all work out.
Enjoy the next chapter of "Layfon-sama"!
Oh, and one last thing: don't forget to read the author's note at the end! A VERY important announcement (which will also be on my profile, will be put there for you to read – you need to read it!
b/c I don't want to be bombarded with flames, no matter how funny they are... I get too much e-mail as is...
Key:
Bleh! I hate veggies! – Thoughts
Bleh! I don't care if my mom does say to eat it! – Normal text
"As if I care! Grrr!" - Speech
+-|Chapter Two|-+
"Hey Eko – that guy we bumped into yesterday... what is he to you?" Melissa asked. School was over and everyone was heading for the doors, talking to their friends, etc., etc.
Eko said, walking out the doors herself, "He's the guy I'm always telling you about – because he's here, I don't need any other boy..." Eko paused, seeing a crowd (mostly of girls) gathering at the school gates. She squinted, and, upon seeing a familiar figure in the middle of it...
"Layfon-sama!" she cried out. The figure looked up and waved at her as she ran up to him.
She glomped him, putting her arms around his neck, and heard him say, "Hey, Eko-chan – you seem to be doing well." She looked up and saw him smiling at her.
Blushing, she looked away, hugging him tighter instead. Layfon raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
The others in the crowd were whispering to each other.
"Hey, isn't that Eko Laiten?"
"No way – seriously? THE Eko Laiten – the Girl Who Turned Down a 1000 Boys?"
"Yeah, that's her alright – what's she doing with that guy?"
"Who IS that guy?"
"Hey, look at his waist – are those dites?"
"They are! So he's a military artist? She called him Layfon..."
"You mean he's THAT Layfon? Layfon Alseif, Filth Monster Assassin?"
"Kyaa! I want his autograph!"
Upon hearing people say this, Layfon quickly glanced down at Eko, and, seeing that she wasn't moving, sighed.
No choice, then, he thought. Quickly but carefully, he picked Eko up, bridle-style, just as people were walking towards them, and jumped over the school's outer wall (which was roughly 2 meters high), before taking off as fast as he could towards Eko's house. After a couple of minutes, he slowed to a stop, and put Eko down.
She still had a look of surprise on her face, and her cheeks were flushed, but otherwise she was fine. Dusting herself off, she glanced at him, before turning away, blushing furiously. "So... what was that about?" she asked, still not looking at him.
Layfon scratched his neck absentmindedly while he tried to think of an answer that would satisfy her. "Well, since you didn't seem to be willing to let go of me in time, and since most of the people in that crowd were about to swarm on us, I just, sort of... took matters into my own hands? Sorry if this will become troublesome for you. I just don't particularly like giving out autographs, to be honest... and most people have a tendency to want one when they learn who I am..."
"What, you mean those stories about you traveling around trying to kill off Filth Monsters were true?" Eko asked in surprise. She finally turned around to look at him.
"Somewhat – and somewhat not. It's true that I've been traveling around, and it's true that I've been killing quite a number of Filth Monsters in that time, but I haven't been traveling around to kill Filth Monsters – I've just been killing them because they were being a bother. So all those stories about my expeditions to search for and kill those monsters are basically... not true." Layfon laughed in embarrassment.
But Eko didn't mind – she didn't mind at all, in fact. "That's fine. I don't mind – either way, you're still a hero, right?"
"I suppose, albeit, an unintentional one... It's quite a bother to be so well known, that every new Regios you go to, all of the females know who you are..."
"I can see why that would be annoying," Eko said, sympathetically. Inside though, she thought to herself, all the females know who you are, huh? That's too bad...She silently seethed for a couple of moments, before letting the matter go. Deciding to change the topic (because Layfon was looking uncomfortable talking about it), she said, "By the way, why were you waiting there?"
"I was waiting to pick you up," Layfon said – he seemed completely unashamed of what he said. Like he didn't realize that most people don't say such things...
Eko blushed, but continued anyway. "Why were you going to pick me up?"
"Umm... well, you're parents did ask me to do it for them, but... well, I find it enjoyable to talk to you, so... that's really the main reason." Layfon said. It's because you remind me of Leerin... He gestured for them to start walking, and so she walked beside him, letting her footsteps fall in with his.
"Hmm... thanks for the compliment." They enjoyed a comfortable silence until they reached her house.
