Disclaimer: I don't own Suzaku, but at least I can say that I own Jake and the Ashtor brothers! so ha!
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When Suzaku finally awoke, he found himself starring at a white wooden ceiling with a splitting headache.
'I'm finally home,' he thought with a small sigh of relief.
"It's about time you woke up there, we were getting worried." said a gruff voice. "What's your name?"
Without thinking about the consequences Suzaku managed to mutter, "Warrant Officer Suzaku Kururugi."
"Warrant officer? That's strange," said the voice.
"Yeah, I could've sworn that there were only two stripes on his uniform." came another voice.
Suzaku shot up at the unfamiliar voice and turned his head to see a man sitting in a chair across from him.
But it wasn't Jake, or anyone else he recognized for that matter.
The man had hair that was almost as dark as Suzaku's, but in a very professional military cut, and he looked grouchy with a day's growth of beard on his face, and a pair of large, round wire rimmed glasses over his deep brown eyes.
"Who…. Who are you? Where am I?" he asked, suddenly feeling nervous.
"My name's Travis Ashtor. I guess you passed out in front of Abby's pub, so she told your buddy Jake to leave you here for the night since it was closer. Too much to drink I suppose." he shrugged.
"I don't drink! When will everyone get that!?" he snapped.
Travis chuckled.
"Hey, at least you didn't drink ten beers like my big brother." came a voice from behind Suzaku.
Suzaku turned around to find himself face to face with….. The legs of a pair of brown slacks. He looked up, and found that he was starring at a giant.
"You must be Miss. Pennyapple's brother in law." he muttered, realizing that the man was well over seven feet tall.
"That's me, my name's Leon. What's yours?"
"Suzaku." he said, looking at him in curiosity. But then he shook he shook his head. "I mean Steve. Steve Fennette."
"So which is it? Suzaku or Steve?" he asked
"Steve. I… I go by Steve."
"What's your real name?" Travis asked.
"Suzaku but……. It sounds kinda odd."
"Obviously." said Leon
Suzaku couldn't help but stare at the man again.
The man looked fairly normal on the outside but, as Suzaku recalled, people that grew anywhere near his size had deformities, and he seemed to have none.
"That's strange, normally people your size have over sized joints and swollen eye lids, how come you don't?" he asked curiously.
Leon chuckled. "Good question." he shrugged. "All I know is I was born the baby brother and I grew to be the family giant."
"Baby brother? By how many years?"
"Nine between Travis and I. I'm twenty five, he's thirty four."
"Wow, I don't have any brothers so….. I don't have to argue over who's taller."
"It could be worse. You could be his size and have a squeaky voice like a child."
Suzaku just starred. "I didn't know that was possible." he muttered.
"It was, it was kinda weird though." Leon admitted. "Especially when I had to give orders, then that was a nightmare. But I learned to live with it."
"At least you sound normal now." shrugged Travis. "Even if you don't look it."
"Oh ha!" muttered Leon sarcastically.
Suzaku chuckled. "I will admit, sometimes I feel as if I got lucky because I never had a brother that could pick on me."
"I got lucky because my big brothers never picked on me."
"That's because once you turned ten we weren't stupid enough since you were the same size as us." Travis said with a smile.
"Yet you fought with your older brother to no end?" came a random voice.
"That's not funny Trainor." Travis said stubbornly as he looked down at a small dog with white curly fur. "He was the stubborn idiot."
"If you say so." said the voice as the dog turned around to look at Suzaku. "And I see our sleeping beauty has finally woken up."
Suzaku starred for a moment.
"This is Trainor." Leon explained. "Don't ask about how he talks, Abby has yet to explain it to us."
"I'm kinda used to strange things going on." Suzaku admitted. "Besides I'm friends with a cat named Arthur that does nothing but bite me."
"Really now? That's an odd friend." said Trainor, hopping up into his lap, and sniffing his nose.
"Yeah, but he's my friend." said Suzaku, gently scratching under the dog's chin, making him wag his tail happily.
