Chapter Four: Champloo
Yay! New chapter! And by the way, from what I understand, "champloo" is Okinawan for "rumble." I learned that by researching a new anime that's being planned called Samurai Champloo, which has art design by the dude who did the character designs for FF:U and Ashita no Nadja. Just thought I'd throw that in here, Maxi being from Okinawa and all.
Warning: This one may get risqué - just a tad bit, though. This is where the R rating comes from, folks! This and subsequent chapters.
Maxi: Yahooo! That means Ilya and I are gonna do it, right?
Sansaku (my yaoi/lemon loving cat-demon alter ego): No! I mean yes! I mean ... whatever, shut your Elvis-look-alike mouth!
Maxi: Why, you little ... the fitting Soil to use against you has been decided!
(Sansaku whacks him over the head with a script from FF:U.)
Sansaku: Final Fantasy:Unlimited is done with! No more Kaze references!
(Note: Kanna Nobutoshi, Maxi's seiyuu, also did the voice for Kaze in FF:U. I just found this out the other day while watching the fansubs, and, incidentally, Kaze is the person I envision when I write about Ilya's brother Anatoli. Kinda interesting - well, to me, at least. Whoa, everything is connected somehow ...)
Sansaku: Okay! So on with the fic! I'll be taking over for a while, since BillysLittleCowgirl is shy about writing romantic things.
(Suddenly Chobi appears out of nowhere and chomps onto one of Talim's pigtails, then starts dragging her around as she screams in Yuka Imai's voice - ARGH, it's irritating.)
Sansaku: ......Right. This chapter is a bit risqué, but not as much as later chapters, should this little experiment prove successful. Anyway, PLEASE review! Just no flames ...
Maxi pulled the four tiny darts from his throat, just left of his Adam's apple, and examined them. They'd left behind a burning sensation, and he was already starting to feel faint.
He faintly heard Ilya drawing her dagger to his side. She threw it with great strength toward the source of the darts, and he heard an anguished grunt from within the underbrush. Then Ilya's wolf form rushed into said underbrush to return moments later, with blood staining the fur on its right hind leg.
Maxi had collapsed. "Maxi!" Ilya's voice sounded very far away. His head was swimming in a numb, sleepy feeling, and his vision was rapidly blurring. Within seconds everything went black.
He awoke a bit later, lying on a soft bed. Maxi looked frantically from side to side, finding none other than Xianghua in a chair next to him. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot - she'd obviously been crying. "Where ... where's Ilya?" he choked out.
"Annabelle's doing her best to stitch up her knee."
"Is she alright?!" he demanded, trying to sit up but failing miserably due to his body, which felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
"She's fine, it's just a cut." The Chinese girl was getting fairly irritated with his fixation on Ilya.
"Can I talk to her?"
Xianghua stormed into the next room, where Annabelle was wrapping a bandage around Ilya's knee, which had been cut nearly to the bone. "He wants to talk to you," she said in a low growl, then headed off to parts unknown.
Ilya limped into the room and sat down on the bed, her hip dangerously close to his chest. He smiled up at her, his face pained, and she found herself smiling back in spite of herself. "You look awful."
He closed his dark eyes. "Did you bring me back here?"
"Yeah. It wasn't easy, mind you - you're awful heavy." She recalled how she'd nearly broken her back while dragging him back to Annabelle's house, with one of his arms slung over her shoulders.
"I want to thank you for saving me. What was that, anyway?"
"Dunno." She shrugged. "Whoever that was poisoned those darts. You're lucky Annabelle knew what kind of poison it was and how to treat it, or you'd be dead. You should thank her."
Maxi grinned. "I know I haven't known you for very long, and I've been really rude to you, but ..." His hand found hers, albeit with great difficulty, and she blushed slightly. "I ... I'd really miss you if you weren't around."
If that was some half-assed attempt to say he loved her, Ilya didn't know, but it made her uncomfortable nonetheless. She partially frowned. He didn't mean that. He was a big jerk. Maxi raised the hand that was holding hers to her face and caressed her cheek. Ilya's heart began to race at his touch. What was he doing? "Um ... er ... I'm not going anywhere for the time being," she said awkwardly.
He struggled greatly as he sat up. Had Ilya not been so shocked by his uncharacteristic behavior, she would have stopped him from doing so. "Listen, Maxi . you have a really high fever. That's why you're thinking like this. You're just delirious." Ilya shook her head in disbelief.
