Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing, although I wish I did. Everything belongs to Moriyama Daisuke, ADV and Gonzo.
Now, the usual replies:
Greetings, faithful viewer. Interesting suggestions. I shall keep them in mind. What's so weird about central park? I live in Australia, so I've never been there before. Thanks once again for reviewing.
Die Kikyo Die:
Hello newest reviewer. I aim to please anyone who chooses to read this story. Thanks for taking the time to read it and thanks for reviewing.
In advance, I apologize to any American readers who may have gone to Catholic schools. I have never been to America or any Catholic schools, so I do not really know how the people act there, but for the sake of this story, they are mostly rich people. I'm basing my assumptions on the general stereotypes of some schools in my country.
In Australia, Catholic schools are usually private schools for the economically elite, thanks to our stuffed up education system, where funding is being cut for other non-private schools. I am just very biased in this subject, so sorry for ranting like that.
And for anyone from Australia, I was from a selective school, which waited 25 years for the proper funding to build a school hall, so its hard not to be angry at such a slack education department which also doesn't pay its teachers enough, leading to constant teachers' strikes.
I do not mean to offend anyone in the writing of this story though. Anyway, on to the next chapter...
Chapter 5: Settling In
Chrno:
"Here we are!"
I gazed around curiously. So this was the Elder's workshop. I could see why it was set apart from the main compound. Some of the stuff in here looked bizarre ... and dangerous. He trotted upstairs and quickly came back down again, bearing a set of clothes. "These will have to do until we can find better ones." He muttered, setting them down on a nearby couch.
Why on Earth would he have spare children's clothes lying around? On second thoughts, I don't really want to know. I turned slightly green at that thought.
The Elder led me to the back of the workshop to a cluttered looking room. "This can be your room, once it's cleaned up a bit of course."
I thought I saw the corner of a cot. The rest of it was under a huge pile of junk. The Elder gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry about the mess. I didn't really expect to find an assistant any time soon. Not that I'm not happy that you're here though."
"It's alright." I reassured him. "I'm grateful that you're letting me stay here with you. It will take me a while to clear all this though."
"No time like the present." The Elder was way too cheerful about this. "You need only move all the junk to the workshop and we'll sort it out another day. I'll need to go out for a bit to check up on something. Will you be alright in here by yourself for a while?"
I nodded slowly. Grinning, the Elder left, saying "be careful with what you touch in the workshop" as he left. Sighing, I began moving the junk. It took me a good two hours before everything was piled elsewhere. Totally exhausted, I collapsed on the cleared cot with a groan. There was still a film of dust over it, but I was too tired to care.
I closed my eyes and drifted off. My last conscious thought was 'I wonder how Rosette is doing..."
Rosette:
"Rosette."
Someone was calling me. Groggily, I peeled my eyes open. It was Sister Kate. "Time for dinner." She said. "You must be hungry, having slept the whole day."
I yawned and sat up. She placed some clothes on a chair nearby. "You can change into this. It's the uniform which we give to all the children to wear."
Nodding, I got up slowly; pausing for a moment as a thought suddenly came to mind. "Where is Chrno? Can I go see him?"
Sister Kate frowned. "He will remain in the Elder's care for now. You may be able to see him tomorrow."
Confused, I asked. "But isn't Chrno going to have dinner with us?"
Sister Kate shook her head. "I don't want him near the other children until we can be certain that he is trustworthy."
I scowled at this. I had the feeling that if they had their way, I would not be seeing Chrno for a long time. If they won't let Chrno see me, I'll just go find him myself.
Sighing, Sister Kate said, "Hurry up and change. I will wait for you outside."
When she closed the door, I went over to look at the clothes. They were pinkish robes of some sort, I presumed. Quickly changing, I made sure to tuck my watch under my clothes. I had the feeling that it wasn't something that I should be openly showing just yet.
Leaving the room, I followed Sister Kate as she led me to the dining hall.
There were many people there. They must all eat at the same time, I supposed. Everyone was mostly seated already.
Sister Kate led me to the front of the hall.
"Before we say Grace, I would like to introduce someone new to you." She placed her hand on my shoulder and pushed me forward gently. "This is Rosette Christopher. She will attend classes with the other 12 year olds tomorrow. Please make her feel welcome and look after her."
