Sorry I took so long to update... Honestly. I am. Very, very sorry.

Italics are Leixia's thoughts

"You just keep walking straight from here I think." Leixia said.

"Ok then," Maxi nodded.

Good remembering, Leixia," Xiba said, giving her a thumbs up and a smile.

"Thanks, Xiba."

The four walked in silence for some time before Maxi cleared his throat to speak. "You kids better watch your manors in front of Patroklos' sister," he said, as the they walked along the quiet lane. "She's probably very sensitive..."

"Sensitive?" Xiba asked curiously. "What do you mean...sensitive?"

Natsu sighed and rolled her eyes. "Xiba! If you had been kidnapped and kept prisoner by that person your whole life-"

Leixia blocked out her friends idle chatter. She really didn't want to go to Patroklos' house now. She had wanted to see him more then anything but everytime she thought of the event that took place earlier today she wanted to cry again. The fact that Natsu kept sending her worried, guilty, concerned looks wasn't helping either.

"Leixia, is this it?" Maxi asked, staring at her. They had all stopped now and stood in front of the cottage she had seen yesterday.

"This is the place... " she mumbled.

"Oh, c'mon, cheer up!" Maxi said, nudging her playfully. "You seemed so excited about it yesterday..."

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that so she didn't and followed Natsu and Xiba to the front door. Maxi frowned at her back but didn't say anymore.

"Aren't you gonna knock the door?" Xiba asked but leaned over and banged it loudly.

"Remember your manors," Maxi repeated quickly.

"Oh please, I'm always a polite young women," Natsu pointed out.

Leixia snorted rudely earning her a glare from Natsu. Before anything else could be said, the door opened slowly. In front of them was a blonde women with a very pretty face, however, even her beauty wasn't enough to pull the attention away from her large claw arm that looked like it could destroy anything (or anyone) in a single swipe. As the four stared at the grotesque mutation with wide eyes the women grew uncomfortable and shifted slightly.

"H-hello..."

Maxi was first to break out of the trance and his eyes snapped up to hers. "Hey there, we're friends of your brothers... You must be Pyrrha." he said quickly, sticking out his hand. She shook it gently and smiled charmingly.

"I know who you are. I-It's a pleasure to meet you all..." she said bashfully. "And...don't worry about my arm, I have it under control..." she cradled it like it was baby and stared at it with a sad smile.

"It's fine," Maxi said. "Honestly."

"We didn't even notice it!" Natsu said, scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"It's cool, actually," Xiba added.

She couldn't help but giggle softly as she gestured for them to come inside and they followed her through to a hall, she stopped and turned to them. "I'm just cooking dinner... Patroklos should be back very soon, he's visiting a friend."

"Smells great!" Xiba said, snffing the air. "What is it?"

"Stifado," the girls voice changed subtly when she said that, mainly because the word was spoken in a different language.

"What's that?" he asked curiously.

"Hare stew."

Xiba grinned at the thought and licked his lips. The blonde women giggled gently at the sight. "It's nice to see someone so...enthuastic over food," she said as she walked into a sitting room. "You can sit in here for a while until dinners ready... I-if you want to."

She scurried off to the kitchen and they were alone.

"Nice place," Natsu said as she walked around the fairly large sitting room. It was basic. It had two large wooden benches with fluffy covers thrown over them made out of some sort of animal fur, there was a light brown floor with a large wooven rug, mounted to the wall were numerous objects but the one that stood out the most was a sheild, a blue one to be exact with a gold symbol on it. Maxi couldn't help but feel he'd seen it before.

"Leixia?" Xiba said, sticking his face nexts to hers in the annoying way that she hated. "Why are you so quiet...?"

She sat down primly on one of the benches. "I'm just... shy, I suppose."

"Yeah right!" Xiba laughed. "Your not shy."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you."

She frowned and turned away from him, placing her elbow on the arm rest and resting her chin on the arm. Masking her upset with boredom seemed to be the easiest option and made it easier to ignore Natsu constant stares. Minutes past and soon a clicking of the door was heard. Leixia was instantly alert and sat upright. Her heart was pounding again and her teeth nibbled on her lip. The usual effect really.