"No, that's not true. I've never seen things so clearly in my life! I love you, Ilya." As soon as the words escaped his lips, he wished they hadn't. But, he thought, there's no turning back now ...
He tentatively put his hand behind her head and pulled her close. Maxi anxiously licked his lips and then gently pressed them against hers.
Ilya was initially too surprised to resist and in fact nearly lost herself in the kiss, but after a few moments she shoved him away and slapped him. Maxi put a hand to his throbbing cheek and smiled. "And here I was, expecting a punch. I guess you are more of a lady than I thought."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked.
"Listening to what you said ... you told me to be a man and face my feelings." He flashed her a charming smile.
She frowned in response. True, she had said that, but she hadn't meant for him to face his feelings concerning her. Now didn't know what to do - she was stuck between Maxi's feelings for her and the feelings she might have for him. "But, I ." Her voice died in her throat.
"Look, I'm not looking for an answer just yet. I just want you to know how I feel. And if it turns out you don't feel the same, I can always blame this whole escapade on the poison."
She grinned. "You're an idiot. Anyway, I'm going out to check if there are any more of those people outside."
"But you're hurt - "
"Don't patronize me - I'm not a little kid! Besides, I'll be a wolf, so it won't hurt that much. I'll put the strain on my other legs."
Maxi smiled at her. "I'm sorry I kissed you."
Ilya remembered that he did, and frowned again. "You're a perv. I can't believe you did that."
"Because I love you," he replied matter-of-factly.
She rolled her eyes. "Look, love me all you like, but that doesn't mean I'll ever love you back." She pivoted on her heel and stormed away (although she was limping), and felt hot tears building up in her eyes.
She was livid that he'd stolen her first kiss. That pervert who'd probably had a hundred women and not cared a smidgen about them. He really seemed the type, the jerk.
But ...
Ilya paused halfway down the hallway and looked back at the entrance to the room she'd just left. He said he loved me, she thought. Then, realizing she was talking about the same Maxi whom Kilik had told her the previous day was a born playboy, she let out a frustrated growl and stomped her good foot. That jackass! I'll bet he's said that to every woman he's been with! I'll never forgive him! Never, never, NEVER!
"What did he say?" Annabelle asked when Ilya came to the living room. Ilya either didn't hear her or didn't want to answer, Annabelle couldn't tell which. "Ilya, dear?"
"He's a jerk and I never want to talk to him again!" was the angry reply, and she left the house, slamming the door behind her.
"What was that all about?" Kilik wondered aloud. Xianghua frowned and headed back to Maxi's room.
"What did you do to Ilya? She was really angry."
Maxi, who'd lain back down, turned his head to look at her. She was standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. "Why do you want to know?"
"Ilya's ... a nice person. She's been really kind to me ever since we met, and I want to know what happened."
Maxi's dark eyes returned to the ceiling. "I kissed her."
Xianghua fought to keep her jaw from dropping. "What?"
"I kissed her and told her I loved her. Then she got mad and ran off to God-knows-where."
Xianghua's eyes filled with tears. "You ... you love her?"
"Of course."
The Chinese girl ran out of the house and found Ilya sitting by the river, humming an old children's song. "You ..." Xianghua began.
"Hm?" Ilya looked up amiably, smiling.
"Maxi ... give Maxi back to me!" she commanded, tears spilling over onto her cheeks. "I'm the one who loves him! I've loved him ever since I first met him!"
"You can have him," replied the Russian, with a do-whatever-you-like- I'm-not-stopping-you expression plastered across her pretty face. "I don't want him. I hate the son of a bitch."
Xianghua sniffed and wiped her eyes with the long bell sleeves of her shirt. "Look at me ... getting all emotional when you can't help it. I'm sorry, Ilya! You're so nice ... you even gave me a chance to talk to Maxi again! I'm so sorry."
"Look, don't worry about it. Chicks tend to get overly sensitive about stuff like that."
Xianghua laughed. "How long have you known Maxi?"
"A few days."
"That's all? You act like you've known each other your whole lives."
"Yeah, well, he's sorta like my big brother Anatoli." Ilya laid herself down on the grassy ground, closing her eyes. "A jerk, mostly."