Everyone clapped politely but I could see them peering at me curiously and whispering.
I stood there not knowing what to do. Sister Kate gestured for me to sit with some other girls of my age at the side of the hall. After Grace was said, food was served to us.
Suddenly realising how hungry I was, I dug in. Famished, I quickly polished off my plate, before the feeling of being watched prickled me.
Looking up, I saw the other girls watching me with scandalized looks on their faces, their food barely touched. I frowned.
"Find something interesting?" Their expressions irritated me. Maybe it was because I was starving. Maybe I was still angry with Sister Kate. Whatever the reason, I was feeling extremely sarcastic and waspish.
Some of the girls looked outraged at what I said. One raised an eyebrow and said in a snooty voice, "You eat like a starving orphan."
I raised an eyebrow in return. "You are right. I am an orphan and I am starving at the moment." Many of them looked extremely shocked at this. Ignoring them, I helped myself to some more food, but I could hear whispering up and down the table.
"She's an orphan. That explains why she's so coarse."
"This is meant to be a prestigious Catholic school. Why'd they let an orphan in?"
I didn't get up and start slugging people as I normally would have done because, but I was stung by the constant comments about "the Orphan". I knew that the Abbey was the headquarters for the Magdala Order, but I hadn't known that they also ran a boarding school here. From the way they spoke and acted, I assumed that most of the other children were from rich families in the City.
So what if I was an orphan? It wasn't like I could do anything about it. Angry and fed up with the sneering looks some of the girls were directing my way, I got up and walked off, grabbing some rolls from a nearby basket along the way. I found my way outside the building somehow and just stood there, shaking with rage.
I wished that Chrno were here.
Then I remembered. I was going to find him, wasn't I? I looked around. Sister Kate had said that she hadn't wanted him near the main building, so he must be located in a separate building. Spotting a cottage on the far side of the grounds, I strolled over. Though no lights could be seen through the windows, I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
Chrno:
I was awoken by a knocking at the door. Groaning, I got up and stumbled over to the door. Opening it, I expected to see the Elder, but I was surprised when I saw Rosette instead.
Her nervous expression gave way to a relieved smile when she saw me. "I'm so glad I found you!" I smiled back and motioned her to come in from the cold.
I shook my head with amusement as she bounded in energetically. "I brought you dinner...kind of." She showed me several rolls wrapped in a napkin.
"Thank you." I said slowly. "But what about you? Have you eaten?"
She scowled at this. "I did eat, but I didn't stay for long." As I cocked my head at this, she elaborated. "I only stayed long enough to eat my fill. The company was awful. I was stuck with these other girls who thought I was weird because I ate like a 'starving orphan' and looked too coarse."
I frowned slightly at this. She saw this and quickly said. "I'm ok though. They were right, and their comments about my being an orphan didn't really hurt me. I mean, I'm not terribly upset or anything. I just left before I was fully tempted to punch someone."
Seeing that I didn't look too reassured, she pushed the rolls at me. "Enough about me. Eat! You must be hungry."
Realising that I was, I began eating the bread while Rosette looked around curiously. "So is this where the Elder lives."
I nodded. "He sleeps upstairs. I was given the room at the back of the workshop."
Peering inside, she called back. "This room is so dirty! But at least it's better than the workshop."
I grinned. "Most of the stuff in the workshop was from that room. You couldn't even see the cot when I first walked into the room. That's the reason why I've been sleeping till just then. I spent most of the day trying to clear the room."
She sighed. "Give me ten minutes."
Still in the process of eating, I blinked in surprise as she rolled up her sleeves and began to clean up the rest of the room. I hurried over. "You don't need to do that! I'll handle it!"
She pushed me out of the way. "Finish your bread or I'll pummel you. I can clean faster than you anyway."
True to her word, she transformed the room in a matter of minutes, relatively speaking anyway. Even if it didn't look luxurious, at least it was clean. She chucked the dirty sheets on top of all the other junk. "It's a big enough mess as it is. It shouldn't matter if I pile more onto it. We can get it cleaned tomorrow."
Chuckling, I started to sit on the now clean bed. "Wait!!" The screech brought me to a halt. I was so horribly unbalanced that I fell over to one side with a heavy thud. I looked up mournfully. Rosette was looking seriously annoyed. "I just cleaned that bed! And you were going to put your dirty self onto it! What were you thinking?!"