The mother, Mrs. Laiten, opened the door with a smile, and invited Layfon in for some tea and biscuits again. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have to get my other dite registered – I couldn't do it yesterday because apparently they only let you register one dite per day – that, and I also registered my citizenship here, so they told me that I had to come back today to get my other dite registered. I apologize, but I'm really grateful for you hospitality. You really do make great tea, you know," Layfon bowed, and gave the woman a smile. She blushed a bit at the compliment, but smiled anyway, and nodded in understanding.
"Alright then – good day, Layfon-san," she said with smile.
"Good day to you as well, ma'am, and please tell your husband that I appreciate his kindness yesterday. I'll see you later, Eko-chan," Layfon said, and waved goodbye as he walked away.
Mrs. Laiten waved back, before glancing at her daughter – and noticing, with a slight grin, the dreamy-eyed look on her face as the girl stared after Layfon. Walking inside with Eko, Mrs. Laiten thought about her daughter's and Layfon's relationship.
She quite obviously wants to be with him, but he seems somewhat oblivious to the fact. Oh no, she thought with a wry grin. Don't tell me he's one of those types – the ones who can't figure out people's feelings towards them to save their lives. Eko, my dear, you have a long road ahead of you, honey – a very long road indeed... Laughing to herself at her daughter's unfortunate choice in men (not that Layfon was a jerk or anything – far from it, he was just emotionally dense is all), she went into the kitchen to take the tea kettle off the stove. She poured herself a cup and drank it slowly, looking out the window as she stared off, still considering her daughter's predicament with amusement.
-x-x-
"Hello, I'm here to register my dite – I registered one yesterday, but I have another one as well, so, I came to register it." The man Layfon spoke to looked up from what he was doing, and gave Layfon a once over. He then shuffled through some papers, and, pulling a couple of them out, he pushed up his glasses, and looked at them.
"You are Layfon Alseif, correct?"
"Yes, I am."
"So, you wish to register a second dite?"
"Yes."
"Very well, hand it over and I'll run it through the scanner. Shouldn't take more than a few seconds," the man said, and put Layfon's dite in a device beside him, closed the top over it, pressed a few buttons, and waited several seconds. He then took it back out, and handed it over to Layfon.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"I see – well, thank you for taking some of your time to do this."
"Don't worry about it, kid – it's my job. That's all."
"Nonetheless, thank you anyways." And with that, Layfon left, headed for his temporary apartment.
"What a polite young lad..." the man muttered to himself, smiling as he went back to work.
Sometimes, it was only the little things that got you through the day.
-x-x-
It had been two weeks since Layfon had first come to the Regios City Liten.
Said man leaned against the school's outer wall, wishing that Eko's school day would hurry up and be over already – he had a meeting with the other members of the Mercenary Gang, something about one of them having seen Haia...
I might have to bring Eko with me, thought Layfon worriedly. He glanced down at his watch. 20 more minutes...
With a sigh, he picked up his cell phone and dialed Eko's home number. After two rings, Mrs. Laiten picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mrs. Laiten."
"Ah, hello Layfon-san. Do you need something?"
"Yes, actually – I was wondering if I could bring Eko with me to a meeting I have in about 30 minutes..."
"Oh? Why?"
"Because I'd feel more comfortable knowing that she's okay then just hoping she is – and, unfortunately I can't be late to this meeting...
"I see," said Mrs. Laiten kindly – she was smiling to herself as she listened to what Layfon said. "Well, I don't see any problem with you doing that, so long as she comes home before curfew."
"I'll make sure she does."
"Alright then, take care, Layfon-san."
"You too, Mrs. Laiten." He hung up the phone, now feeling less worried and waited for the remaining 15 minutes of school for Eko.
-x-x-
"So, where are we going, Layfon?"
"Well, I have a meeting with the other members of the Mercenary Gang, and since I can't be late for it, I asked your mother if I could bring you along. Since she said yes, that's where we're going," Layfon said to her. Eko blinked a bit in confusion, wondering what was so important about this meeting. Finally, she decided to just ask about the meeting.
"What's so important about this meeting, that you can't be a little late for it?"
"Well... several years ago, before I joined the Mercenary Gang, I had a battle with the leader of the Gang – I defeated him, and afterwards, he disappeared, having been taken off the list of members of the Gang... I've been looking for him for a while now, ever since I joined, and it seems one of the members might have spotted him... I'm going to the meeting to hear about it, and I can't be late, since I was the one who called for it, you see."
