"Achu!" Kondo suddenly sneezed, covering his nostrils with his arm.
"Michael Jordan!" Sougo followed behind, but because he didn't want to sound cliché, he sneezed a baseball player.
"What kind of sneeze is that...? Ah... Achu!" Hijikata sneezed as well.
"That's not... Ni-Nikola Tesla!" Kondo sneezed for second time, playing Sougo's game.
"You can't do Nikola Tesla! Ah...ah... Brian May!" Hijikata sneezed again.
Erwin Smith, Commander of the Survey Corps; a man well respected among his fellows and soldiers, and well-known to be a very serious man when it came to his work, watched closely with a puzzled face at the three policeman assigned to work under his wing.
How do they do that...? He thought, wondering how can someone sneeze words. Or names, that is.
He shook his head, trying to get those stupid thoughts out of his head. There wasn't time for that, goddammit!
After having lunch, the dimensional travelers were ordered to present themselves to their new superior and were given directions to meet them. So there he was, standing right in front of them, wondering how they could sneeze in that way, instead of properly introducing himself.
"Man, someone must be talking about us. I bet Yamazaki is talking shit while we're here in another dimension," Sougo said, ignoring Erwin's glare at his use of words.
"How do you know he's not here?!" Hijikata hollered, just because he didn't want to agree with his mortal enemy.
"There, there," Kondo interfered, patting their shoulders. "Now's not the time to talk about Yamazaki or anyone else who's not here for the time being. Let's just concentrate with what we have right in front of us, shall we?"
Erwin coughed into his hand, trying that way to gain their attention, and he was gladly grateful when they turned to face him.
"So, um, we already know each other, I suppose. If I'm correct, you're Kondo Isao, you Sougo... Okita, and you..." He faced Hijikata trying to remember his name, but no good names came across his mind.
"Toushiro Hijikata. Just call me Hijikata, everyone does," he sighed.
Erwin smiled apologetically. "Right, Hijikata."
"Don't worry, Eyebrows-san. His name is not worth being remembered. He's going to die soon, anyway," Sougo said. Such harsh words, and still he managed to keep a straight face.
Erwin somehow knew -for the first time he'd seen him-, he would be more difficult to deal than Levi. And his instinct never fails him.
He then furrowed his brows because: a) Did he just call him "Eyebrows"? and b) Was he really eager to kill his comrade?
Kondo seemed to notice his discomfort, because he immediately smacked Sougo's head with a stern face. But, being Kondo the one we're talking about, didn't smack him that hard.
"Don't be rude, brat! Be grateful this good man gave us an opportunity to prove ourselves worthy in this place, even when they could've just dropped us to the Teraglos!"
"Titans," Erwin corrected him with a sweat drop.
"Tch, whatever," Sougo stubbornly crossed his arms. "I'll do it just because I don't want to get you into trouble, Kondo-san."
Erwin noticed how Kondo's glare softened. He watched the two in bewilderment, not really sure as how to interpret their relation.
It was obvious for him that Kondo was truly a leader for both Hijikata and Sougo, even if they seemed to treat him as an equal. He also appeared to be the one to establish their limits, as both Hijikata and Sougo seemed to have a quite problematic attitude. In some way, he could relate both of them with Levi. They all seemed to have had a dark past as some type of criminal, but either way ended up finding an alternative to continue their lives in the most decent way. In their case, they appeared to have decided to use their force for protecting their people. Or at least Erwin hoped so. He didn't knew this Edo city, after all.
He smiled at Kondo nonetheless, hoping his brat won't ever call him "Eyebrows-san" again.
"Do you really mean it when you say you want Hijikata dead?" He asked Sougo, before he could refrain himself of asking the question out loud.
Sougo stared at him with no emotion, while Hijikata let his head drop, bangs shadowing his expression in the process. Even Kondo seemed to turned serious all of sudden.
"It's none of your business, Eyebrows-san," Sougo told him, aware of the atmosphere.
Erwin's brow twitched at the sound of his nickname. "I'd be pleased if you stop calling me that way, Okita."
"Then stop asking stupid questions," he told him back with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Erwin almost lost his composure at those words wich seemed to hide a possible threat. He barely heard Kondo scolding Sougo for his words, but paid no attention.
He heavily sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't wander in personal territory. But I mean it, stop calling me 'Eyebrows'."
Sougo smirked, while Kondo and Hijikata seemed to gain their composure once again.
"Well, then," Erwin allowed himself to smile. "I'm going to present you some people who will be with you. Follow me," he motioned them to follow him.
"Hey, Eren, who do you think those guys back there are?"
Said guy, who was currently sweeping the floor in one of his stupid Captain's tasks -not that he'd tell him that face to face-, turned around and noticed for first time his bald friend Connie cleaning next to him. He blinked, feeling stupid for not noticing it before.
"Uh? Sorry, I didn't see you," he said, paying no mind to the question.
Connie, who was trying to maintain balance with his 3DMG while cleaning a high window, almost flipped and fell over after hearing his words.
"What the hell?! I was here all along. You're such an airhead sometimes, Yeager," he told him with a frown, offended he didn't notice his presence.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, don't get angry. What did you ask me again...?"
"What do you think about those weird guys back at lunch? Captain Levi also told us he's going to present us some new partners..."
Eren looked back at him with confusion, not quite remembering him saying that, but then let it go with a shrug.
"I'm not one to comment. You know how people gets with new people; they start spreading rumors and all that," he said, trying hard to clean up a stain on the floor wich seemed to be pretty old.
"They say they saved some trainees from the 105th Squad from some Titans, and that because of that and their foreign origin were brought to trial to decide their destiny. Zackly pretty much spared their lifes, so yeah."
"I see... that would explain why they were sitting with them at lunch," he mused.
"Man, but didn't you see those clothes and appearance? They give me the creeps," Connie said, flinching.
The brown-haired boy couldn't help but nodded. "Yeah, they had pretty shocking looks. Specially the white-haired man with the perm."
"He also had red eyes. If you ask me, he almost looks like a demon."
Eren sighed. "I've already told you. I'm not one to comment."
Connie gave him a sympathetic smile, but said nothing in response.
"Hey, guys! Captain Levi is waiting for you outside! Says something about a pair of insufferable brats, or something like that," a voice called them from the door, and both Connie and Eren exchanged bemused expressions.
"Em, yeah, we're going," Eren said, leaving his cleaning equip.
