Author's Notes: Wow, another update in the same day!! =) I take it you've read the previous chapter? I'll ask again, is anyone interested in a Sasuke/Wakaba fic? [Yeah, yeah, I'm getting pushy here, since I really want an excuse to write about them XD] This chapter will be pretty short. It seems that our favorite boys and girls are getting uncomfy…

Disclaimer: Suikoden is not mine.

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

Chapter 13: Alone In A Crowd

           

"I hope it goes well," Millie said to no one in particular.

Meg shrugged. She looked around the packed tavern and raised a hand. "Meilin-san!!" The trickster girl cried over the din. The waitress looked at Meg and held up her hand, indicating that she will be coming.

            Futch looked up from feeding Bright a bread stick. "I'm sure it will," he assured Millie.

            "What?" Millie asked, raising her voice so that it could be heard over the chatter.

            "I'm sure it will be fine," Futch repeated, a little louder this time. "Sasuke won't leave the laundry area until they have settled their differences. He beamed at the group around him. "Well, what do you think we should have for lunch?"

            Only Rikimaru's guffaw to Amada's joke at the next table met his inquiry. For their part, his companions were silent. With much effort, he suppressed a sigh of despair and managed to keep smiling. "Come on you guys, I thought we were going to the restaurant?"

            The soft pit-pat of the waitress' slippers announced her arrival. "What will you be having?"

            "Cherry liquor." Meg said without hesitation.

            "Uh, Meg-san, you are only sixteen…" Meilin's voice trailed off.

            "It's for Onee-chan. Right?" Meg poked Tengaar's arm.

            "Huh? Yes." Tengaar nodded distractedly.

            "Okay…" Meilin scribbled it on her notepad. Then she prompted, "What else?"

            "Iced coffee." Meg said. "For me, you understand."

            "Fine, we'll stay here. I'll have a cola drink." Futch said in a resigned voice. He poked Bright in the eye when the little white dragon bit his finger. "And a dish of milk for Bright."

            "A mug of ale," Hix muttered.

            Tengaar's head snapped up. "Since when did you start drinking?!" Hix did not acknowledge the question and defiantly kept his gaze trained away from her. "Nevermind." The redhead huffed.

            "Umm… is that all?" Meilin asked.

            "Strawberry shake!!" Millie piped up.

            "Nothing for me." Luc pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. "I'll be going now."

            "Oh, Luc, wait…" Millie reached into her pocket. "Huh? That's odd…" She opens her satchel and peers inside.

            "… What?" Luc mumbled.

            "Oh… nothing… I'll see you." Millie gave him a quick wave. The mage started walking away and Millie emptied the contents of her satchel unto the table.

            "Would that be all?" Meilin asked politely.

            "Yes," Meg nodded.

            Millie scrutinized the objects on the table. "Oh no, not here either." She collected them back inside the satchel. "How about you, Bonaparte?" She picked up her protesting pet by its rear legs and shook it.

            "You don't have it?" Millie let the groundhog go and it fell with a plop on the table. It hissed at her, but Millie did not notice.

            "I gotta go… look for something. See you guys later!!" Millie waved at them then dashed towards the door leading outside, to the castle grounds. "Bonaparte, hurry up!!" The groundhog ran out the door its mistress held open and then the girl too went through the door and closed it.

            "So…" Meg looked at her companions.

            Futch took another breadstick and held it to Bright's mouth. The dragon pushed it away. "Don't be stubborn, you have to eat." Futch pushed it inside the dragon's mouth.

            Meanwhile, Hix had taken to polishing his sword with his hanky. Tengaar looked as if she wanted to say something about this but kept her mouth shut. Instead, she unbraided one side of her hair. She ran her fingers through it and then rebraided it.

"Hello, you guys…" Meg called in a singsong voice. "Some company you make."

            "Did you say something?" Futch asked. "I couldn't hear you very well over the noise." He gestured to the noisy tables surrounding them, with the breadstick that had Bright's drool all over it.

