Lost and Found

Lost and Found

By: rainjewel

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Migel

Go to sleep. Please just go to sleep.

Well, finally I have received an inadequate guard. Actually, I've had a lot of those, but I've been too weak to take advantage of the situation. Thankfully that monk stitched me up.

These silly men are sloppy without their beloved commander running around giving orders. Gadeth had kept them in line, but he's too tired to be of any use for a little while.

I actually kind of like this man, this Gadeth. He seems to be genuinely interested in my wellbeing and is the only person (save for the monks) that has been fair to me. Sadly, for him, he's tired and that's affecting his watchman qualities. The minute he's out I can return to Dilandau.

Go to sleep! Here, I'm sending you sleepy vibes. Damn it! Just shut your eyes!

This isn't working.

I close my eyes. If I feign sleep maybe he'll relax a bit and fall adrift in dreamland a bit easier. Gods, I'm sore! I think I can take him though. Hmm…59 kilograms versus about 70 kilograms…and the guy's slightly shorter then Folken…maybe not. And I have that thing in the corner to worry about. Maybe it's Zaibach informant, but with my damned luck it's probably some torture specialist. Actually, according Freid battle codes or something like that, they're going to bring in some hypnotist.

Oh goody.

Wait! I stop my musings and listen carefully to my surroundings. Gadeth's breathing has slowed considerably. I risk opening my left eye. Oh yes, he's sleeping like a puppy dog.

Quickly I stand, clutching at my side that screams in pain. I grit my teeth and reach into the inside of my armor. I scoop out my dog tags. Ah yes, Migel Labariel, number 16Z4. There are sixteen Dragon Slayers in Zaibach and I'm the fourth, alphabetically. I take the one pointed end of the tags and insert it into the lock. I have to hand it to Folken, he certainly thinks of everything. With a few jiggles and twists the lock opens. I ease my way through the door, and it promptly lets out a loud squeak. Shit.

Gadeth snorts in his sleep and opens his eyes, his body tensing. Quickly I take both my hands and hit him over the head with my armored fists. His head rolls to the side and his eyes roll up in his head. I rip off a glove and feel for his pulse. Good, it's still there. Fore some reason I really don't want to kill this man.

Immediately I take the keys from his lap and drag his limp body into the cell. Damn, he's really heavy. I feel a few stitches rip and fresh hot blood begins spilling down my side—just what I needed.

I retrieve his dagger and sword, then lock him firmly in the cage. Only then do I glance to the corner where the cloaked form sits. Make that sat. The corner's empty.

I whip around, my dagger out. The cloaked figure stands in front of me, but backs up frantically trying to escape from my blade point. I grab a handful of the cloak to prevent the creature's escape but the person trips on the large folds of fabric and falls to the ground, carrying me with it. I feel the dagger fly from my hand.

We crash to the floor in a jumble. My left hand is pinned under the cloaked person, but I'm on top of them. The figure begins flailing under me, causing my own limbs to become entangled in the fabric. I manage to get semi-chokehold on the creature with my right hand, but that's all I can manage through the thick folds of the cloak.

"What are you? What are you doing here?" I hiss to the creature.

"God Ryan! Let me go! I'm here to help you!" comes the muffled voice. It's obviously Hitomi, and she sounds angry with me. Gods, she's everywhere I go, I think. Swiftly I release her.

"Get off me!" Hitomi says, her voice still rather muffled.

"I would if you'd get off my arm!" I reply exasperatedly.

"I can't even get myself untangled from this cloak!" Hitomi exclaims.

"Hold on then, don't move!" I tell her. I reach for the fallen dagger and lift it from the ground. Swiftly I slice part of the cloak into a couple ragged shreds. Hitomi's honey-colored head suddenly pops up beside my face.

"Thank you. I couldn't breathe. Actually, I still can't. How much does your stupid armor weigh?" Hitomi asks. I ignore her comment and busy myself with slicing more fabric.

"Careful! You almost nicked my leg!" Hitomi calls out.

"Shush! I'm sorry! I can't see what I'm doing!" I growl into her ear. She smells good.

Finally I get the fabric completely sliced to shreds and Hitomi manages to wiggle out from under my body. I slowly straighten myself out from the remaining black cloth. Slowly I rise to my feet, clutching my left side.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" I ask her, leaning against the wall.

"Gadeth said that the crew was planning on killing you if Allen died. I was going to save you," Hitomi says sheepishly.

"I can save myself," I say to her. "Now get out of here. You're going against your country, and you're hindering my escape." Not to mention that you're highly distracting.

"Excuse me, but I don't have a country on this planet!" Hitomi replies. I shake my head and slip out of the door. Hitomi follows.

