Getting to Know You

Chapter.3- Alta's Bed


A/N: Wow, it really has been a while since I updated it! And I guess all of you are wondering what does Alta's bed have anything to do with Kardia and Degel? Just read it and you'll find out eventually.

As I promised, longer chapter this time! Go read it and tell me what you think of it! :D


Kardia ran to the training ground with a big grin on his face. The sun was shining brightly and the wind blows through his wavy blue hair. Some female trainee giggle as he ran past them while the other trainee looking at the boy suspiciously, knowing there must be something behind that wide grin. But knowing Kardia, nothing good. Kardia ignored the other trainees and make a bee line toward his new friend, who was as you can guess, reading. Degel didn't even bother to look up to notice Kardia was running for him. Because he already pretty much shouting his name from the time he stepped out of the Aries temple.

Giving a huge sigh, he closed his book and looked at his friend annoyed. And there it was, the huge smile of the Scorpio gold saint-to-be.

"What do you want from me, If I might ask?"

"Well…let's see."Kardia posed as if he was trying to make a very hard decision.

"Ah, I know! I want you to hang out with me!"

"And why should I do that?"

"Wha- uh..."Well, Kardia hadn't really thought about it yet, and so he said,"B-because I said so!"

Kardia looked satisfied with his answer, which he thought was awesome.

Degel rolled his eyes and open his book to continue reading. Feeling annoyed of being ignored by his friend, Kardia glared at him and took the book from Degel's hand. Not a very wise thing to do though. The temperature suddenly dropped as Degel gave him a murderously cold glare.

"Give it back."He said, in a dangerously cold tone.

Kardia stood still, he was so shocked and stood so still you may think that Degel had already froze him. He looked at the book and gave it back to him carefully. He never knew Degel could be so frightening when provoked. And it didn't sound so good being turned into a human popsicle.

"What is it with you and this…"

A pause

"…book?"He said, unsure about the last part.

"This book contained a vast amount of knowledge, and…"

"Is it really important ?" Kardia looked at him in pure confusion.

"Knowledge? Of course it is!" Degel stood up and stared at his friend in disbelief, and blab out a whole lot information about 'knowledge' that you can fill a book with it. But unfortunately, our lovely little Kardia's mind already drifted in his own thought.

'So this is what Sisyphus was talking about, he wanted me to learn how to read! Yes, that must've been it!'

"...therefore It's a really important treasure of humankind. Are you still listening?"

"Uh, what was that?"Kardia looked at the little Aquarius boy innocently.

"You weren't listening were you?"Degel immediately felt stupid explaining all of those just to be ignored by the said Scorpion.

"Whatever, now I want you to teach me how to read!"Kardia couldn't believe he really said that at first, and he himself was a bit shocked as well. But, he realize that he had to do It to show Sisyphus that he might surpassed Degel in term of knowledge, which might never happened. Ever. Full of confidence, his grin got wider.

"Are you sure?"The green haired kid eyed his friend suspiciously unsure of his true intention. But decided it is best to wait and see the true motive behind all of those unlikely behaviour of the one who tried to achieve the title of being the 'cruellest saint ever'.

"Okay, then."Degel sigh and tried to find a basic word to teach Kardia."Why don't we start with alphabet."

"Alphe-what?"Kardia's expression was priceless, Degel almost cracked a smile.

"Alphabet."He repeated.

"Elephant?"

"No, Kardia. Alphabet."

"It's the beginning of the lesson and you already started speaking nonsense!"Kardia started to regret his decision."I don't give a damn about 'Alta's Bed'!"

"I've told you, it's 'ALPHABET' not 'Alta's Bed'! Can't you see the different of it!"Degel was still keeping his cool and patience -or at least he tried inside he was ready to smack some intelligence into him. But he was afraid it might kill the remaining brain cells of this little scorpion.

"Honestly, no. Why don't we just get on with the lesson, I don't think that those Alta's bed got anything to do with this reading thing. And Shion would probably think that we're a bunch pedophiles trying to rape his baby...what? Cousin?"

Degel stared at Kardia, stunned by his stupidity. How could someone possibly mistook alphabet with Alta's bed, and yet he knew the word 'pedophile'? Teaching Kardia was one of his most regrettable thing he ever done in his life, and one of the most painful too."Actually, alphabet have everything to do with reading."

He decided to teach him the different of it when a sound of laughter fill the air.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...What's this? Two lovers are going out, how sweet it makes me want to puke rainbows."

"Manigoldo."Kardia stood up, a murderous glare is fixed upon both the Cancer and the Scorpio trainee."What do you want this time?"

"Oh, nothing...I just happened to pass by and I suddenly got this awesome idea to rip your soul out!"Manigoldo was already at his battle stance, ready to strike.

"Why don't you just pretend that I've mopped the floor with you and just run off like the pathetic crab you are! Degel here is going to teach me to read Alta's bed!"

A pause.

"You- What- who..whose bed?"Manigoldo was totally taken aback by this.

"That Aries Shion's baby cousin, Alta's bed! Although I don't know how I'm supposed to read it."Kardia replied proudly. At least his knowledge is better than that of the wimpy crab's.

