Author's Notes: Hey!! ^-^ A day after the Easter Egg Hunt, but the issues related to it haven't been resolved yet. It's about time that they reach a conclusion though!! Futch/Meg chapter here!! Rather, in the later part of this chapter. This will be a pretty long chapter. But it's not like you can ever have too much of Futch/Meg, eh? =)

Disclaimer: Suikoden is not mine.

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

Chapter 15: Friendly Friends?

           

            "Where are Hix-niichan and the others?" Meg asked, taking a seat beside Tengaar.

            "There." The redhead made a careless gesture, pointing to the group arranged round a table in the other end of Hai Yo's busy restaurant.

            "A super-deluxe feast for us!!" Futch exclaimed over the clatter of cutlery, the slurping of soup and chatter that prevailed in the atmosphere.

            "And please hurry up!!" Sasuke waved the meal ticket they won from the Egg Hunt.

            "Okay!!" The waitress had a few stray hairs that escaped from her bun hanging down her face and her clothes were rumpled. She didn't notice, or didn't care, however and only nodded and skipped towards the kitchens, her soft shoes emitting a squeak with each step.

            "Sasuke-kun, it's lunch time, they're busy, don't harass them." Hix said sternly. Luc only grunted.

            Wakaba shook her head.  The older girl's solemn mood made a vivid contrast with the cheery crowd that invaded the number one [and only] restaurant in North Window Castle. "They still haven't made up yet. And the boys wanted to eat their prize." She muttered something under her breath that sounded very much like, pigs.

            "Why haven't you made up yet, Onee-chan?" Meg leaned forward, peering into Tengaar's face. Tengaar let out a hrmph and looked away.

            "Nevermind that. Where's Millie?" Tengaar asked.

            "She wasn't in our room when I woke up…" Meg scratched her head. "She left a note saying she'll join us for lunch, though."

            "SHE WENT OUT IN THE GROUNDS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. SEARCHED FOR THE NORTHERN STAR." Gadget informed them.

            "What??!" Meg wailed. "After she had been explicitly not to do so?

            "What thing?" Wakaba asked. Tengaar looked confused as well.

"Anyway, we have to look for her." Meg declared, ignoring the questioning looks her friends gave her. "Maybe they saw her?" She hurriedly got on her feet, knocking her chair on the floor.

            "Oh… wait for me!!" Tengaar fell in step behind Meg. Gadget's wheels whirred and it followed the trickster as well.

            "You guys are no fair!!" Wakaba whined. She awkwardly pushed on the table with her hands and managed to get on her feet.

            Meg weaved through the tables, nearly knocking several people over. Tengaar stayed close behind Meg, leaving Wakaba to hobble after the two of them.

            "Hello!!!" Meg greeted the boys with a sunny smile.

            "Hello Meg-chan." Futch gave her a wave.

            "What are you doing here, you're not getting any food," Sasuke muttered. "Ouch!! Onii-chan no baka!!"

            "Don't be so rude." Hix boxed his ears again.

            "We wouldn't want to eat with pigs like you." Wakaba had caught up with them and now stuck out her tongue at Sasuke. "We just wanted to ask you if you've seen Millie."

            Sasuke's face turned thoughtful. "I did see her this morning, during my morning jog. Out in the grounds. She said she was looking for… this something."

            Luc perked up at this. "???"

            "THE NORTHERN STAR." Gadget said.

            "She went to look for that Northern Star…" Meg tapped her cheek with her finger, her brow furrowed in thought.

            "What Northern Star?" Hix asked.

            "It's an important crystal of Luc's, Millie-chan lost it and now she's trying to find it." Futch explained. Luc was glowering at him. A bead of sweat slid down Futch's forehead. "Well of course Luc-kun told her not to look for it anymore, but…"

            Tengaar made clucking noises, sounding like a mother hen. "We have to look for her!! She hasn't even had her breakfast yet."

            "Well, we'll see you guys later!!" Meg winked at the boys.

            "Oh, hold on, I'll help." Futch offered.

            "Me too." Hix said. Luc wordlessly stood up.

            "Well, let's go!!" Sasuke pumped a fist in the air. He squinted at Wakaba-chan and pointed at her. "Except for you, of course."

            Wakaba's jaw dropped in crossness. "But—"

            "Bad sprain." Sasuke reminded her.

            "But—"

            "If you continue being stubborn… I won't help you with that jigsaw puzzle." The ninja threatened.

            "EH??!" Wakaba cried.

            Sasuke nodded smugly. "And I'll hide some of the pieces."

            She gasped. "You wouldn't dare!!"

            "I would and I could. You're staying here." Sasuke made a move to stand up but Futch pushed him back on his seat. "Hey!!"

            "You're right, Sasuke-kun, Wakaba-chan should definitely stay here." Futch grinned. "You keep her company, okay?" He followed Luc who was making a beeline for the exit.

            Sasuke blinked in surprise. "But—"

            "Ja ne!!" Meg raised a hand to her brow in salute. Hix and Tengaar indicated their leaving as well.

            "WAIT, MEG!!" Gadget rolled after the group.