"Hello, Patroklos," Natsu grinned as he walked into the room.

He grinned back gently and Leixia sighed quietly with admiration as she stared at him dreamily.

After greeting everyone he proceeded to sit down...next to Leixia. It did make sense, Maxi, Natsu and Xiba were occuping the other bench so it was the only available space. He turned his head to the side and smiled at her warmly. She smiled back and waved. She mentally slapped herself for that. That wasn't stupid at all...

She looked over at Natsu who was staring at her sourly. She sent her a wicked smirk so quickly that if she blinked she would've missed it but the ninja had seen it and she could feel blood boil under her red suit.

It was just Maxi, Xiba and Patroklos talking while Leixia and Natsu made faces at each other. It was Natsu who broke first and she stood up abruptly, her fists clenched and her lips in a straight firm line. It surprised everyone and they stared at her. For a moment Leixia thought she was coming over to hit her.

"I'm going to see if Pyrrha needs any help," she has calmly as possible but not quite keeping the edge out of her voice.

"Ok..." Maxi muttered.

She stormed out quickly and Leixia had to use all her efforts to keep her giggles in.

"Is she ok?" Patroklos asked.

"I'm sure she's fine..." Leixia smiled, looking as innocent as she could.

"She was stressed out this morning," Xiba pointed out.

"They've both been a little upset this morning," Maxi added.

Leixia blushed and quickly gestured at Maxi to stop, shaking her head quickly with wide eyes but he didn't even look at her.

"Who?"

"Natsu and Leixia..."

"Ah..." he nodded in understanding. "You speak of them as if they're small children."

Maxi laughed loudly and nodded. "Sometimes, they act like it."

Leixia gave an exsperated sigh and rolled her chocolate coloured eyes.

"See what I mean?" Maxi laughed pointing at her.

"Be quiet, I am not childish," she protested with great frustration. She felt her cheeks go red as Patroklos stared at her with an amused look on his face. Great, now he thinks I'm just a kid... I need to make him think I'm grown up. Natsu was wrong, I am mature.

Pyrrha appeared at the door frame. There was a worried look on her face and she looked like she was going to cry. The concern came over Patroklos' face instantly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm really sorry, Patroklos. I forgot to buy carrots for the stew."

He let out a tiny sigh so she wouldn't notice and ran a hand through his blonde locks. "Can't you make it without carrots."

"N-no! Carrots are one of the main ingredients!" she said with a hint of annoyance in her sugary voice.

Leixia caught Patroklos smirk slightly and she had to admit, it was funny to see the normally calm, quiet girl so bothered over carrots.

"Please, just go out and get some for me..." she said, pretty eyes big and puppy like. It suddenly became apparent that Pyrrha could wrap Patroklos around her finger...She wish she could...

"Alright," he sighed.

Leixia knew it was obvious what she had to do now. She tapped his arm lightly and he looked at her. "Can I come with you?"

"If you want to."

"It's such a long walk to town... It will be quite late by the time we get back..."

She stared off into the distance, the dirt road was so long and plain but in the distance she could just see tiny outlines of the buildings.

"Patroklos?" She looked to the side to see he had disappeared. "What-" She heard a rustling sound and she followed the noise slowly. She found herself at the back of her cottage and she was surpised. Her and the others seemed to have missed the stable behind the house. It wasn't too extravagant, just a simple stable. Her stepfather's stable, if she can remember rightly, were huge and it was like the numerous horses he owned had a palace of their own. In this stable there were three horses, one white, one chestnut and one white with alburn patches.

"Oh..."

He unbolted the lock on the patchy one's door and it walked out slowly. It nuzzled his shoulder, he chuckled gently and patted it's neck.

Aww...

Leixia just stared as he began to prepare the horse for riding.

"Can you ride a horse?" he asked with his back to her as he expertly tied the saddle onto it's back.