The Chinese girl giggled. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. Maxi said I reminded him of someone he knew. Maybe that's why we act like that."
"I'm jealous of you, Ilya."
Ilya's eyes snapped open. She turned to look at Xianghua, who was smiling sadly. "What? Why?"
"Because you get to travel with him, just like Kilik and I used to. And because you're so confident and strong. Dragging Maxi back on your own must've been hard, especially on that bad leg of yours."
Jealous? Of me? Ilya thought. She smiled to herself and sighed. I'm jealous of you, Xianghua ... because you're so honest with yourself.
The two talked for nearly three hours under the mid-afternoon sun - or, at least, Xianghua talked and Ilya merely listened, occasionally throwing in a comment or two. By the time it was dark, Xianghua was all talked out, and the two headed back to the house.
The two girls bid farewell to each other and the Chinese headed back to the room she shared with Kilik. Maybe I should apologize to Maxi ... Ilya thought as she headed to her own room.
"Maxi ..." a voice whispered.
His eyes opened; he'd been sleeping, albeit restlessly. It was dark, and he couldn't see anything, but he felt someone sitting next to him on the bed.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier." The voice was Ilya's.
"Oh, uh ... don't worry about it," he stammered, quite nervous about the situation.
She rested her hand on his chest and bent down to kiss him. "I thought about what you said, and I decided ..." Her voice died in her throat as her lips moved to his neck. Ilya climbed atop him and caressed his shoulders.
"Er ..." was all Maxi could manage to say.
"Don't worry, take it easy," she whispered in his ear, and then bit his earlobe. She smiled as she heard his sharp intake of breath and felt his body shudder. "You're injured, remember?"
He felt paralyzed as she began to fiddle with his belt buckle. Suddenly the door creaked open, and a dark silhouette appeared against the light from the hallway.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Ilya shrieked, noticing that Maxi was in a quite compromising position with some unknown person who looked a bit like her.
"Huh?" Maxi demanded, and the girl he was with drew a tiny knife from her belt. As she moved to stab him in the throat, Ilya tackled her. The two tumbled off the bed and Ilya held the pirate's would-be killer on the floor.
"Would you mind explaining this to me!?" she snarled as she struggled to subdue her look-alike.
"I ..." was all he could say.
Ilya slammed the doppelganger's hand against the floor, knocking the knife out of it, and punched her in the face to stop her struggling, which was becoming very irritating. It was enough to render her unconscious, and Ilya stood to face Maxi.
"You ..." she began, but was far too angry to continue. She just shook her head and left as Kilik, Xianghua and Annabelle entered the room, startled from the commotion.
"Hey, she kinda looks like Ilya," Annabelle said cheerfully, pointing to the girl on the floor. "The hair is a different color, but they look quite alike, no?"
Kilik rolled his eyes, and Xianghua fumed. Maxi looked distraught and confused, and wished to God he had realized earlier that Ilya probably wouldn't have done that.
By the next morning Maxi was feeling better, and he sought out Ilya to apologize. She was, as she had been the day before, by the river, sitting with her back against a tree. Her eyes were closed and he couldn't tell if she were awake or not, but decided the sooner he talked to her, the better.
"Um ..." he started anxiously.
"What?" Ilya asked, not bothering to open her eyes.
"I came to ... say I'm sorry." When she didn't answer, he continued. "I really thought it was you ..."
"Thought it was me, huh?" she shouted as her eyes flew open and her voice became angry. "I'd never do anything of that sort with you! I'd never let you TOUCH me! And besides, you can do whatever the hell you want! It's not like we're a couple or anything, so you don't have to bother apologizing!"
"Of course I have to apologize," he countered, frowning. "Don't you remember what I told you?"
"Well, DUH. But it's entirely stupid, you know. You can't love me; you haven't even known me for a week! Besides, you're the player type. Go find yourself some floozy in a bar, and live out your life with her."
Ouch, he thought. "Well, I deserved that. But it doesn't change the way I feel about you."
"Well, stop feeling that way!" she ordered, and Maxi realized how immature she really was. "I'm serious, I'll NEVER love you back!"
He laughed, causing her to let out a noise sort of like a cross between a snort and a sigh. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, it's just ... you haven't had much experience out in the world, have you? People's emotions don't change just because someone orders them around. I realize you may think I'm fickle and peccant, but if it makes any difference to you, I haven't been like that in four years."