"Look! You're the most conspicuous person in Freid! And I have orders to kill you! Get the hell away from me!" I say. It hurts to say so, but it needed to be said. I begin to creep along the shadows of the halls. Damn the moonlight is bright in Freid!

"If you were going to kill me you already would have. And you can't escape without me, because I won't let you," Hitomi says. I stop dead in my tracks. My, little Hitomi has grown up.

"Well aren't we clever! Hitomi, you couldn't stop me even if you wanted to. For god's sake, I know how to kill a man 8 different ways using my bare hands," I spit back in a reply.

My mind's helter-skelter. It's apparently having trouble functioning, what with her jabbering and all. I guess I can't escape a highly lethal situation and hold an intelligent conversation simultaneously. I shift my eyes all around. Damn! Bloodstains mark my escape route.

"Would everyone please stop treating me like a child! Ryan, I can get you out of here…what in the hell are you doing?" Hitomi says, stomping her small foot.

"For crying out loud, my name is Migel! And what does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking off my clothes! Now shut up and let me think!" I whisper harshly back to her. I continue removing my armor.

"Why?" Hitomi asks. Her emerald eyes are following my every move with shocked confusion. Yeah, go and look. It's your own little peep show! Whoopee!

"I thought I told you to be quiet! My armor is hindering me, and I have to stop this damned bleeding," I say. I rip off my blue undershirt and hold it too my bleeding side. Leather pants and my sheathed sword. Great armor Migel. You're even barefoot. That should blend right in. I should go back and get that cloak (or its pieces) and perhaps Gadeth's boots, but I don't have time.

"Here," says Hitomi. I look up. She's holding a large piece of what was the cloak. She must have gone back to get it. Funny, I didn't even notice she'd left. Usually I'm a highly observant individual.

"Thank you," I say, reaching for it.

"I'm not letting you have it yet. Come with me, I'll get you out of the palace," Hitomi says. She grabs my hand and starts leading me down the hall. Okay, it's official. This girl is going to kill me.

"Hitomi, are you insane? There are guards at the gate! What are you planning on doing? Using your feminine wiles?" I ask. I grab the cloak from her hand and fasten a toga-like shirt.

"Precisely," Hitomi replies. I glance at her with obvious disbelief.

"They're monks. Celibate monks, mind you," I say. My eyes shift through the dark halls. A guard is coming. Shit!

"Don't be stupid! They don't care about the people leaving, just the people getting in—what?" Hitomi asks. I drag her into a corner and press her close to my chest, trying to flatten us against the dark walls.

"Shut up and just go along," I say. I wrap an arm around her waist and pick her up, then dodge into a darkened hallway a little way in front of us. I hold my breath as the guard passes us. After a few moments I let my breath out and relax against the wall. Hitomi does the same, though against my chest.

"Don't get any ideas," I say jokingly.

"With you? Not on your life," Hitomi says. She then pushes off my chest and starts heading out of the hallway. Not knowing what else to do, I follow. She leads me through a couple of tunnels and then through the doors to the outside world.

"I hope you're right about those guards," I whisper to her as we come to the gate that marks the end of the palace grounds. Suprisingly, the guards aren't Freidian monks. Instead their two very burly men, whose smell is a combination of alcohol, body odor, and urine. How vile.

"Hey there sweetheart. Where are you going so late at night?" One of the guards asks Hitomi. Ooh, I can feel my blood begin to boil. Lovely. Not Freidian monks, just your simple, run-of-the-mill jackasses.

"I'm just going for a walk with my friend," Hitomi replies with childish pleasantry.

"Aren't you a little young to be out?" the other guard asks with a greasy smile. I feel my hand tightening on my sword.

"Aren't you a little too old to be propositioning young girls'" I ask heatedly. Hitomi digs her nails into my arm. "Now, it's not a crime to leave the palace gates, and that's what my sweetheart and I are going to do," I continue, ignoring Hitomi's claws.

"I don't like your attitude boy," One of the guards says to me, leaning his disgusting, pockmarked face in close to mine.

"I don't like your stench," I retort quickly. Hitomi is looking at me with murder in her eyes. The man withdraws a sword.

"Maybe we should teach this boy a lesson," the pockmarked guard says to his buddy. His friend nods. I back up a few paces. Let them have their fun.

"Those who can't do, teach," I say simply. "You do know that, don't you?" The guards say nothing, but start walking in my direction. "You're not even going to give me a reply? How rude!"