"Oh. I see." She didn't really get most of it, but she understood that he couldn't be late since he was the one who called for it... She also noticed that he looked a bit different today... he was wearing a green cloak, and he had several piercings in his right ear that she had never seen there before. She asked him about it.
"Oh, this? The Salinvan Guidance Mercenary Gang has a sort of... uniform, I suppose you would call it, and considering I'm the leader, it'd be somewhat wrong of me to go to a meeting with the others and not wear my uniform. Though mine is a bit different..."
"In what way?"
"You'll see soon enough."
Well, whatever. At least this means I get to spend more time with him than I normally do today! She thought happily. She wondered, however, What will this meeting be like? I hope it isn't too long... Most meetings are boring... bleh, I hope I can spend some personal time with him after this...
While she was thinking, they had apparently reached their destination – it was at the edge of the Regios, and there were several roaming buses lined up side-by-side. There were people wearing green cloaks like the one Layfon was wearing today... They were walking around, talking to each other, and there seemed to be quite a few of them gathering around a table that had been set outside one of the buses.
As she and Layfon got closer, she noticed some differences in the uniform Layfon was wearing and the one the others were wearing. While the others had just a plain green cloak with gold trimming, Layfon had gold, black, and silver trimming... not only that, but his cloak was styled a bit differently... it was long, going down to his ankles, and had a half-cape around the shoulders, but the difference lay in the fact that Layfon's was longer – both the half-cape part, and the rest of it. The other's capes went down to about mid-shin.
So that's what he meant when he said that his was different...
Eko followed Layfon as he went up to talk to one of the members (this person was wearing an iron mask on his face, she noticed), and waited while he conversed quietly with the man. Layfon came back, and told her, "It's up to you if you want to listen to the meeting with me, or wait for me in one of the roaming buses – which one do you want to do?"
"I want... to listen to the meeting with you, since sitting in one of those buses seems somewhat boring in comparison."
"I see," Layfon said with a smile. He gestured to the man with the mask, who nodded, and then turned to her again. "Here, come with me – Fermaus is getting a seat ready for you. Fermaus is the one I was talking to earlier."
"You mean the one with the mask?"
"Yeah." Layfon then walked over to the table, sat down, and said. "Let's get this meeting going, people. Eko, here – sit. This might take a while..." Eko sat down on the chair next to him, and watched the proceedings quietly.
Layfon gave her a quick smile, and then turned to one of the members, who had stepped forward. Layfon asked him, "You're the one who saw Haia, correct?"
"Hai, Layfon-shirei," the man said. "Please, call me Kalen, Shirei."
"Alright – I'd appreciate it if you could tell us, in as much detail as possible, what happened – mostly what they were doing, what you were doing, what they looked like, and what happened after you first saw them. Can you do that, please?" Layfon did his best to be polite, despite being somewhat impatient. I've been waiting for so long, trying to find him... finally, he's here... so close, and yet so far as well. Layfon thought.
"Well, I was sent to go get some groceries by Fermaus-shushou, and as I was making my way back, I saw him... I believe it was on Shiten Street. He was with the girl, Myunfa, and they were walking somewhere, obviously with a destination in mind, considering how purposefully they were walking. I started to follow them, but I lost them on –"
This is so boring, Eko thought in annoyance.
" –lost them on Nasha Street, which was a few blocks over. Haia-san was wearing a plain, brown traveling cloak, and had a black belt with a dite in it around his waist. Myunfa-san had her hair up in a bun with braids, and also had a dite around her waist, in a green belt. She was wearing a brown cloak like Haia-san's, and also had a long-sleeve, white shirt on... I don't know what they were doing, which was why I followed them, but..."
"Thank you, Kalen-san, that's plenty of information to start searching for them. You've been a great help," Layfon said, smiling gratefully at the man. He turned to Fermaus. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss at this meeting, Shusou?" He smiled in amusement as Fermaus squirmed a bit at having someone of higher rank call him that.
"No, that was all. Your orders, Shirei?"
"Hmm... Fermaus, I'd appreciate it if you could try to see where they headed when Kalen saw them. Kalen – could you ask around, and find out where they're staying?"
"Hai, Shirei!" Everyone dispersed, Fermaus and Kalen moving away to do as they were asked. Eko looked up at Layfon, who was seemingly breathing a sigh of – relief? Or exhaustion? – much to her surprise.
"Are you okay, Layfon?"
"Uh? Oh, yeah, I am – don't worry, Eko-chan, it's just that being the leader of The Salinvan Guidance Mercenary Gang is hard work..."
