Side Story I

Author's Note: Hi everybody! It's Kjrs again! Hey, so um, I know it's been awhile but I wanted to get you're opinion about something. This is one of many side stories I've written based on the same 'verse as my Eagle and Lightning story but I wanted to know if you guys want to keep reading these in the same story or if I should make a different file for them entirely for the site. If you'd be so kind as to vote on the new poll I'll post on my user and/or letting me know your opinion about the matter on a PM or review I would really appreciate it! Thank you everyone!

I. Federico's flirtations, or how to piss off Lightning

Lightning wasn't sure whether or not she was just irritated with Federico's constant attempts of flirting with her, or feeling downright murderous with all the unfortunately much more successful attempts of groping her ass. In her exasperation she just settled on bashing him upside his thrice-accursed skull with the buttress of her gunblade for every grope and punching him extremely hard on his arm for every inappropriate joke and come-on about finding out whether she's naturally a pinkette.

For some strange reason every time he rouses her ire a rather large and goofy smile on his face appears and he just will not stop, no matter how violently she reacts.

Even Ezio learned to stop flirting with her after that one time that she had almost scalped him with her blade after he made a very crude joke with Mario's mercenaries about being able to put her agility to better use in the bedroom, being stupid enough to be distracted while sparring with her in the ring.

When she even thinks about it all, in the back of her mind she wonders if she should be flattered by his attention and whether or not this means Federico is serious about his many declarations of love, but then she sees the brothers flirting with another woman (read: prostitutes and whores) and promptly dismisses the thought as pure folly. She then turns her thoughts to other far more practical and useful pursuits, such as a way to find more oil to clean her gunblade with or how she needs to find a way to find someone who can make bullets for her weapon.

In her one-tracked mindset she misses how Federico never touches the women he flirts with, or how every time he thinks no one notices he would always sneak a peek at her in the corner of his eyes, and she most definitely does not see that he tends to ignore all other women whenever she's so much as a foot away from him.

Maria however is not so blind, but she is also that much more worried. Lightning has more than proven herself to be quite capable of almost preternatural skill with her weapon as well as having blinding speed to match her uncanny agility but she also has shown that she is highly irritable, caustic and downright rude to those who she dislikes and manages to get any other reaction from her other than a chilly look or her putting physical as well as emotional distance between her and the irritant. Lightning may be a strong warrior in her own right, but she is most definitely would not make a good wife for her eldest son. Not that she would want to, but Federico is most certainly smitten with the girl.

Maria will need to speak with her husband about Federico's little crush on their new comrade before any of this gets too far, for all their sakes.