I toyed around with this idea for weeks, but could never find a place to put it in the story. This is pure fluff.

I do not own magi or the characters. I do own my oc.

Chapter 3: First Lessons

—Leila's POV—

"There you are," speaks up Ja'far. I turn as he comes closer from the stairwell to the roof. "Rurumu sent me to come and get you."

"Why," I ask going over.

After a few days I'm finally feeling better. My shoulder is still sore, but it always is. Salena is getting used to everyone and like spending time with Sahel. The two both are magicians and Sahel is more than happy to help teach Salena more. Sinbad is working and I'm just not sure what to do. I tried to start training this morning, but Hinahoho, Ja'far and Sinbad all forced me to stop.

"She about to start working with some of the kids to learn to read and write," he says as I tilt my head, confused as to why that affects me. "You really don't get what I'm saying?"

"No," I reply as he sighs frustrated. "It's not like I can help teach them."

"To teach you as well," says Ja'far in a huff. "You need to learn how to read and write. You should learn about geography and math and-"

"But I'm a bounty hunter," I say as he pauses. "I don't have any reason to learn that."

"You really should," says Ja'far, a flash of worry in his eyes. "It's safer if you know those things."

"I'll try, but I don't want to," I sigh going towards the door. "I don't even think I could…"

"You don't actually think that," sighs Ja'far, glancing towards me as I follow him. I look away, not wanting to admit that I just think it's too late. "Sin only learned two years ago."

"Yeah, but…we're just different," I say with a shrug. "I don't really have a reason to learn it. Hell…I don't even know what I'm going to do tomorrow or why it would help me."

"You don't actually think Sin didn't have any trouble," he asks a little amused. "He hated it. Both of us were a pain to teach. It wasn't exciting enough for him or me. You'll be better at it"

"I don't know," I whisper feeling nervous. "I'll probably just embarrass myself."

"Maybe," says Ja'far as I flinch. "But that's okay. You don't have to be perfect. It will take time for you to learn."

"Okay," I say as he offers me a small smile, but it doesn't ease my nerves. I continue to follow Ja'far in silence, not sure what is going to happen.

"Lady Rurumu," speaks up Ja'far, opening the door. I follow in quietly feeling nervous as some of the child slaves we rescued are sitting at a table with Rurumu standing at the head. "I found her."

"Thank you, Ja'far", she was with a kind smile. "Come in and have a seat, Leila. We were just about to start."

"Okay," I say sitting a bit farther away from Rurumu than she must have liked.

"How about we all start with the basics?"

—Rurumu's POV—

"I think that's enough for today," I say watching many of the children finish writing those few words I was trying to teach them. "Why don't you all leave those papers here and go see if anyone needs help?"

I smile as several of the children nod and all get up excitedly and run out of the room. A few pause as Leila remains at the table still trying to decipher the word on a page.

"Do you need any help," I ask quietly watching as Leila pauses to glance at me.

"I don't get it," she says quietly. "It doesn't make any sense to me."

"That's okay," I assure as she continues to look at the paper, brow furrowed. "It will take some time, but it will eventually."

"What if I can't learn this," she asks looking over at me. She isn't upset or worried, just curious. "Maybe it's too late."

"It isn't," I say sitting down next to her. I glance at the paper and can see she has scribbled down some sort of shorthand. "What is this?"

"Sorry," she apologizes immediately. "I just got lost in thought and started to scribble down information from some jobs I've had. It's a bad habit I have when my mind wanders."

"So these are details about work you've done," I ask cautiously. She nods. "Can you tell me what these mean?"

"I-I guess," she says clearly hesitant still. "I don't get why."

"These might be the way to teach you," I say with a smile as she tilts her head a little. "I could take these words and show you the standard way to write them. From there you can learn more."

"Could that really work?"

"I think so," I says as she bites her lip, debating if it's worth the effort. "There's no harm in trying."

"I guess not," she says looking back at the pages. "Okay."

"Excellent," I say reaching over to grab a blank piece of paper. "Let's start with the top right symbol."

—Several Hours Later—

"Lady Rurumu," speaks up Ja'far coming around the corner. I smile as he walks over looking a little concerned. "Have you seen Leila or Sinbad?"

"Not since this afternoon, why," I ask adjusting the twins as they start to whine.

"I can find either of them," he speaks up. "Sahel told me that after your lesson, Leila was with Salena, but once Salena feel asleep tonight, Leila wandered off. I haven't been able to find Sin since this morning."

"I'm sure they didn't go far," I assure as he thinks through where they could be. "Neither is feeling particularly well."

"I guess not," muses Ja'far. "I still can't think of where they could be."

"I might have an idea," I say standing up. "Come along. I'll bet anything that there in the same place."