"I don't care!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I still hate you."
He smiled, his face full of fondness for her. "So you've finally made up your mind, eh?"
Ilya ignored him. "Do you know what I was doing before I walked in on you and that chick that was gonna kill you?" He shook his head. "I was coming to say I was sorry for acting so mean when you kissed me."
Maxi's stomach sank. So he really had blown his chances with Ilya ...
"I ... I know you're angry."
"Livid," she corrected.
"But I'll need you on the journey to Marseille."
"I know."
"Are you still gonna tag along?"
"Of course. I couldn't find my way across the river without help."
Maxi laughed. "Your sense of direction is that bad?"
"Almost."
"Hey, I'm sorry again for kissing you."
"You'd better be."
"Why?" he teased. "Was that your first kiss?"
Ilya suddenly became interested in her fingernails. "Oh ..." Maxi said, finally understanding why she'd been so mad. Of course, he'd stolen many a kiss from women along his travels, and some had gotten pretty rattled, but none as angry as Ilya had been. "Er ... I just assumed you'd at least kissed someone before."
"Oh, are you gonna make fun of me because I'm a total cherry?"
He barely stifled a laugh. Somehow she didn't seem the type to use that term. "No, no ... it's better than finding out you're a total slut or something."
Ilya let out a short laugh, and Maxi was pleased she'd let her guard down. "Oh," she said, suddenly becoming much more serious. "Annabelle questioned that ... girl you were with ..."
"Er, what'd she say?" He was suddenly nervous and avoided eye contact with her.
"Nothing much. Just that she's after you because she's taking orders from someone named Kunpaetku."
"Kunpaetku ..." Maxi repeated in a barely audible whisper. He looked at her. "That's the name of the grand priest of Ares."
Sansaku: Yeah, so that's it for now. I know, I know, it wasn't very lemony- fresh, but if you want it to be, just give me some feedback. See, I had a whole big risqué thing planned out but I decided it should be a little later in the story and I'm too damn lazy to undo the opening to the chapter where I explain it's dirty. So sue me.
Maxi: I just can't believe little Ilya is a virgin ...
Sansaku: Quiet, you.
Yay! New chapter! And by the way, from what I understand, "champloo" is Okinawan for "rumble." I learned that by researching a new anime that's being planned called Samurai Champloo, which has art design by the dude who did the character designs for FF:U and Ashita no Nadja. Just thought I'd throw that in here, Maxi being from Okinawa and all.
Warning: This one may get risqué - just a tad bit, though. This is where the R rating comes from, folks! This and subsequent chapters.
Maxi: Yahooo! That means Ilya and I are gonna do it, right?
Sansaku (my yaoi/lemon loving cat-demon alter ego): No! I mean yes! I mean ... whatever, shut your Elvis-look-alike mouth!
Maxi: Why, you little ... the fitting Soil to use against you has been decided!
(Sansaku whacks him over the head with a script from FF:U.)
Sansaku: Final Fantasy:Unlimited is done with! No more Kaze references!
(Note: Kanna Nobutoshi, Maxi's seiyuu, also did the voice for Kaze in FF:U. I just found this out the other day while watching the fansubs, and, incidentally, Kaze is the person I envision when I write about Ilya's brother Anatoli. Kinda interesting - well, to me, at least. Whoa, everything is connected somehow ...)
Sansaku: Okay! So on with the fic! I'll be taking over for a while, since BillysLittleCowgirl is shy about writing romantic things.
(Suddenly Chobi appears out of nowhere and chomps onto one of Talim's pigtails, then starts dragging her around as she screams in Yuka Imai's voice - ARGH, it's irritating.)
Sansaku: ......Right. This chapter is a bit risqué, but not as much as later chapters, should this little experiment prove successful. Anyway, PLEASE review! Just no flames ...
Maxi pulled the four tiny darts from his throat, just left of his Adam's apple, and examined them. They'd left behind a burning sensation, and he was already starting to feel faint.
He faintly heard Ilya drawing her dagger to his side. She threw it with great strength toward the source of the darts, and he heard an anguished grunt from within the underbrush. Then Ilya's wolf form rushed into said underbrush to return moments later, with blood staining the fur on its right hind leg.