            "Oh yeah, cancel the order, so we can all eat together later!!" Hix called to Sasuke before leaving.

            "But I'm so hungry…" the ninja banged his head on the table.

            "Meg-chan and I can go to the eastern grounds like we did last night," Futch said while walking quickly to keep up with Luc. "Onii-chan and Onee-chan can go to the eastern grounds and Luc-kun—"

            "Don't tell me what to do." Luc said waspishly.

            Futch started, but didn't push it. "Er, okay…"

            "What's his problem?" Meg hissed, but Futch looked at her over his shoulder and made a shushing sound. Meg growled, but kept her mouth shut.

            Once outside the castle grounds, Luc headed straight for the western grounds. Futch motioned at Meg and they headed for the eastern grounds.

            "Millie, Millie!!!" Meg shouted. "Gadget, initialize search mode… Gadget?" Meg looked around. "Strange… where did Gadget go?"

            "It must be somewhere between here and second floor." Futch said. "Probably rolling on the bottom of the steps."

            Meg stamped her foot impatiently. "Useless old thing. Oh nevermind. Millie, Millie!!"

            Futch trailed after the trickster, staring at the back of her yellow and red striped vest. He had made up his mind. "Meg-chan…"

            Meg spun around. "What is it Futch? Hurry up, don't get left behind."

            "Eh… I thought I should tell you…" he looked down at his hands. He removed his tan-colored gloves then put them on again, adjusting them so that there would be no creases. Then he flexed his fingers. "Um…"

            "What?" Meg demanded.

            Futch cleared his throat then fixed his brown-eyed gaze directly upon her hazel oculars. "Luc actually has the Northern Star. He let Millie look for it for a while, to teach her a lesson—"

            "WHAAAT??!" Meg's eyes flashed dangerously.

            "Although of course, he expected her to stop looking for it when he told her to," Futch added quickly.

            The boy watched as the girl's shoulders shook as she took a deep breath. Then she slowly but purposefully walked toward him, each footfall an ominous click on the stone path.

            Meg's hands flew up Futch's green scarf and she grasped it tightly, pulling him towards her. "YOUR BASTARD FRIEND DID WHAT??!"

            Futch immediately came to his friend's defense. "Hey! You do have to admit, that Millie can be very careless. Maybe what Luc did wasn't the best way to—"

            "IT WAS THE WORST WAY!!" Meg still yelled at the dragonknight's face and actually shook him a little. "That was some twisted, cruel joke—you don't know how worried Millie was—"

            "Unhand me!!" Futch firmly grabbed her hands and roughly removed them from his scarf.

            "STOP SHOUTING!!"

            "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SHOUTING!!"

            "BECAUSE YOUR IDIOT MAGE FRIEND IS SO STUPID!!"

            "WELL MAYBE IF YOUR DITZ MAGE FRIEND WASN'T SO SCATTER-BRAINED, HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT!!"

            "DON'T CALL HER A DITZ!!"

            "WELL DON'T CALL HIM AN IDIOT!!"

            "Argh!!" Meg spun on her heels and stomped away from him, pulling at her neatly pony tailed hair in frustration. When she turned back at him, several locks of her hair stuck out. Futch carefully ignored this fact.

            Meg crossed the stone path and went out into the lawn. Futch followed her. They resumed searching for Millie, no more words were spoken.

            After a few minutes of the heavy silence, Meg, cracking under the pressure first, broke it. "Hey, are you mad?"

            Futch shook his head. "No. The argument wasn't even about us to begin with."

            Meg was left to stare after him as he went further into the bushes. Not about us…

            Actually…

            Nothing is about us…

            Everything that I thought we shared… it's always about someone else. Wakaba and Sasuke's arguments. Millie being herself and Luc being unable to be mean to her. Tengaar-neechan and Hix-niichan's mushiness or love quarrels. Bonding before a big battle. Or some random silliness in the castle. These things that amuse us both or give us two something to worry about. What makes us connect. Our friends… or someone else. Always someone else.

            I don't think… Futch and I are even friends to begin with.

            If this is true… how sad…But maybe…

            "Ne Futch," Meg sprinted after him. She slowed down and fell in step beside him. "Don't you tire… of us always being the buffer zone?"

            "What?" The dragonknight murmured distractedly. His eyes were skimming the trees ahead.

            Meg didn't waver, however. She just trained her gaze at him continued. "When our friends fight, we fight. When we talk, it's about them. I don't think we even really know each other."

            "What are you getting at?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

            "Don't you tire of it?" Meg persisted. She took a step to the left and turned slightly so they were face to face. "How about we have a real talk sometime?"

            Futch seemed to have flinched. He made a side step and moved forward, away from her. "Huh? What are you saying?"

            Meg's eyes narrowed and bore holes through his back. "Nevermind!!"

            But the dragonknight was steadily walking away. He probably didn't even hear her.

            Boys!! Just when you are being sincere, they'll have to be so dumb about it.

            ………

            Nii-chan isn't like that though, even though he and Nee-chan get into fights half the time.

            And even Sasuke-kun talks straight sometimes. He even managed to make up with Wakaba-chan.