"I see."
"Well, shall I take you home now? It's getting darker – and I have to get you home before curfew... which means that," Layfon said, standing up with Eko. He turned to her, with a smile, and said, "Beg your pardon, Eko-chan, but this is the fastest way to get you home." As he said this, he picked Eko up, bridle-style, and, despite her embarrassment, ran her all the way home. He really was a quite dense – he didn't seem to realize how embarrassing what he did was...
And you'd have to kill Eko before you got her to admit that she somewhat liked it...
-x-x-
"You say that like you expect me to openly agree about it with you..." Layfon said to Eko in slight amusement.
They were walking to her home again, coming back from school. They had been talking about the meeting that had gone on between Layfon and the other members of the Mercenary Gang the other day... and Eko had just told Layfon that he was charismatic, cool, and hot (that's right, ladies and gents, she told him outright that he was hot).
"Hmm... I guess you're right. Why? Do you disagree with it?" she challenged, looking at him with her eyebrow raised.
Layfon stared back, undaunted, and told her, "I'm not going to answer that..."
"Aww, why not?" she pouted. He smiled at her, amused at her antics.
"But, I honestly really do think that you're charismatic and cool, Layfon – if nothing else, you make a great leader," Eko said thoughtfully after several moments.
"Hmm... is that so..."
"Yes, it is! And you're being really vague right now, you know!"
"Sorry, I was thinking about – "
At that moment, they turned a corner, and Layfon caught sight of a familiar figure.
"H-Haia?"
+-|Author's Note|-+
Yay, a cliffy! I know, I'm evil – what can I say?
In any event, I hope you enjoyed that!
Oh, and just so you know, I'd suggest going back and reading the first chapter again – I didn't make any really major changes, but I made it easier to understand, and the changes are big enough to warrant some re-reading. If you must know, I mostly made the changes towards the end of the chapter.
Someone really nice (I mean it! She helped a lot!) mentioned that I might have been pushing the relationship between Eko and Layfon too much... I went back and fixed that somewhat. Now it's mostly just Eko being a bit of an otaku for Layfon... poor guy. XD
Yeah, so that's that – next!
Okay, so here's the deal (about the important announcement I mentioned before):
1) I will not be updating during the school year. Yes, it's pitiful, it's scornful, it's pretty damn stupid that I have to do this – but if I don't, I might not even HAVE a computer next year, either for the summer or otherwise. So far, my grades have managed to scrape by... but if I keep doing what I'm doing, they won't be scraping by anymore. Stupid B+ average... In any event, I will only be updating during Winte r, Spring, and Summer Vacation – and if you're lucky, on some of the holidays too. But that depends on whether I get homework on the holidays... :( I hate high school already – and I haven't even experienced it yet...
Anyway, moving on...
2) I will be updating this story daily for AT LEAST a week – that's right, ladies and gents, you get one week of daily updates for this story. Why, you ask? It's because I'm a nice person – who is doing it for you all to make up for the announcement stated above. I may be blunt, I may be critical, I may be a lot of things that people don't all necessarily like, but even so, I am still a nice person. Just not always a sympathetic or empathetic one... In any event, I will be updating daily for a week at the very least, and, if you're lucky (I said if you're LUCKY, people), maybe for a little longer – maybe even until the day school starts... (and I'll say it again – if you're lucky, I'll do it... not otherwise.)
Those were the two big ones. Now, onto lesser ones... that I still want you to read. =_=
A) Please read the oneshot preludes that are for this story – If you start feeling lost while reading this story (or if you feel lost right now), go read those oneshots. In reading order, they are: "My Name is Eko-chan!", "This Ain't My Heaven's Blade, Brat", and "My Master". Got it? Good. Now go read them.
B) If you can, take a look at my other works – I have some other works (not very many), both oneshots and chapter stories included, that I'd like you're opinion on... or at the very least, I'd like someone to read them. If a bunch of people read and/or review some of my chapter stories, and say good things about them, I might be more inclined to try a bit harder to pick up where I left off on them... ;]
C) Last, but certainly not least... Review. Review this Story..... or it might become... *gasp* *fake horror*... like the others. O.o
If you don't got a problem with that, though, don't bother. *says flippantly* It's all good. *sarcasm* xD
That's the end of my Author's Note, so...
Cheers, I suppose, and I'll see you next chapter! ;]
- Yume-ka ;) (b/c every person has an evil side...)