Maxi had collapsed. "Maxi!" Ilya's voice sounded very far away. His head was swimming in a numb, sleepy feeling, and his vision was rapidly blurring. Within seconds everything went black.
He awoke a bit later, lying on a soft bed. Maxi looked frantically from side to side, finding none other than Xianghua in a chair next to him. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot - she'd obviously been crying. "Where ... where's Ilya?" he choked out.
"Annabelle's doing her best to stitch up her knee."
"Is she alright?!" he demanded, trying to sit up but failing miserably due to his body, which felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
"She's fine, it's just a cut." The Chinese girl was getting fairly irritated with his fixation on Ilya.
"Can I talk to her?"
Xianghua stormed into the next room, where Annabelle was wrapping a bandage around Ilya's knee, which had been cut nearly to the bone. "He wants to talk to you," she said in a low growl, then headed off to parts unknown.
Ilya limped into the room and sat down on the bed, her hip dangerously close to his chest. He smiled up at her, his face pained, and she found herself smiling back in spite of herself. "You look awful."
He closed his dark eyes. "Did you bring me back here?"
"Yeah. It wasn't easy, mind you - you're awful heavy." She recalled how she'd nearly broken her back while dragging him back to Annabelle's house, with one of his arms slung over her shoulders.
"I want to thank you for saving me. What was that, anyway?"
"Dunno." She shrugged. "Whoever that was poisoned those darts. You're lucky Annabelle knew what kind of poison it was and how to treat it, or you'd be dead. You should thank her."
Maxi grinned. "I know I haven't known you for very long, and I've been really rude to you, but ..." His hand found hers, albeit with great difficulty, and she blushed slightly. "I ... I'd really miss you if you weren't around."
If that was some half-assed attempt to say he loved her, Ilya didn't know, but it made her uncomfortable nonetheless. She partially frowned. He didn't mean that. He was a big jerk. Maxi raised the hand that was holding hers to her face and caressed her cheek. Ilya's heart began to race at his touch. What was he doing? "Um ... er ... I'm not going anywhere for the time being," she said awkwardly.
He struggled greatly as he sat up. Had Ilya not been so shocked by his uncharacteristic behavior, she would have stopped him from doing so. "Listen, Maxi . you have a really high fever. That's why you're thinking like this. You're just delirious." Ilya shook her head in disbelief.
"No, that's not true. I've never seen things so clearly in my life! I love you, Ilya." As soon as the words escaped his lips, he wished they hadn't. But, he thought, there's no turning back now ...
He tentatively put his hand behind her head and pulled her close. Maxi anxiously licked his lips and then gently pressed them against hers.
Ilya was initially too surprised to resist and in fact nearly lost herself in the kiss, but after a few moments she shoved him away and slapped him. Maxi put a hand to his throbbing cheek and smiled. "And here I was, expecting a punch. I guess you are more of a lady than I thought."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked.
"Listening to what you said ... you told me to be a man and face my feelings." He flashed her a charming smile.
She frowned in response. True, she had said that, but she hadn't meant for him to face his feelings concerning her. Now didn't know what to do - she was stuck between Maxi's feelings for her and the feelings she might have for him. "But, I ." Her voice died in her throat.
"Look, I'm not looking for an answer just yet. I just want you to know how I feel. And if it turns out you don't feel the same, I can always blame this whole escapade on the poison."
She grinned. "You're an idiot. Anyway, I'm going out to check if there are any more of those people outside."
"But you're hurt - "
"Don't patronize me - I'm not a little kid! Besides, I'll be a wolf, so it won't hurt that much. I'll put the strain on my other legs."
Maxi smiled at her. "I'm sorry I kissed you."
Ilya remembered that he did, and frowned again. "You're a perv. I can't believe you did that."
"Because I love you," he replied matter-of-factly.
She rolled her eyes. "Look, love me all you like, but that doesn't mean I'll ever love you back." She pivoted on her heel and stormed away (although she was limping), and felt hot tears building up in her eyes.
She was livid that he'd stolen her first kiss. That pervert who'd probably had a hundred women and not cared a smidgen about them. He really seemed the type, the jerk.
But ...
Ilya paused halfway down the hallway and looked back at the entrance to the room she'd just left. He said he loved me, she thought. Then, realizing she was talking about the same Maxi whom Kilik had told her the previous day was a born playboy, she let out a frustrated growl and stomped her good foot. That jackass! I'll bet he's said that to every woman he's been with! I'll never forgive him! Never, never, NEVER!
