[AN] Hello guys! Back with another update! Sorry for the long wait! I really am! My beta-reader was having internet troubles and finished the chapters I sent them just as quickly as possible. I will try to get on a schedule of one chapter per week, maybe two. If one day per week, Wednesday, if two, Wednesday and Saturday. Anyhow, please enjoy and leave a review!

Bara's eyes slowly opened, her entire body feeling pleasantly warm. Her hand inadvertently went to her arm, feeling her... Clothed skin?

She stirred under the covers, noticing that they felt heavier. With a light groan, she fully opened her eyes, looking down. She saw that she had the regular blanket on her, but nevertheless, they felt heavier...

She lifted her arm slightly, feeling a rough-ish fabric rub against her arm. When the blanket lifted just slightly, a familiar scent wafted through the room, instantly sending shivers down her spine.

She hummed questioningly, an intrigued look on her face, as she fully lifted the blanket and tossed it aside.

It took her a moment, for her brain to recognize and comprehend the object sitting on her. For a moment, she was confused. Until she remembered the night before.

She held the green fabric between tightly closed fists, as she brought it closer to her face, covering her mouth. The ever soothing scent wafted through the air, stimulating her senses.

"What the hell is that smell?" Jean asked from below.

Bara let out a contented sigh, before wiping off all the happiness her face harbored, to roll over on the bed, peering over the edge of it at Jean.

"It's your superior you di-

A knock on the door interrupted her insult and drew both their attentions to the door.

"Who is it?" Bara asked.

The door cracked open, the raven-haired beauty peering in.

Bara began to like that nickname.

"I just came here to..." Levi murmured, walking into the room. "Get this..." he finished, gently placing his hand upon her chest, the small clasp of his cloak still fastened.

"Perv..." Jean called, pushing himself up on his forearms.

Levi peered down at him sidelong, as he felt Bara's chest rise in bouncing motions with her laughter.

"Jean! What makes him a perv?"

Jean chuckled, as he said; "Look where he's touching."

Bara looked down at where Levi's hand made contact with her chest, his thumb resting gently on the clasp of the cloak. Her face brushed with pink, as she let out another small giggle.

Levi's face turned a shade of crimson red upon realizing his hand was currently placed.

He shifted his hand over slightly, pulling apart the clasp.

"Here," Bara said, turning her head to the side as she moved the cloak off her shoulders. She leaned forward, trying to grab the cloak out from under her back, however, she hit Levi's forehead upon doing so.

Levi's head reared back in surprise.

"Oops! Sorry, Sa!" Bara said, finally managing to gather up the emerald cloth.

Her body fell back down onto the bed, as she lifted her arms up, the green fabric adorned with the wings of freedom held in her hands.

Levi smiled softly, a smile only Bara caught, as he gently grabbed the cloak from her hands.

"Thanks for letting me borrow this, by the way," Bara said with a smile.

Levi nodded. "Yeah."

He leaned back so that he was no longer leaning over the bed, and turned to face the door.

"See you later, Sa."

Levi turned his head over his shoulder. With a slight smile, he said; "Yeah, see you later..."

He quickly left the room afterward.

Jean sat up, and was silent for a moment, before saying; "Is he your boyfriend?" in a sing-song voice.

Bara furrowed her eyebrows, mumbling; "Eighth grader..."

Bara walked down the hall, her sights set on Levi's office, a pleasant smile on her features. Without even thinking, she opened the door without knocking.

Levi didn't even look up, just continued to write whatever he was writing, as he said; "Good morning Tetsu."

Bara smiled as she closed the door behind herself.

"Not feeling like knocking today?" He asked, still staring at his papers.

Bara giggled lightly. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking about it."

Levi waved his hand at her slightly, telling her to disregard that little tidbit, as he turned to open a drawer of his desk, fishing through it for something.

She smiled slightly as she stepped toward the desk, and sat in the small chair facing it.

Levi sighed as he was unable to find what he was looking for, and closed the drawer with an unnecessarily loud slam.

He opened a drawer on the adjacent side, once again fishing through. Levi growled while moving through papers in the drawer, still not finding what he was looking for.

Bara leaned over the desk, asking in a gentle voice; "Are you having trouble with something?"

Levi glanced up, his features softening slightly as he let out a small sigh. "No... Well, yes..." He sighed in annoyance as he placed his hands on the desk, nudging the drawer closed with his knee.

"There was some stupid paperwork stupid shitty-glasses sent me about the stupid mission," he said in a monotone.

Bara was silent for a moment, before responding with; "Sounds stupid."

"It is!" he quickly yelled back. "It's all so stupid..." He sighed as his chin fell in his palm.

Bara smiled slightly. "Well, that sounds fun."

"So fricking fun..." Levi mumbled, his eyes half-lidded as he stared down at the desk.

"Wait, do you mean this?"