I glance at Ja'far as he walks next to me. I can see on his face he's still confused as to what and where they are. I pause outside the room that I was using to teach the children in earlier. I silently open the door a bit, allowing Ja'far and I to peak inside.

"There they are," I whisper spotting Sinbad laying on the sofa and Leila seated in front of it, working on writing something down.

It a cute scene to say the least. Sinbad has removed his jacket and it was snuggly wrapped around Leila. His fingers absentmindedly twirl her hair as he has this look of absolute peace. Leila has this focused look on her face.

I watch as she takes the paper and turns towards Sinbad, handing it to him. Leila watches him nervously as he smiles the more he reads it. She blushes as he starts to praise the work she's done, which she mumbles about. She pauses before asking him a question. He chuckles as he sits up with a nod. He slips onto the floor next to her taking the quill in his hand. She watches closely, as he smiles at her leaning closer.

"Let's leave them be, Ja'far," I whisper as he looks conflicted. "They seem to be content to stay there for a while."

"He's such a damn flirt," mutters Ja'far walking away.

—Leila's POV—

"Now you try," says Sin, passing the quill to me. I hesitate, but take it in my hand. "Don't be shy. You're doing good."

"It just feels weird," I mumble. "I don't want Ja'far to think I'm stupid."

"You aren't," chuckles Sinbad with a smile. "You're doing really good. He'll be surprised."

I sigh before trying again on a blank piece of paper. I move slowly, a little nervous about Sinbad watching me.

"Relax," chuckles Sinbad, his arm snaking around my waist. I can feel him resting his cheek on my uninjured shoulder. "Don't stress out about this too much. It's not something that you need to worry about."

"I just don't like messing up," I pout continuing to write.

"No," remarks Sinbad keeping me close as I write the words Sinbad showed me. "You're worried Ja'far will be disappointed if you mess up."

"Would he be," I ask, trying to sound uninterested.

"No," assures Sinbad watching my hand move. "Don't forget the top of that letter."

"Okay," I say before continuing silently. The entire time Sinbad stays next to me leans against my shoulder. After a while I finish writing as Sinbad looks over it.

"You have this really cute look on your face when you focus," he remarks casually with a smile. "You knit your eyebrows together and bite your bottom lip lightly."

"Don't tell me that," I pout as he smiles.

"I think it's ready," says Sinbad. He stand up, still holding the paper, before offering me a hand to help me up. I put my hand in his, standing up and realizing how stiff I am. "Are you feeling well," he asks coming a step closer. "If not, you can always give this to Ja'far tomorrow."

"I'm okay," I say taking the paper from Sinbad. "He's probably in the office, right?"

"Most likely," replies Sinbad as I head towards the door. "You sure-"

"I should do this on my own," I say with a smile. Sinbad takes a moment before smiling back. "Thanks for the help, Sin."

"Anytime, Leila," he says with a wave as I head to the main office quickly.

I pause at the door, knocking on it lightly.

"Go away," sighs Ja'far. "I have work to do. You're just going to be a distraction."

"I'll come back later then," I reply. I feel a bit hurt by this, but won't admit it to him.

"Wait," speaks up Ja'far. I watch as he opens the door, clearly surprised that I'm standing there. "Leila what are you doing here?"

"I just…um…"

"What's that paper," he asks as I pause. I look away rubbing the back of my neck.

"Here," I say handing it to him. "It's just a letter. I had Sin help me. Well…I should probably go get some sleep. You should too. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I walk away, leaving a confused Ja'far behind me.

—Rurumu's POV—

"Damn it, Sin," sighs Ja'far glaring at the purple haired teen. "If you're going to help her don't let her use wrong spellings."

"But she was so focused I felt bad telling her she did it wrong," replies the older of the two with a fond smile.

"Go and tell her how you actually spell those words," orders Ja'far pointing outside.

"Fine," sighs Sinbad. He goes to take the letter from Ja'far, but Ja'far pulls it from his reach. "Don't I need that."

"Do it without it," says Ja'far avoiding Sinbad's look.

"Aw, how cute," teases Sinbad, as Ja'far starts to get angry and embarrassed. "You don't want to give it to me because it came from Leila. That's so sweet."

"Go help her before I use my household on you," growls Ja'far.

Sinbad leisurely gets up, with a satisfied smile.

"Fine," he says waving off Ja'far. "I'll let her know how much you liked it."

I smack Sinbad in the head before he leaves for teasing Ja'far. He's very satisfied with himself regardless and leaves with a chuckle.

"I hate him some days," mumbles Ja'far sitting down with a huff.

"It is sweet how important that is to you though," I tease figuring that not correcting Ja'far for mumbling some swear words right now won't be the end of the world.