"What did he say?" Annabelle asked when Ilya came to the living room. Ilya either didn't hear her or didn't want to answer, Annabelle couldn't tell which. "Ilya, dear?"
"He's a jerk and I never want to talk to him again!" was the angry reply, and she left the house, slamming the door behind her.
"What was that all about?" Kilik wondered aloud. Xianghua frowned and headed back to Maxi's room.
"What did you do to Ilya? She was really angry."
Maxi, who'd lain back down, turned his head to look at her. She was standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. "Why do you want to know?"
"Ilya's ... a nice person. She's been really kind to me ever since we met, and I want to know what happened."
Maxi's dark eyes returned to the ceiling. "I kissed her."
Xianghua fought to keep her jaw from dropping. "What?"
"I kissed her and told her I loved her. Then she got mad and ran off to God-knows-where."
Xianghua's eyes filled with tears. "You ... you love her?"
"Of course."
The Chinese girl ran out of the house and found Ilya sitting by the river, humming an old children's song. "You ..." Xianghua began.
"Hm?" Ilya looked up amiably, smiling.
"Maxi ... give Maxi back to me!" she commanded, tears spilling over onto her cheeks. "I'm the one who loves him! I've loved him ever since I first met him!"
"You can have him," replied the Russian, with a do-whatever-you-like- I'm-not-stopping-you expression plastered across her pretty face. "I don't want him. I hate the son of a bitch."
Xianghua sniffed and wiped her eyes with the long bell sleeves of her shirt. "Look at me ... getting all emotional when you can't help it. I'm sorry, Ilya! You're so nice ... you even gave me a chance to talk to Maxi again! I'm so sorry."
"Look, don't worry about it. Chicks tend to get overly sensitive about stuff like that."
Xianghua laughed. "How long have you known Maxi?"
"A few days."
"That's all? You act like you've known each other your whole lives."
"Yeah, well, he's sorta like my big brother Anatoli." Ilya laid herself down on the grassy ground, closing her eyes. "A jerk, mostly."
The Chinese girl giggled. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. Maxi said I reminded him of someone he knew. Maybe that's why we act like that."
"I'm jealous of you, Ilya."
Ilya's eyes snapped open. She turned to look at Xianghua, who was smiling sadly. "What? Why?"
"Because you get to travel with him, just like Kilik and I used to. And because you're so confident and strong. Dragging Maxi back on your own must've been hard, especially on that bad leg of yours."
Jealous? Of me? Ilya thought. She smiled to herself and sighed. I'm jealous of you, Xianghua ... because you're so honest with yourself.
The two talked for nearly three hours under the mid-afternoon sun - or, at least, Xianghua talked and Ilya merely listened, occasionally throwing in a comment or two. By the time it was dark, Xianghua was all talked out, and the two headed back to the house.
The two girls bid farewell to each other and the Chinese headed back to the room she shared with Kilik. Maybe I should apologize to Maxi ... Ilya thought as she headed to her own room.
"Maxi ..." a voice whispered.
His eyes opened; he'd been sleeping, albeit restlessly. It was dark, and he couldn't see anything, but he felt someone sitting next to him on the bed.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier." The voice was Ilya's.
"Oh, uh ... don't worry about it," he stammered, quite nervous about the situation.
She rested her hand on his chest and bent down to kiss him. "I thought about what you said, and I decided ..." Her voice died in her throat as her lips moved to his neck. Ilya climbed atop him and caressed his shoulders.
"Er ..." was all Maxi could manage to say.
"Don't worry, take it easy," she whispered in his ear, and then bit his earlobe. She smiled as she heard his sharp intake of breath and felt his body shudder. "You're injured, remember?"
He felt paralyzed as she began to fiddle with his belt buckle. Suddenly the door creaked open, and a dark silhouette appeared against the light from the hallway.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Ilya shrieked, noticing that Maxi was in a quite compromising position with some unknown person who looked a bit like her.
"Huh?" Maxi demanded, and the girl he was with drew a tiny knife from her belt. As she moved to stab him in the throat, Ilya tackled her. The two tumbled off the bed and Ilya held the pirate's would-be killer on the floor.
"Would you mind explaining this to me!?" she snarled as she struggled to subdue her look-alike.