She could, but only just. When she lived in the palace she would just be carried around in a carriage but Maxi had taught her the basics. "Not really, I might just slow you down..." she said with a hint of dismay in her voice.

"You can ride with me if you want," he said casually, finally turning to face her. His face showed that he was serious.

"O-ok... Sure."

She punched the air as he turned her back to her and slowly walked towards him. Patroklos pulled something out of his pocket, red, round and shiny, and placed it near the horses mouth. It wasted no time in grabbing it with his huge teeth. Leixia reached out to pat it's head.

"What's it's name?" she asked.

"Name?" his eyebrows furrowed and he frowned slightly. "He hasn't got one."

Patroklos made some last adjustments to horse. She saw that the saddle was big enough to fit them both. It still mean't she would be touching him though. "Do I go behind or in front of you?"

"In front."

She let out a little huff and looked at the horse as if it was a mountain she was about to climb. It was very big, at least big enough to carry two people and she was about to climb on to top of it. Placing her foot on the stirip she heaved herself on. The horse's hair tickled her bare legs and she let out a little giggle. She felt him mount the horse, much more easily then she had, and his stomach pressed against her back gently. She was thankful her stepfather or Natsu wasn't here to see this. She had blushed alot of times when she was around him but she knew she had never gone so red in her life, she was just glad he was focusing on the path ahead.

Neither one of them spoke as the horse walked at a steady but fast pace, the rhythm of the horse's feet clip-clopping on the ground saving them from dead silence as they moved along the dirt path. She was content with his arms brushing her sides and she could feel the outlines of his abs on her back. Guilt game over her quickly though and she decided that she needed to calm down. I never knew I was such a...pervert.

"So...uhh... this horse has no name?"

"I normally just whistle if I want it's attention."

"Oh... Do you name your swords? I do..." He doesn't care about you random garbage! Idiot!

"I do name my swords actually." Leixia didn't even have to look up at him to know he was amused, she could hear it in his voice. It sounded so warm and kind.

"You have the omega sword...right?"

"Pyrrha does."

She was surprised at this but decided not to question why Pyrrha had inherrited it and not him and anything too indepth in general. She felt that she shouldn't try to unravel his past too much. She knew it was...complicated and he and his sister had had a hard life and that they had both saved the world from utter chaos. The two rode in silence once more before Leixia decided to break it again.

"So... Cassandra Alexander is your aunt, am I right?"

"You are. Why?"

"I've heard stories about her too," she looked up at him and smiled sweetly. He smiled back and let out a small chuckle.

"Is that so?" he said. "You know more about my family then I do, Leixia."

Something stirred in her when he said her name and she sighed gently. "Sorry about that. My mother seemed content on reciteing every detail of her life to me."

"Don't be sorry," he said smoothly. "It's nice in a way. At least someone knows something. I want to learn as much as possible...It's becoming quite clear that my father was trying to protect me from the truth, it's a shame I didn't meet you when I was younger. Maybe things would of been a bit clearer and I wouldn't have become so...confused."

Leixia stared up at him and she frowned sadly as a depressed look appeared in his deep green eyes.

"Shall I tell you the story then?" she asked. "I don't mind." It's my pleasure honestly.

"On the way back," he said as the horse came to a halt. "We've arrived."

Leixia blinked as they came to entrance of the town. He dismounted the horse and held out his hand to her. She took it hesitantly and then looked down at his large, tanned hand holding her pale one, she looked up again and he was staring at her with something she couldn't quite understand on his face. She got ahold of herself and swung her leg over and slid off the horse with his help. Her feet unsteadily touch the ground and she quickly gripped his arm for support.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I don't ride horses much," she said as she slowly let go of his arm. "As you can tell." she giggled.

He gave her a small smile and started to walked ahead, gesturing for her to follow him. "We should be quick. Pyrrha will go spare if she doesn't get her sacred carrots."

She giggled and sped up to walk next to him. At that moment, she forgot about everything that happened that morning, especially the words Natsu had said to her.