Chapter 9

Now alone in Hirt's room, door locked, Derith sat in a chair in the corner and Wel-lo leaned against the wall. Hirt was laying down in his bed, "Derith, you wanted to know what happened out there and Wel-lo, what did you see?"

Wel-lo rubbed her arm, "For a brief moment you touched Flom's forehead, and for a extremely short time a black haired woman stood with you. There was a flash of light and Flom was alive."

Derith stared into a lamp on the nightstand, "I didn't falsely diagnose Flom then. What happened then? Dead people don't come back to life," He looked down to the floor, "I know that too well, Hirt, it doesn't happen."

Hirt sighed, "I know that too, but, this is what happened..."

"Impossible!" Derith slammed his fist against the arm of the chair, "Why you?!"

Hirt held up his finger, "Shut up, you'll wake every one up," Hirt sat up, "I don't know why I was chosen. All I know is that I have it. You are not to tell anyone or lower performance because of this."

Wel-lo nodded, "I don't plan to."

Glaring into the night, Derith muttered, "Yeah, whatever. I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Sae popped out of her room, "What's happening? It's almost noon! How did I sleep in?"

Hirt drowsily pushed open his door, "Because I didn't wake you up like you just did to me."

"Why?"

"It's the weekend. We don't go into the labyrinth on weekends."

"What do we do then?"

"That's up to you. Flom and Savilo are gallivanting about, doing, whatever it is they do alone," He shivered, "Rentos, Ubu and Wel-lo are doing some, female bonding or whatever at the Firm spending their share of their money. Derith is sulking about and getting drunk at the Bistro. I was sleeping and so were you. Am I forgetting anyone?"

"Asunio!"

Smirking, Hirt rubbed his chin, "I knew you would think of him. He, has been waiting for you in his room, "He turned his head and called out, "Hey Princey! Princess is up!"

Sae blushed, "Princess?"

Asunio opened the door, equally red, "Oh, hi Sae!"

Yawning loudly, Hirt went back into his room, "Whatever, have fun," He turned and stared at Asunio sternly, "But not too much fun. I'm going to sleep."

Putting on a hoodie, Sae looked at Hirt curiously, "You never sleep in, what's up?"

"I haven't slept in since Flom was born, but someone else is taking care of him now, and someone else is taking care of you. I'm off for today," He slammed the door.

Grabbing onto Asunio's shirtsleeve Sae tugged him out of the inn, Asunio asked, "Where are we going? Sae? Where?"

"Apparently Derith is down, let's go cheer him up."

"Go away, kids, I don't like being drunk around kids…" Derith was slumped over the bar, Missy silently sitting next to him, one hand on his shoulder.

Missy sighed, "I'm sorry, Derith had a rough time last night, you should come back later."

A tear rolled down Derith's face, "Rough time…"

Sae tugged on Asunio again, "Okay, this isn't happening, let's see how Ubu, Rentos, and Wel-lo are doing."

"I think it would look good on you! C'mon, Wel-lo, try it on!" Ubu pressed the dress against Wel-lo's chest, "I'll even buy it! Just try it on!"

Wel-lo resisted, "That's unnecessary, Ubu-san! When will I ever need a dress?"

Rentos put her hand on Wel-lo's shoulder, "Just humour her, Wel-lo, what do you have to lose?"

"Respect! Look at this dress! There's a lot of places where bare skin will show!" She paused and looked at Sae and Asunio in the door way, "And what's more there is a human of the male variety here! I wouldn't use this dress as a night gown!"

Asunio waved it off, "I'll wait outside."

Rentos smiled, "Nothing holding you back now, Wel-lo, try it on!"

Blushing intensely, Wel-lo caved, "Fine I'll try it on," She glanced helplessly at the clerk, "Is there a changing room?"

Shaking her head, she smiled wickedly, "We have a large shield over there, you could change behind it."

Wel-lo squeaked and reluctantly stepped behind the shield. Regardless of the unisex environment she made everybody to turn their backs. A little while later she allowed them to turn around. Rentos smiled at her, "See you look beautiful! Look in the mirror!"

As much as it pained her to admit it, Wel-lo realized she was beautiful. Really she had never paid attention to herself before. No reason to.

The bells at the door tingled and a man donning similar ninja gear as Wel-lo. Wel-lo and he locked eyes for several seconds. The ninja spoke to Wel-lo, "D-do you know where I can find the leader of the Riftwalkers?"

Wel-lo let out a high pitched squeal, and Sae cut in, "We happen to be in that guild ourselves, what do you want with Hirt?"

The ninja didn't take his eyes off of Wel-lo's blushing face, "Is that your guild leader's name?"

Waving her hand in front of his eyes, with no effect, she replied, "Yeah, he's my Dad, what do you want with him?"