"I ..." was all he could say.
Ilya slammed the doppelganger's hand against the floor, knocking the knife out of it, and punched her in the face to stop her struggling, which was becoming very irritating. It was enough to render her unconscious, and Ilya stood to face Maxi.
"You ..." she began, but was far too angry to continue. She just shook her head and left as Kilik, Xianghua and Annabelle entered the room, startled from the commotion.
"Hey, she kinda looks like Ilya," Annabelle said cheerfully, pointing to the girl on the floor. "The hair is a different color, but they look quite alike, no?"
Kilik rolled his eyes, and Xianghua fumed. Maxi looked distraught and confused, and wished to God he had realized earlier that Ilya probably wouldn't have done that.
By the next morning Maxi was feeling better, and he sought out Ilya to apologize. She was, as she had been the day before, by the river, sitting with her back against a tree. Her eyes were closed and he couldn't tell if she were awake or not, but decided the sooner he talked to her, the better.
"Um ..." he started anxiously.
"What?" Ilya asked, not bothering to open her eyes.
"I came to ... say I'm sorry." When she didn't answer, he continued. "I really thought it was you ..."
"Thought it was me, huh?" she shouted as her eyes flew open and her voice became angry. "I'd never do anything of that sort with you! I'd never let you TOUCH me! And besides, you can do whatever the hell you want! It's not like we're a couple or anything, so you don't have to bother apologizing!"
"Of course I have to apologize," he countered, frowning. "Don't you remember what I told you?"
"Well, DUH. But it's entirely stupid, you know. You can't love me; you haven't even known me for a week! Besides, you're the player type. Go find yourself some floozy in a bar, and live out your life with her."
Ouch, he thought. "Well, I deserved that. But it doesn't change the way I feel about you."
"Well, stop feeling that way!" she ordered, and Maxi realized how immature she really was. "I'm serious, I'll NEVER love you back!"
He laughed, causing her to let out a noise sort of like a cross between a snort and a sigh. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, it's just ... you haven't had much experience out in the world, have you? People's emotions don't change just because someone orders them around. I realize you may think I'm fickle and peccant, but if it makes any difference to you, I haven't been like that in four years."
"I don't care!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I still hate you."
He smiled, his face full of fondness for her. "So you've finally made up your mind, eh?"
Ilya ignored him. "Do you know what I was doing before I walked in on you and that chick that was gonna kill you?" He shook his head. "I was coming to say I was sorry for acting so mean when you kissed me."
Maxi's stomach sank. So he really had blown his chances with Ilya ...
"I ... I know you're angry."
"Livid," she corrected.
"But I'll need you on the journey to Marseille."
"I know."
"Are you still gonna tag along?"
"Of course. I couldn't find my way across the river without help."
Maxi laughed. "Your sense of direction is that bad?"
"Almost."
"Hey, I'm sorry again for kissing you."
"You'd better be."
"Why?" he teased. "Was that your first kiss?"
Ilya suddenly became interested in her fingernails. "Oh ..." Maxi said, finally understanding why she'd been so mad. Of course, he'd stolen many a kiss from women along his travels, and some had gotten pretty rattled, but none as angry as Ilya had been. "Er ... I just assumed you'd at least kissed someone before."
"Oh, are you gonna make fun of me because I'm a total cherry?"
He barely stifled a laugh. Somehow she didn't seem the type to use that term. "No, no ... it's better than finding out you're a total slut or something."
Ilya let out a short laugh, and Maxi was pleased she'd let her guard down. "Oh," she said, suddenly becoming much more serious. "Annabelle questioned that ... girl you were with ..."
"Er, what'd she say?" He was suddenly nervous and avoided eye contact with her.
"Nothing much. Just that she's after you because she's taking orders from someone named Kunpaetku."
"Kunpaetku ..." Maxi repeated in a barely audible whisper. He looked at her. "That's the name of the grand priest of Ares."
Sansaku: Yeah, so that's it for now. I know, I know, it wasn't very lemony- fresh, but if you want it to be, just give me some feedback. See, I had a whole big risqué thing planned out but I decided it should be a little later in the story and I'm too damn lazy to undo the opening to the chapter where I explain it's dirty. So sue me.
Maxi: I just can't believe little Ilya is a virgin ...
Sansaku: Quiet, you.