I was even more shocked when she began rummaging around. "Didn't they even bother to get you clean clothes?!"
I grinned sheepishly and began pointing towards the couch in the workshop area. "Actually..."
Spying the clothes, she grabbed them and threw them at me. "Change out of those filthy clothes NOW!"
I blushed, looked at the clothes, then back at her. "Um...do you want to turn around or something first?"
She turned bright red and hurriedly left the room. Closing the door, I changed quickly. The clothes were too big, but at least they were clean.
I left the room to find Rosette. She was stood there fidgeting, still looking rather red. "I'm done."
She looked up. "Oh, ok then. Those look a bit big though."
I shrugged. "It's the best the Elder could find for now. I'll probably get something that fits better later."
"Will they even bother?" Rosette said bitterly. I frowned at this. Seeing my expression, she sighed. "Come on, Chrno. You're being treated horribly. They don't want you eating with other people..."
"I understand why..." I broke in, but she continued talking over me, pacing up and down in front of me, as she went.
"they don't give you decent clothes..."
"I don't need nice clothes..."
"they stash you with an obviously deranged old weirdo..."
"he's not that bad..."
"and they wouldn't even let me see you."
I effectively stopped her by standing in her way as she turned in her pacing. Stopped short by this, she was surprised as I reached out and cupped her face so that her eyes met mine. "That didn't stop you from coming here though, did it?"
She blushed at this. I smiled at her. "Even if you hadn't come, I wouldn't have let them stop me from seeing you. I would have come to find you, so you don't need to worry too much about that."
And indeed she didn't. I would have snuck in to the dormitories to check up on her if she hadn't come by tomorrow. I had known that they didn't want me to actively go looking for Rosette, for fear of other children being exposed to me, but I hadn't thought that they would bar Rosette from looking for me as well.
I pulled her into a tight embrace. They won't keep me from her and I won't let them take her away from me. She is mine, and I will keep what is mine.
"Chrno," She said, embarrassed, "I..."She broke off suddenly. Frowning, I pulled back slightly. She was staring out the window.
"Rosette?" She looked wary and nervous.
"There's something weird outside." She said, peering into the darkness.
Frowning, I turned to face the window. "What is it?"
"I don't know." She said. It was a flash of white though. I froze. A flash of white?
A white blob suddenly popped into our field of view. Rosette gave a horrible scream, clutching at me while I tensed and pushed her behind me. 'It couldn't be...!'
"Ehehehehehe..!!!" Wait a minute. That laugh sounded more like the cackle of a demented old man...
I relaxed as the Elder pressed his face to the window outside. "Scared you didn't I? Hahahahaha...."
Rosette was shaking, red with embarrassment and rage. "Why you...!!!"
The Elder made his way into the cottage still laughing. "Hahahaha...You should have seen your face...haha...oh, my stomach hurts from laughing..."
"Where were you all this time anyway?" Though relieved that it wasn't whom I had thought it was, my adrenaline was still up and going.
"I was grabbing a bite to eat back at the dining hall. I met up with a very worried Sister Kate. All the children were supposed to be in bed by now, but nobody had seen Rosette. I thought she might have found her way here." He grinned at me. "Did I interrupt anything?"
I was still holding Rosette. She realized this at that moment. Giving a small squeak, she pulled away, face turning an interesting shade of red.
"We weren't doing anything." She said, looking at the ground.
"Sure..." the Elder crowed sarcastically. Giving a chuckle, he sobered up and said. "Anyway, as I was saying, Sister Kate is looking for you. You better head back up to the dormitories now. If she found you here, both you and Chrno will be in even more trouble."
Rosette nodded. "Ok then. Thank you Elder." She started heading to the door, before hesitantly turning towards me, still with a tinge of red on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Chrno?"
"Definitely." I said.
She smiled and left. As the door closed, the Elder began cackling. Exasperated, I turned to face him. "What???"
"Nothing!" he replied, before cackling insanely again. I shook my head. "I'm going to sleep now, if that's alright with you."
Not really waiting for a reply from the weird inventor, I went to my room.
Isn't it awesome that there is finally a Chrno Crusade section? YAY!!!