Levi looked back up at her, holding up a piece of paper with the messy handwriting that was clearly none others then shitty-glasses'.

"No, because it doesn't say 'dumb ass shit from a monkey of a woman' on it," He said, grabbing the paper. "... But yes."

Bara smirked. "So when is this..." She cleared her throat as she prepared to quote him. "Dumb ass shit," air-quotation marks and all. "supposed to be?"

Levi chuckled softly, a barely audible noise. "Shitty-glasses said it'd probably be within a few days. Or probably whenever I finish this paperwork."

"Ah, so that's why you're taking so long to finish this stuff."

"You noticed," Levi mumbled bored as he looked over the last form he'd have to fill out.

"So, what're you here for?" he asked, lazily dropping the paper so that it floated back down to the desk. "Or are you just here to screw around?"

Bara blushed slightly as she mumbled; "I dunno... I guess I kinda came here to help..."

Levi sighed softly. "I don't have anything for you to help with."

"But your desk is filthy," she pointed out, shuffling around some of the scattered papers strewn across his desk.

Levi looked around at the desk, mumbling; "Yeah..." and wondering when it had gotten like that.

"Can I help with this?" she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

A small, almost invisible smile graced his lips, as he confided her. "Sure."

She smiled gleefully. "Yay! Okay, where do you need me to put these?" she asked, heaving up a large stack of papers as she stood.

"Those need to go to Shitty-"

"Got it!" she confirmed before he finished his sentence.

She was already headed to the door without a second word.

"Wait," stopped her just before leaving.

She turned her head over her shoulder with a curious look on her features.

"Yeah?"

Levi's cheeks dusted pink as he averted his gaze, mumbling; "N-nevermind..."

She smiled. "Okay. I'll be right back after I take these to Hange!"

Levi nodded slightly as she walked out the door. He watched her take long fast strides down the empty hall with a light sigh. He plopped his chin in his hand as his eyelids drooped closed slightly.

"She makes a great assistant..."

Bara was humming a random non-existent tune as she practically hopped to Hange's office.

Once reaching it, she swiftly knocked on the door, careful not to drop the numerous papers in hand.

Hange opened the door quickly, an ecstatic glint in her eyes.

"Bara! I-"

She was cut off with the papers being shoved rather forcefully into her chest, a few of the papers on top flying off and floating to the ground.

Without a single word, Bara turned on her heels and skipped down the halls once again.

Hange stared in confusion, muttering; "Could've at least talked..." in more of whining voice than an annoyed one.

Bara's humming resumed. She may seem happy and aloof, but she fricking hates the idea of having to interact with Hange of all people.

Bara smiled to herself as she walked into the wide open doorway of Levi's office.

She knocked on the doorframe before plopping herself onto the white sofa to the right of Levi's desk.

"Yeah, just go make yourself right at home," he mumbled half-heartedly as he filled out the last of the dreaded files.

"Well don't mind if I do," Bara said, shimmying into the cushions and eventually sprawling out across the sofa.

"Yeah cool, do whatever just don't put your feet up there."

She righted herself on the sofa saying; "Okay, then I'll just sit. I'll be here if you need me for anything!"

Levi smiled softly, before quickly covering it with his usual deadpan expression. The man had one hell of a poker-face.

"Actually, I do need you for something."

"What is it?" Bara quickly responded with more than just a hint of happiness in her tone.

Levi slid a large stack of papers closer to the edge of the desk, saying; "Take these to Mike's office, please."

Bara quickly hopped up and walked to the desk with quite a spring in her step.

"Sure thing!"

She lifted the large stack into her arms in one swift movement.

"Be back in a minute!"

Levi smiled as he filled out the last of the document, listening to the clicking of Bara's boots along the stone floor.

She has no idea what she does to him.

He just wishes he could tell her just what she does to him.

But he can never bring himself to...

Every time he's tried to say something, nothing comes out. Either that or he stops himself before he can say anything. And he can't fathom why.

Literally the worst that could happen is she says she doesn't feel the same way about him. But, if he were to tell her, and she were to say no, the way she sees him could completely change for the worst.

She may not respect him the same, she may not want to be around him, she may not like him the same.

He would always shake off these kinds of thoughts, saying he's just worrying for naught... But what if these are true? What if her view of him changes when he tells her?

He always worries himself with these thoughts, he always keeps himself up late into the night, worrying about something that's most likely never going to happen.

But nevertheless, that possibility scares him. That she'll never know how he feels, or that she'll reject him, or that she could die at almost any moment, or that he could die at almost any moment.

He's just worrying for naught...

"Levi Sa!"

His head popped up to see Bara standing in the doorway, practically bouncing.

How long had she been there? How long was he lost in thought? He really needs to stop doing that...

"Yeah?"

"I was going to go to training... Do you need to go too? Or... Is there anything you need me to do... Or...?"