He replied, "I am Ren-so, and I'm looking for a guild to join, and I hear The Riftwalkers are high quality, " He continued staring at Wel-lo, who was being held up by Rentos and Ubu, "And it seems like I didn't hear wrong."

Sighing, Sae tapped his nose, catching his attention, "We're held up at Aman's Inn. He might be asleep though, so just wait in the lobby."

Ren-so pointed at Wel-lo, "Is your friend apart of the guild too?"

Rentos fanned off Wel-lo's forehead, "Yeah, Wel-lo's a powerful ninja, but she's a little antisocial. She's not good with emotion."

Ren-so smiled at the fainted woman, "Ninja, huh? My life just got convenient."

"Don't get cocky, she might not even notice you for the first week."

"If you say so."

Wel-lo came to just as Ren-so turned to leave and she studied him. He was short and lean, dressed in a grey vest with blue sleeves, and had a fiery orange scarf that dropped down to his waist. His black hair ended in a ponytail and he wore a Makiri at his waist. He walked with cautiously, even resorting to glancing over his shoulder from time to time.

Wel-lo stood up and grabbed Ren-so's scarf, "To let you know, Ren-so, this is my first time wearing such a garment, and," She looked seriously into his eyes, "I am not easy."

Ren-so smirked, "I imagine not, fairest Wel-lo. I imagine not," The door tingled as he opened it, "But you do look nice in a dress."

The door slammed shut and Wel-lo changed back into her regular garb, "What a interesting man…"

Sae sighed, "A little creepy for my taste, but whatever."

"Your taste?" Rentos laughed, "Your taste is in princes, right?"

Sae blushed and there was a crash outside, and upon Sae's inspection she found Asunio lying face first in a pile of buckets that was stacked near the window of the Firm. Asunio could feel the intense heat of her gaze, "What were you doing out here?"

Asunio sat up, scratched the back of his head and mumbled, "Uh, I was wondering if you were going to put on a dress, too."

"What? You're mumbling!"

"Nothing. What now?"

Helping him up and eyeing him suspiciously, Sae said, "I don't know, let's find Flom and Savilo!"

"Are you sure we want to do that?" Asunio rubbed his hands together nervously, "I mean, what if they're, you know…" He made a strange gesture with his hands.

"Nah, my brother's a prude."

"That's not what I meant."

"I told you we shouldn't of come! This is just wrong!" Whispered Asunio, who was hiding behind a bush with Sae, watching Flom and Savilo standing in front of a tall tree in the middle of a park, holding hands.

Sae shrugged, "Nah, it's not wrong, we just happened to see them while we were taking a walk ourselves, right?"

"How would you explain us hiding behind a bush?"

Sae though for a moment, then winked mischievously, "I'd come up with something."

"Oh lord."

"Oh! They're moving! Let's follow!"

"Fine fine, it looks like they're headed towards the docks."

"Can we go now?" Complained Asunio, "I'm quite bored of watching them flirt."

They were now crouching behind a stack of crates and Flom and Savilo were sitting on the dock's edge, feet in the water.

Asunio stifled a cough, "I mean really, we stick around any longer, they'll be making out in the water."

"Exactly!"

"You want to see that?"

"Sure why not? I'll black mail him later, to not tell dad."

"Your cute exterior hides an evil spirit."

"Cute exterior?"

"Did I say that?"

"Yup."

Asunio stuttered, "W-well I-I…"

Sae place her finger on his lips, "You think I'm cute?"

"I-I-I…"

"You've never had speech problems before, what's your deal?"

Asunio's face was now a deep, deep red, "Uh, well, y-yes."

Sae leaned forward, Asunio's face now inches from hers, "Really?"

Asunio leaned forward slightly too, causing a half inch gap between their lips, "Yes."

There was a laugh, "Hah! Look at this!"

Startled, the two looked up to find Flom standing on the topmost crate grinning widely at them, "Wonder what would happen if Dad found out."

Asunio sighed, "Your plan backfired, Sae. Really badly."

Sae tripped over her words, "F-Flom! D-don't you dare breathe a word!"

Savilo stepped out behind them, "Wow! Look how red she is!"

Flom nodded, "Yes, but is it embarrassment or rage?"

Sae lunged at Flom, "Why don't you find out?!"

Flom sidestepped and Sae landed on the other side of the crates, "Both, it seems."

Asunio stood up, "Stop jumping around Sae, you'll land on a fish hook!" Sae dusted herself off, humphed and stormed off, and Asunio sighed, "That's my queue. We'll stop following you around now."

"Good," Flom commented, he looked at Savilo with a sparkle in his eye, "I was getting tired of holding back."

Asunio ran off at that point.