            Even Luc manages to speak for himself once in a while!! Even if it's just an insult…

            But him…

            By now, the dragonknight had gotten far ahead. He wouldn't even notice if I had gone. Meg gave a hmph of righteous anger.

            Who cares anyway? True, true, the others may find themselves in more fights than usual and would have to sort out things between them—but I'd actually have less problems if I left it alone. She looked at the retreating form of the dragonknight, her mind coming to a conclusion.

            Yes, that's it. There's nothing between us. Meg summoned her usual cheerful face and dashed towards him.

            "Futch!!"

            "Yes, Meg?" Futch turned to him, his dark brows raised in question.

            "You should go back now." Meg said.

            "But what about Millie?"

            "I'll look for her. She's my friend after all."

            "She's my friend too. I'll stay." With that, Futch walked away again.

            Nearing the end of her rope, the trickster fixed her most evil look at the unassuming dragonknight, wishing that looks really could kill. Great. He's friends with MY friends and we aren't even really friends. Just marvelous. Not even Millie-chan can find a good angle with THAT situation. That is of course, if she were here. Which she isn't, because of that idiot mage friend of the idiot dragonknight.

            Meg perused the nearest tree thoughtfully. It had a branch low enough that, if she used a knot on the tree for a foothold, she could reach and climb unto. The queasy feeling associated with heights was forgotten. From a greater height, I can see across a greater distance. Millie's blue dress should stick out from the vegetation.

            Meg hooked her right boot unto the knot, the heel of her fancy footwear proving useful. Keeping what grip she could upon the trunk, she pushed on the ground with her left foot and hoisted herself up. She climbed and reached for the branch. Hugging it, she braced her feet against the trunk and managed to scramble unto the branch.

            "Alright!" Meg cheered for herself. Slowly, she stood on the branch. She looked in all directions as far as her eyes and the leaves of surrounding trees around her, searching for even just a speck of blue. Finding nothing.

            She sighed and proceeded to go down. Except that she did not know how to go down, for what is probably the first time in her life, she had climbed a tree and gotten this far. Uh-oh…

            Refusing to give in to the panic rising in her throat, the trickster drummed her fingers against the bark—not that it made a good drumming surface—and thought.

"If I keep a tight hold on the tree, stretch down my body straight and just sort of drop unto the ground, then I should be fine, right?" She said it aloud and finding no fault in speech, she squatted, gripped the branch and swung down.

            "Eek!!" She started to squeal, but managed to muffle it pretty quickly. Instead of just hanging down from the branch as she had hoped, her body swung like a pendulum. And not being as stable as she initially thought, the branch even rocked slightly. She closed her eyes before she was tempted to look down and scare herself silly.

            "Meg-chan, where did you go off to?"

            And to top it all off, the dragonknight gets to laugh his head off at her expense. Meg would have kicked herself for her stupidity if it would not cause her to fall off the branch. Is not the day just peachy…

            "It will be fine." She muttered to herself. "One-two—"

            Without waiting for three, she released her hold of the branch. Futch yelped in surprise and he would have caught her too, if he had not been too far away. He ran towards the girl who now laid on the ground on her side, rubbing her backside.

            "Ow, ow…" Meg made a face and fought the dizziness to get back on her feet.

            "Are you okay?" Futch asked worriedly, holding her arm to help her. "We don't want you to turn out like Wakaba-chan."

            "You don't have to worry," Meg snapped without thinking. "We're not even friends." She regretted the words as soon as she said it. Futch was startled and dropped her arm. Meg decided to act as if nothing out of the ordinary was said.

            "We haven't been to that area before," Meg gestured at some random direction. "Maybe she's there."

            "Umm, uh…" Futch reached out to her tentatively.

            But Meg ignored him and walked away.

            Onii-chan once told me not to muddle my words. "Hey, Meg-chan..?" He threaded between bushes. Meanwhile, she chose to walk right through them.

            To speak straight because that's what a man is expected to do… "…Meg-chan?"

            "That idiot mage better apologize to her or else!!" Meg hastened her pace. Futch had to struggle to keep up with her, especially since he was still making it a point not to mangle any bushes along the way.

            And above all, never act like an ignorant fool to what she is saying or hinting—especially when you know exactly what she means. "Meg, I don't want to be a buffer zone forever either." Futch stated simply.

            "………"

            "And it really would be nice…" Futch gulped and continued. "It would be nice to spend time together, just the two of us."

            She paused then she pivoted to face him. The expression in her hazel eyes was softer now, if a little bit sad. "I though you didn't like the idea?"

            He shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Well… uh, I guess when you said boys are stupid… you were right—at least sometimes, they are."

            Meg scuffed the pointy toe of her boot on the ground. "I never said that. My friends might have, but I never did say boys are stupid."

            "I never said girls were dumb either."

            Meg hesitated then extended a hand at him. She smiled bashfully. "Friends?"

            Futch blushed but took her hand and shook it. "Friends."

Author's Notes again: No real humor for this chappie… but it had Futch/Meg fuzzies… XD Doesn't that make up for it?