~Familiar~Stranger~

~Chapter 5~





Dilandau walked back to his room, surprisingly calm. He seemed to be in a slight
trance. He ignored Dragon Slayers as they passed; didn't respond to their questions. He closed
the door to his room behind him and walked over to his bed, pulling out his sword. Dilandau
opened the drawerin his desk and pulled out his sharpening stone. Dilandau started to run the
stone over his blade in long strokes. He only did this when he was in two moods: bored and
p*ssed off. After a few minutes, he flipped the sword around and started over again. *Maybe
Miguel was honest. That's the first time he has had the courage to snap at me like that.* Dilandau laughed bitterly. *Yeah, sure. Hitomi has come back from the dead.* He sighed, unconciously
putting more pressure in his strokes. Soon sparks were starting to fly. He didn't notice until one
of the sparks hit his hand. It left a noticable mark that hurt, but he just stared at his hand, not
feeling the stinging sensation in his hand. Dilandau foundhe couldn't help but stare at the
reddened burn on his hand. He rubbed the sore, then continued to sharpen his sword. After a
few minutes, he felt his fingers rub against the sword and realized his stone had worn down far
enough that he couldn't use it.

"Guess I was rubbing too hard." He muttered. He then loked at his sword and was
pleased for a few seconds when he saw that it was in the best condition it had been in for almost
2 years.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~5~hours~later~

After a bad battle, Dilandau called up all those who had their guymelefs damaged.
Miguel, Viole, Gatti, Guimel and Rafe stepped forward. He struck the first four hard, but when
he came to Rafe, he stared at him for a moment. "You still haven't explained what you were
doing in Hitomi's room."

"I have already told you sir. I am not sure myself." Dilandau stared at him for a
moment, the struck him in the face hard, causing him to fall. When he stood again, Dilandau
punched him in the stomach hard enough that when he fell to the ground, the air was knocked
out of him and he couldn't stand. Dilandau looked over at Viole.

"Stand him up and hold him, Viole." Miguel bit his lip. He and Rafe had become
friends, and he hated to see Rafe being punished so severly. But he couldn't intervene, or
Dilandau would start on him. Dilandau repeatedly struck him hard in the face and chest. Rafe
had a split lip, a black eye, started to cough up some blood, and was positive that at least half
his ribs were broken. Viole could no longer hold him up and Dilandau told him to let him go.
Rafe fell to the floor, gasping in pain and continually coughing and spitting out blood. Dilandau
kicked him hard in the side, then stopped, panting almost as badly as Rafe. He looked over at
the other Dragon Slayers, then turned and headed for the door. Miguel kneeled beside Rafe
and was about to help him up, when Dilandau ordered him not to move him. "You might make
his injuries even worse." Miguel looked up at Dalet.

"Go tell the healer's ward to get a bed prepared." Rafe looked up at Miguel.

"Guess he wasn't too pleased with me."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



~30~minutes~later~

When Miguel saw one of the sorcerers again, he was just leaving Rafe's room.
Miguel stopped the sorcerer.

"How is he?"

"He's asleep right now, sir. He has 15 broken ribs, a broken wrist, and several
brusies." Miguel nodded slightly and the sorcerer left. Miguel walked into Rafe's room and
looked over at the bed to see Rafe under light sheets. Rafe was awake and looked over at
the sound of the door closing.

"Hey." Miguel said quietly.

"Hey." Rafe said hoarsely, his voice cracking. Miguel walked over to the bed.

"How do you feel?"

"Ready to die." He muttered. Miguel laughed.

"After what you recived from Lord Dilandau, I'm not surprised." He looked down
at Rafe's chest, which was heavily bandaged. "Did they tell you how long you're confined to your
room?"

"Yeah, at least 3 weeks they said."

"Man, you're going to have to work hard to make up for all the training you'll miss."
Rafe nodded in agreement, then closed his eyes for a moment, yawning. "You had better get
some rest if you're going to heal." He turned and walked out the door as Rafe fell asleep. The
door closed and Rafe turned in his bed, trying to get comfortable and wincing as pressure was
put on his injured chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Miguel walked into the training room and sat down on one of the benches along
the side, watching Viole and Dalet spar. Gatti walked over to Miguel and sat down beside
him.

"Hey, is Rafe okay?" Miguel looked at him.

"Well, considering what he went through, he's not looking too bad. He's awfully
pale, and his chest was heavily bandaged." Gatti studied him for a moment.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Miguel rubbed his arm.

"Yeah, but I'm also a little nervous. I've never seen Lord Dilandau injure anyone so
badly." Gatti bit his lip.

"Well, I'm sure that he only beat him so badly because he was mad about finding
Rafe in Hitomi's room." Gatti then walked back over to where he and Shesta were having an
arm wrestle.

"Maybe." Miguel stared at him, then trained his eyes to the floor as he heard Dilandau
walk into the room. Dilandau looked around the room, then stared at Miguel, curious to know
why he was alone when usually he was sparring with someone. After a moment, he walked over
and stood in front of Miguel. Miguel looked up after a moment.

"Something wrong, Lavileir?" Dilandau questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No sir, no there isn't."

"You know, it's strange. You said that Hitomi was in her room, yet when I got there,
all I found was Rafe. You wouldn't have had anything to do with it, would you?"

"No sir. And I assure you, I wasn't wrong about Hitomi. I honestly saw her."
Dilandau's eye started to twitch.

"If I find out you're not being honest with me, you'l be joining Rafe very quickly." He
then turned and left the room. Miguel felt like he was going to collapse, but he managed to sit
down on the bench without falling and held his head in his hands.












A/N: awww, poor miguel!!! *sniff* i's got's to be more nicer to him!!!

~Wild Angel~