Chapter 24: Bonding



Dilandau looked up at the clock. It had been about an hour since his daughter fell ill and he was getting impatient. He looked over at Dilandra and took the cloth off of her forehead then drenched it in the ice cold water again. He drained most of the water out of the cloth before placing it back on her forehead. Dilandau then went back into his original sitting position. Setsuna should be the one watching her not me. Dilandau thought to himself as he shut his eyes but quickly opened them as soon as he heard Dilandra moan in her sleep.

Dilandra's eyes fluttered open weakly. Her vision was blurred at first but then soon cleared. She recognized the room and sighed but when she looked to see who was in the room, she felt her body stiffen. The look in his eyes frightened her. Why am I so scared? He's my dad for crying out loud! But . . .he was acting like a jerk the other night and . . . she examined the room once more. He was the only one in the room besides herself. He, he was watching over me alone? Maybe I was wrong about him.

"Uh, you feeling uh, any better?" Dilandau asked uncertain of what to say.

"Yea I guess." that awkward silence came back between the two. What should I say let alone do? Dilandra wondered as she shifted underneath the covers.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry about the way I acted the other night." why the fuck did I just say that?! I'm never sorry about anything but, her eyes . . .damn it! She gets it from her mother! I can't be hard on Setsuna because of those eyes of hers.

"It's okay because well, we didn't really know who each other was so you had a reason for acting that way." Dilandra sat up right but kept her eyes on her lap. She's just like her mother . . . Dilandau though as a kind and gentle smiled formed on his lips. "And I'm just happy to finally meet you dad." she smiled back at him.



"Hey Setsuna, wanna duel?" Dallet asked as he approached the woman from behind as he entered the training gym just after her. Setsuna drew her sword and turned to him.

"Sure, why not! I could never give up the opportunity to kick a Dragon Slayer's ass!" she laughed and Dallet frowned. Ever duel they had she always came out the victor.

"Ya, we'll see about it this time cuz you're the one who's ass is gonna get kicked." this only made Setsuna laugh even more.

"Brave thoughts for a brave soldier." was her reply just before she lunged forward at the unprepared Dallet. Quickly he drew his sword and blocked her attack.

"Hey! That wasn't fair! I didn't even have more sword drawn yet!" Dallet complained as he pushed Setsuna away and stepped backwards.

"Dallet, Dallet, Dallet . . .have you not learned anything as a soldier?" she attacked him again but more forcefully. "You must expect the unexpected!" she attacked him again, just barely missing his face. Dallet stumbled backwards and attacked, hoping to turn the tables on her. Setsuna shook her head at his decision and easily blocked his weak attack. Then with a swift movement of her hand, she disarmed him. A round of applause could be heard throughout the gym. Setsuna sheathed her sword and gracefully took a bow. Embarrassed, Dallet picked up his sword from the ground and sheathed it. "Don't worry Dallet, maybe next time I'll let you win." Dallet looked at her coldly and left the gym.

Setsuna looked around the large gym and spotted Gatti. "Hey Gatti!" she yelled and motioned for him to come. Gatti looked over in her direction and walked up to her.

"Hey, what is it?" he asked as he smiled at her in that way.

"Gatti! How many times do I have to remind you! I'm married and have two kids so stop smiling at me like that!" Gatti then quickly adverted his eyes from her. He, like so many other Dragon Slayers found her irresistible and envied their general for that. "Any ways, I wanted to know when are the new recruits coming in for their training?" Gatti looked up from the black padded floor and to the clock on the wall.

"They should be arriving any minute now. Miguel is handing them out their training armour in their dorms." Withing the next few minutes, the new recruits arrived. They all wore the same thing, black leather pants and a black leather jacket which had a bit of shoulder and arm padding. The recruits varied in age. Some were as young as Setsuna's own son which was ten and other were as old as 19, the maximum age. They tended to only take men and now even woman between the ages of 12-19. Those that were younger than 12 had to be exceptionally well for their age.

"Alright you worthless bums! I maybe a woman but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on you! First you'll all be trained by Miguel and Chesta. If they think you're good enough then you get to be trained by myself." her voice changed dramatically from when she spoke with Gatti. Before it was in a friendly manner but as soon as she spoke to the new recruits it became stern and cold. Miguel and Chesta looked up at her a bit confused.

"We get to train them?" Chesta asked still shocked. Setsuna looked at the two older men and nodded.

"I've gotta check up on Dilandra and Dilandau." the two soldiers then looked at her and gave an understanding look. As Setsuna turned toward the door, to her surprised she found Dilandau and Dilandra together, both smiling. She approached the two grinning delightfully. "I see you're feeling better." she remarked as she checked her daughter's forehead. "Well, at least your fever's gone, that's good." she looked hen at Dilandau. "So what are you two doing here?" she asked curiously.

"Well, dad was gonna teach me how to fight." Dilandra answered her mother.

"Oh, he is, is he?" Setsuna looked at Dilandau who quickly looked away. "Well, that's great." he was taken back by her statement. He was expecting her to bitch and yell at him for even thinking about it. "Here's the keys to the training room Dilandau." Setsuna grabbed the ring of keys from her belt and tossed them to the surprised Dilandau. The father and daughter couple then left and headed to the training rooms.

"Wow Setsuna, I must say I'm very surprised." Miguel commented as he waited for Chesta to finish his instructions.

"And why is that?" she seemed somewhat confused.

"Well, we all just figured you wouldn't want her to train and especially with Lord Dilandau." Setsuna rolled her eyes at the answer.

"He's her father and I know he wouldn't do anything stupid with her and any ways, it's good to see them bonding."



A/N: YAY!!!! Another chapter written!!!!! You don't know how happy I am!!! I was having the worst time trying to think of how Dilly and Dilandra were gonna bond! Well, ya so any ways, please review and all flames can be sent to me at sailor_cosmos71@hotmail.com