"I don't give a damn about that Alta's bed!"he snapped.

"Um, excuse me...actually, It's alphabet."Degel tried to intervene between the two saint-to-be.

"I DON'T CARE!"They yelled back in unison.

"You guys have so many things in common."

Degel said that so casually unaware of the effect it would give to both blue haired-boy.

"What did you just say? And I thought you were smart, Degel."Kardia twitched in disgust, he was clearly offended by it."There is no way in hell am I and this pathetic crab have anything in common! Even our sign is different, Scorpion is way more manly than a mere crab! Crabs can do nothing useful other than being some food!"

"Hah! Scorpions are more manly than crabs? Those are just a bunch of excuses! There's no way you little scorpions can win with those tiny needle, your long red nail makes you look like a girl!"Manigoldo intervene in Kardia's rant as he could barely take anymore of those insults. And Degel could even read what was on the Cancer trainee's mind just by looking at his irritated expression and cocky smirk. Obviously, nothing nice.

"Why, you little...crabs can only pinch people, and that doesn't even hurt, scorpions' sting are way more deadly and poisonous!"

"Shut up you tiny insect! The pope was the previous Cancer saint, just wait until I ruled over the Sanctuary and you'll be kneeling before my glorious feet!"

"Hah! Let alone ruling the Sanctuary, you'll be the first one to be found dead in the Holy war, if you even succeed in winning the cancer cloth fair and square, without having the pope to play favorite!"

"Take it back! You little wimp."

And they started another fight, completely ignoring the Aquarius trainee. Who was actually fine by it. Although he realize he had pour a huge amount of oil into the flame, he couldn't care less. At least he can read his book now, although the other two trainees are trying to strangle each other to death.

"Hey, Degel!"

Degel looked up from his book hearing his name was called. It's unusual for people to greet him, because he rarely greet them back. He was wondering who called for him, and he found a nervous little sheep. The next candidate for the Aries Saint. He looked as if he was scared of Degel. This kid really needed confidence.

"Um...can I join you?"He asked rather shyly.

"Sure."He gestured the younger trainee to sit on the rock next to him. He sat and tried to form some kind of conversation.

"They're arguing again, huh?"Said the young Aries.

"...More like they're fighting."Degel said, with his eyes still focused on his book.

"No, I'm quite sure they're arguing, that's strange."

"What?"He finally caught the elder one's attention. And sure enough, when he looked at the other two, he were not fighting. Instead, they were caught up in an intense conversation. Arguing with each other while sending their best death glares.

"I wonder what are they arguing about."Shion tried to listen.

"I suggest you not to, it won't do you any good."Said Degel. Although he himself was quite curious as well.

He closed his book and tried to concentrate on what were they arguing about. It wasn't that hard to do, since the battle was so intense and their voice was getting louder as they spoke. And they got to the part where Degel was sure Shion would get extremely offended about. Their intense discussion reached the point of relating the so called 'Alta's bed' and some inappropriate words . It was such a relief to Degel that Shion didn't understand those words. He's going to have a serious discussion from where the Scorpio trainee got those words.

"Uh, did Kardia just said Alta's bed?"Shion eyed Degel with an expression somewhere between confusion and suspicion.

"He meant alphabet." the elder trainee replied quickly, preventing any unfortunate 'misunderstanding' since it was likely that Kardia could slip his name in any of his sentences and he won't be able to deny anything because he felt rather responsible for any stupidity of his friend, and also for the fact that he was not only involved in it but he was the one who agreed to teach Kardia how to read.

'Neither Sisyphus nor the pope would be too happy with the progress of things around here If I don't stop that little idiot soon.'The green haired boy thought. He sighed and started to make his way to prevent anything unfortunate to happen. He might even got to try his new technique on his fellow gold saint-to-be if he had to. He was already half way to the fight when Shion decided to speak.

"I'm glad you've found a friend you can now talk to, Degel."

Degel turned around wide-eyed, he saw Shion smiling sincerely at him.

"I wish someday we can be that close too. I mean, like you and Kardia."Shion smiled at him one last time and walk away to the other side of the training ground, and left Degel processing his words.

'Friend.'He thought.

It reminded him of his friend back when he was training in Siberia, Unity. He was quite sure the kind of relation he had with Unity was called friendship, but somehow It was on a whole different case with Kardia. Unity and Kardia was too different to compare. Unity was smart, just like Degel and unlike Kardia, Degel could form a decent conversation with him. On the other hand, Kardia was reckless, arrogant and cruel.

"I don't understand."

He stared at Kardia, who was still arguing with Manigoldo, Kardia could be easily offended by such small thing. How can he possibly befriend someone as annoying, hot-tempered and uneducated people as him, let alone his attitude constantly insulted the power of knowledge, which Degel treasured above all. But somehow he felt attracted by Kardia's stupid behavior, and he felt some kind of warmth in his chest.

It actually felt fun being with him.

...

Yes, he was rather interesting.


To Be Continued...

Is it long enough or is it still too short? Please review and give me your opinions. There is no guarantee I will update it soon. But, thanks for reading guys! ^^