"Well a friend is a friend no matter what they are I say." Trainor said happily.
Travis and Leon just chuckled at him.
Just then there was knock on the door.
"I've got it!" Leon called into the kitchen. Then he walked out of the room.
"I wonder who that could be." Travis muttered as Suzaku continued to pet the strange talking dog.
"Hey Ashtor!" came a cheerful voice.
Suzaku looked up to see Jake smiling.
"Well if it isn't Corruthers, What are you doing here?" Travis asked with a grin.
"I came to check on my little brother of course. How are you feeling there Steve?" Jake asked, gently ruffling his hair.
"Better." he admitted with a shrug.
"Well I'm glad to hear that. You scared me last night, you just passed out and fell into the street. Any idea why?"
"I guess you could say it was something along the lines of shock. It's a long story." he said.
"I guess I could see why." he said, sitting in another chair beside Travis.
"Lunch is ready you guys." said Abby walking out of the kitchen with Leon. Then she smiled. "Good thing I made extra. I figured you'd be over just in time for lunch Jake. Where's Barnaby?"
"He went sight seeing with some of the new kids" Jake explained. "But he did want me to tell everyone hello."
"Well at least he sent a hello." said Abby with a smile. "Anyway, come on you guys, time to eat."
So Suzaku got up after Trainor jumped off of his lap and followed the others into the kitchen.
After lunch, Suzaku went out with Jake and Leon as Travis and Abby headed to the pub to work.
"It's kinda sad to see how much of the city's been destroyed." said Suzaku sadly.
"It's better then the last time I was here." Leon admitted. "But the people here do their best to be happy."
Just then a group of children ran past them.
"Hey! Wait up!" a little girl cried, trying to catch up.
But as she ran past, she caught the toe of Suzaku's boot causing her to fall.
Suzaku quickly reached down and caught her right before she hit the ground.
"Careful there, you might want to watch where you're going next time." he said kindly with a smile, helping her up.
The little girl grinned and giggled. "Thanks Mister! That would've hurt a lot if you didn't catch me."
"Well you're quite welcome, just be a little more careful next time. You better go catch up with your friends though."
He was surprised when the little girl tugged on his jacket sleeve.
"Come play with us Mister." she said.
Suzaku soon found himself surrounded by a large group of little children, asking him to come and play with them.
"Oh come on Steve, go ahead and play with them." said Leon smiling.
"You too Mr. Ashtor." said the little girl, jumping into his arms.
"Alright I'll come play too Lisa." said Leon with a chuckle.
"You play with these kids often I take it?" Jake asked as a little boy tugged on his coat.
"Every chance I get." he admitted.
"Well then, I guess we might as well go play." shrugged Suzaku.
So the three of them went and played with the children in what was left of a local park for several hours until it was time for the kids to go home.
"So what now Jake?" Suzaku asked as they walked around.
"Go hang out at Abby's pub for a while I suppose." Jake shrugged.
"Then we train for the invasion huh?" he muttered softly.
"Yup." Jake confirmed.
So they headed to Abby's pub, just to find her and Travis running around like crazy.
"What's wrong Abby?" Jake asked.
"Oh, my cook is home sick today, and we're extra busy tonight." she sighed.
"I can cook." Suzaku said. "If you want my help."
"Good, I need you." she said, walking around the bar and pushing him into the back.
Suzaku was surprised when a white apron hit him in the face.
"Here you go, spices are here in this cupboard, here's the fridge, pots and pans are down here and utensils are in this cabinet." she said hurriedly then she ran out of the room.
"I can tell this is going to be a long night." he sighed, putting the apron on.
And it was.
Suzaku was so busy that the events of the entire night seemed to run into each other, leaving him so dazed and confused, he didn't even remember returning to the barracks with Jake and climbing into his bed before being woken up several hours later by reveille, leaving him wondering where the entire night had gone.
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Ginger: Well I'm glad that some people are still enjoying this. Anyway, as always, the more reviews, the more I'll continue. So I hope you keep enjoying! Thanks!