Instantly the men charge at me, swaggering a little on their alcohol inebriated feet. Shoving Hitomi aside, I withdraw my sword and hit the first man across the base of his skull with the hilt. He falls with an unceremonious plop. The other man freezes then resumes his charge. I merely sidestep him and trip him so that he falls to the ground. I then knock him unconscious and drag the two guards off to the bushes where they can sleep it off.

Hitomi walks up to me, her hands on her hips, leaves in her hair. She looks pissed.

"That wasn't necessary," Hitomi says, stomping past me out the gate. I quickly follow her as she marches into some Freidian alleyway.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Next time I'll let them beat the shit out of me, and when they're done with that they can have a good roll with you!" I yell to her retreating back.

Hitomi turns around sharply and simply slaps me across the face.

"Nice comeback," I say, unfazed. After being hit by Dilandau, her slaps don't even register. Her eyes spark with anger and she takes another swipe at me. This time however, I catch her hand before it gets anywhere close to my face.

"Gotcha," I say condescendingly. I know I'm being arrogant, but it's so much fun.

"Damn it Ryan!" Hitomi screams. She whips her hand from my grasp and folds her arms under her breasts. Suddenly she begins to cry.

Well, I certainly didn't expect this. I feel all my sarcasm and anger melt away.

"I'm sorry Hitomi," I say, my voice softer and more gentler. More like the person I used to be.

"Well I'd hope so! You've tried to kill me not once, but twice! You've been nothing but a jackass, and you've tried to kill all the people on this planet that I care about!" Hitomi says through her tears. "And that's not even mentioning that I've thought you'd been dead for two years!"

"I am sorry. Believe me, I am," I say quietly. Instead of the calming effect I was hoping for, the words seem to make her cry harder. Now I really don't know what to do.

A little voice inside my head tells me I should hold her, reassure her. Chivalry. Ah yes, that's the ticket. I lift a hesitant arm and place it on her shoulder. She shrugs it off and cries even harder.

Well shit.

"Please stop crying," I plead with her. My rejected hand finds its way to my head, and I scratch it worriedly.

"Or you'll what?" she asks heatedly. An idea forms in my mind.

"Sing," I say with a grin. Hitomi looks up and smiles through her silver tears. Whoa, talk about a mood swing.

"I like it when you sing," Hitomi says with a devilish look. "Would you sing for me?"

"Oh no, don't even try to do that! I was joking!" I reply desperately. I'm not going to sing to Hitomi. That's demeaning, that's cheesy, that's—Hitomi's crying again.

"That's not fair," I grumble, "You won't even understand it!" Hitomi continues her charade. Shit.

"Here comes the sun," I begin half-heartedly, "doot-n-doo-doo."

…This is the stupid thing I've ever done…what in the world would Dilandau think?…Oh, the guys can never know about this.

"Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right," I continue. I break off, checking her face. She's smiling at me through her tears again. It's a very knowing smile.

…Well fine then. I'll give her a good show…

"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling it feels like years since it's been here," I sing along with the tune inside my head. My voice grows a little stronger with every word. It feels good to sing with John Lennon again.

"Here comes the sun, doot-n-doo-doo, here comes the sun and I say, it's all right," Hitomi laughs out loud, and the tears stop. I keep singing, grinning through my words.

"Little darling, the smiles are returning to the faces. Little darling, it seems like years since its been here."

I point to her smiling face. Hitomi blushes bright red and turns around. I guess she understands more English then I thought.

"Here comes the sun doot-n-doo-doo, here comes the sun and I say, it's all right," I sing through my own grin. I put my hands on her shoulders and sway with the beat of the music. She sways with me.

…It's just like old times…

"Sun, sun, sun, here it comes," I sing into her ear. Hitomi cracks up. I stop singing and turn her around.

"Why are you laughing?" I ask her, even though I know the answer.

"You sound like a drunk chipmunk!" Hitomi says, then bursts into giggles. I open my mouth and put on a look of mock indignity.

"Well I do say!" I say in my most British accent, though doing that while speaking Japanese is hard. Hitomi laughs even louder, and soon I hear my own chuckles in the night air. We stand there giggling like fools for God knows how long.

Suddenly Hitomi wraps her arms around my waist, giving me a tight hug. This time, instead of acting like a stone statue, I return the embrace, even though I could kill her for hugging my side so hard. Crikey, my wound hurts.

"I haven't had this much fun in ages," Hitomi says, her voice muffled by my chest.

…You don't know the half of it…

"Neither have I," I whisper back, "Neither have I."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Okay, if' anyone's laughing, I'll kill them! J Yes, I'm apologizing for the cheesiness of the last chapter, but I got swept up in the idea of Migel serenading someone. Forgive me for being a romantic (and a Beatles fan)!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*