            Meg wrinkled her nose in disgust. "No, it was nothing."

            Futch went back to force-feeding his dragon.

            With nothing left to do, Meg allowed her eyes to wander around the tavern, and her ears to pick up conversation from the neighboring tables. A particular voice caught her attention.

            "Lady Valeria, I'm really sorry." Came the very sweet voice of the former Captain of the Matilda Red Knights.

            Meg sneaked a glance over her shoulder. General Valeria sat with both her arms and her legs crossed. Her narrowed eyes were upon Camus who had an apologetic look on his face. Clearly, it was the face that won many a lady's heart. And clearly, Valeria did not fall into the category, 'many a lady' if her reaction to the knight was any indication.

            Of course she remained gracious, yet cold. "As I have said, it's perfectly fine." Said the lady with a dismissive toss of her auburn hair. The man is in trouble. Meg had her left thumb up at her mouth and was chewing the cuticle.

            "You say that," Camus cocked his head, presumably to better present his best angle at Valeria. Meg's view was not that bad either. Actually, her view was not bad—at all—not by any stretch of the imagination. "But the tone of your words tell me otherwise."

            Valeria sighed. "What is not good is how you keep hounding me. I have nothing more to say to you."

            "Here are your orders." Meilin said.

            "Sssh!!" Meg shushed her. The waitress looked surprised but quietly placed the drinks on the table and left quickly. Valeria and Camus were still exchanging words. Millie took a sip of the cherry liquor. Tengaar would not drink it after all.

            "But I feel as if I have wounded thy person!!" Camus crooned. "Your emotional being you understand."

            Valeria giggled, actually sounding amused. "Don't worry about me Camus, I had fun at today's event. I… I've never done an egg hunt before."

            There was a pause. It seemed that Camus is actually thinking about what he was going to say next. "Well, milady, I wonder why."

            "As a child I had to work. I didn't come from a well-to-do family. It was only by my hard work at improving my fencing skills that I've come this far." Valeria replied in a frank tone. She said it simply, with no trace of embarrassment or pride.

            "………" Then Camus could be heard clearing his throat. "Camus is awed. Lady Valeria is a self-made man—or rather, lady. That is indeed admirable."

            "Don't refer to yourself in the third person!" Valeria chuckled. "It makes you sound like a child." Camus laughed as well.

            Well, that went well. Meg was surprised. There were not a lot of ladies that could resist Sir Camus' charms, but Lady Valeria happened to be one of those ladies. Luck seemed to be on his side.

            At least they're getting along. Which I can't say for this group. Meg eyed her companions, feeling quite distressed now. Futch was still busy with the breadsticks, who knows how many Bright was forced to ingest. Tengaar's hair only looked messier and Hix's hanky was now dirty. His sword still looked the same, however.

            How I can be surrounded by three friends and a roomful of people and still manage to be alone is beyond me.

            Before her thoughts get any more depressing however, Wakaba's voice rang in the air.

            "Meg-chan!! Did you get orange juice for me?"

            "Oh no, I didn't. Sorry." Meg told the martial artist. Wakaba had one of her arms around Sasuke who helped her along. The ninja pulled out a seat for her and Wakaba sat, Sasuke pulling an empty chair from a nearby table and sitting beside her.

            "We would have come earlier," Sasuke said. "But we dropped by Huan-sensei's to get her foot checked."

            "What did he say?" Tengaar asked, the addition of two other people jolting her out of her reverie.

            "Oh, it will be fine in a week or so." Wakaba said. "Sasuke straightened it out anyway with some ninja technique. The soreness will go away eventually."

            "What are you sitting here for?" Sasuke demanded. "Let's go to the restaurant and eat."

            "Exactly what I was saying." Futch remarked wryly.

Author's Notes again: Go on to the next chapter. =) But not before you hit that button and submit a review. =)