"Uhm, yeah. I mean... I need to go to training, yes. And no, I don't need you for anything else. I just need to take this last file up to Shitty-glasses' office."

"Oh, I can do that!"

"No, go ahead and get to training. I'll be there soon after."

Bara looked slightly disappointed at first, before brightening up and saying; "Okay!"

Levi smiled softly. She's so very special to him, in many ways.

"Jean! Kirstein! Lover-boy! Horse-face! Idiot! Dumbass! Jackass!"

Jean growled as he turned to face the source of incessant yelling. "WHAT."

"First off, hi. Second off, let's train together!"

Jean thought about it for a moment, before smiling and saying; "Sure. But, as long as I don't end up on my a-"

Bara swiftly landed a kick to Jean's shins after dodging his attempt at a punch. While he was mid-trip, she grabbed his shirt collar and pushed him down forcefully.

"Ow! Crap!" he yelled as he hit the ground hard, landing flat on his ass.

"Damnit..." he mumbled as he climbed to his feet.

Bara helped him up and dusted her hands off after. "Hah! And you landed on your ass!"

Jean grumbled something as he turned and began to walk toward the castle.

"Jean!? Where do you think you're going!?"

"Inside. Where my ass won't be thrown onto the hard dirt."

"Fine, then I'll just follow you and throw your ass on the hard stone."

Jean took up a sprint and made it into the castle before Bara, and disappeared among halls and cadets.

"Damn... Slippery little-"

"Tetsu."

She turned around to see Levi greeting her.

"Oh! Hi, Levi Sa!"

Levi smiled softly as he asked; "How was training? I noticed you and Kirstein were out there longer than the rest and were sparring."

"Oh yeah, it was fun! Jean landed hard on his ass! Like, twice!"

"Good, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself again."

Bara's features suddenly hardened, her body stiffening.

"Y-yeah."

Levi noticed her sudden change in mood and was going to say something, but the words got caught in his throat.

Bara swiftly turned on her heels, saying; "W-well anyway, bye, Levi Sa. I'll see you tomorrow..."

"Yeah," he mumbled.

He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, saying; "Be sure you get something to eat, Tetsu. And..." He choked on his words slightly, before whispering; "I hope you sleep well... Oyasumi... (Goodnight)"

Bara's cheeks lit up with pink. "Y-yeah... O-oyasumi..."

She suddenly found herself so flustered at the small amount of physical contact and nice words. Well, this is Levi we're talking about. Those things are rare to come by with him.

'I thought you didn't like physical contact...' she said to herself as she walked into the mess.

She sighed with her hands on her hips.

'Just avoid people as frivolously as possible and you'll get out of this with the minimal amount of human contact, and get to bed quicker. Easy.'

"Ugh," Bara grumbled as she walked to the showers after having spent far longer than she wanted in the Mess Hall.

"Fricking Eren and his yapping..."

Armin, Mikasa, Jean and Krista she can stand.

But Eren, Sasha and Connie she cannot handle. Sometimes Eren... but add Springles to the mix and it's too much to bear.

Bara sighed as she shed herself of her dirty clothes.

It always felt so nice to wash and unwind.

A loud creak signaled the water turning on.

Bara let out a long contented sigh as hot water streamed down her back and shoulders. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed as she tried to let herself truly relax.

Throughout the entire day, she keeps her guard up at it's utmost. She may seem rather aloof but she's truly very vigilant. When she appears to be paying no mind, she's actually paying very close attention to her surroundings, and always remaining prepared for all hell to break loose. It may not seem like it, but that quality has been ground into her skull by relentless teachings.

And she has never gone against that rule since it engrained itself in her mind. She almost never allows herself to relax. Even now, when she tells herself she's relaxing, for most people she's still on very high alert. She really can't let herself relax. No matter how hard she tries, she just can't. A little voice in the back of her head that she can never bring herself to ignore tells her to remain vigilant, to watch her surroundings, to listen for anything out of the ordinary.

No matter how hard she tries... And she's found that she can't even sleep without that voice taking over her mind and thoughts, and turning every noise in the dark into a feral beast coming to get her, or a murderer lurking in the shadows, or something of the like.

She can't relax because if she does, she'll lose someone important to her again, she'll lose the ones she loves, and she'll blame herself again. She'll blame herself for something that wasn't her fault, because she thinks she should've been there, or she should've paid more attention or something else like that. She knows that will happen. She's done it before.

Although, when she really thinks about it, there is one situation she can always find herself relaxing in. When she's around Levi. Something about his protective and even intimidating personality, and that scent of his that she loves so much, just relaxes her...

When she opened her eyes, she realized she was sobbing, loudly. She brought a hand to her cheek and wiped away the tears dripping down it.

She quickly finished her shower afterward and headed back to the barracks, her emotions completely in shambles.

At least... I'll be able to see Levi again... Tomorrow...