Disclaimer: I dunt own Soul Calibur, or any of it's characters. I am not
making any profit off this story. HOWEVER, MY characters are solely MY
property. Dunt use them without asking, or a big gorilla will come to your
house and pound you into a little mushy blotch onto the floor. The gorilla
is watching you . . . behave, or else.
Chapter 5: Conspiracies
Darkness gloomily loomed over a small tower out in the plains of what is now known as Russia. Lights faintly flicked through the stain glass windows. Each window had a picture of a blade wielding man or woman performing an act of valor. At the top of the tower, through a small window, one might see an odd man pacing around.
"Lord, is everything in place?" A man standing in the looming shadows asked.
"Yes, yes, everything is good. I have the girl off to collect the shards. Is William in place?" the pacing man responded.
"Yes Lord, I specifically told William, many many times, to stay at the crossroads until the girl came by. He has the lines of what he is to say written on his arm so he can go over them. I think I can trust him to follow these orders at the least. Hopefully he won't get distracted and run off again like last time . . ."
The pacing man stopped a moment, as if contemplating, his face half covered by shadow. For a moment, the man showed his true age, but only briefly before returning to his stern disposition.
"James, I am getting to old for this, and I have not found one to replace me yet. William would make a good choice . . . but you know him, a little slow to thought-"he tapped his temple, "-even though he is quite strong and skilled, he needs a lot more brains to take this job." The man went back to pacing.
"Edgemaster, might I suggest one of them?" the shadowed man pointed to a large amount of blue, glowing glass shards.
"James, you know I've thought of that, but many of them are inexperienced, and I am trying to be specific in my choosing." The old man glanced at the shards on the table.
"Lord, I was just trying to make a suggestion. If you must be so picky, you might never find a successor. You should just find one soul that fills at least partially all the needs for the title of Grand Edgemaster, rather than finding the perfect person." The shadowed man shrugged.
"Perhaps . . . but for now, we must keep to the task at hand, getting sunlight back into this damned world. I want you to double check on William, make sure he hasn't wandered off again." And with that, the man in the shadows bowed and disappeared.
"Perhaps the boy is right, time is ticking too fast for my liking, and I should find a successor soon." He mumbled lightly to himself, and then started to descend the tower to his quarters.
O======I==================================================
Talim screamed so loud she later swore that it echoed off the mountains. She had been bathing when a rather large, masculine man wandered into her small campsite and rummaged around before noticing her. What surprised her, was the man screamed back almost as frightened as she was. Quietly she stood with water up to her chin, staring at a bulky man that was staring right back at her from the shoreline. It seemed like eternity before the man spoke.
"Hiyu, I'm Weelium." The man waved to Talim, who was stupefied.
". . H. . .h . . . Hello, um. . . William?" Talim stuttered, completely confused.
"You scareded me when you screamd." The ogerish man beamed a toothy smile. Obviously the man lacked intelligence. "You taking bath?" he asked, almost innocently. Talim blushed, but the light was dim so it was unnoticeable.
"Yes, now if you don't mind, can you leave my camp so I can clean off?" she said patiently, not wanting to be rude to someone who obviously had the brain of a five year old.
"Okies, I'll be over der-" he pointed to a rock dimly lit by the firelight. "bye bye girly." He waved backwards while walking. Talim stood in the water a bit longer, completely confused and surprised.
O======I==================================================
"So, your name is William?" Talim asked quietly.
"Yup, that be me, I be William!" the man seemed gleeful that she remembered his name. Talim invited him back to her small camp after she had put her clothes back on. He seemed even bigger up close, standing nearly seven feet tall. His face held many expressions, but the one expression that shone was open stupidity.
"I'm Talim, a traveler, what do you do, William?" she asked while handing him a small cup of warm water.
"Um. . .-" he glanced quickly to his left arm. "I be a traveler too. Me looking for these wittle yellow sliver tings for the wind, its tells me things." He said while pulling at a glowing sliver, almost identical to Talim's. Suddenly Talim was intrigued.
"The wind told you to collect those?" she asked.
"Yup. Me've only found one tho." He sipped some of the water and spat it out, sucking in cool night air for his burned tongue. Talim could only giggle. "I think I can trust you William, you're an okay person." She said with a smile.
"Ah tinnk ah lahke ou tuu" he said while waving air onto his tongue. Talim only giggled more as he tried to speak without use of his tongue. The big man let off a big, stupid grin, and took another sip of water, repeating the same process over again. Talim sighed and changed his cup with hers, since she let it cool off.
"William, I should be getting to bed. . ." she yawned. "I'm tired from the hike I had today, where are you going to sleep?" she asked with concern.
"Ground, I like the ground. It's all comfy, and de grass is all soft." He ripped out a large hunk of the tall grass and fashioned a makeshift pillow. "And I always have Cracker wit me, make me safe." He grabbed hold of something in the grass and slowly tugged it out. Talim's eyes grew in astonishment as William pulled out a blade bigger and wider than she. It looked beautiful to her. It had a sky blue tinting, a serrated cutting edge, it's hand guard gemmed with rubies and emeralds, the pommel looked balanced and comfortable, and the end of the hilt was a cruel looking spike. It looked even larger than a zweihander, almost doubled in size.
"You can fight with that!?" she asked, astonished. For a man to wield a blade like William's, they would have to be incredibly strong and have great stamina not to be drained after one swing.
"Yah, Master trained me with it, and gave it to me when I became a berserker status."
"Who is your master?"
"I not supposed to tell. . ." William opened his mouth and yawned wide, "Me tinks big hush hush secret . . . no tell nobody. . ." he dolled off into sleep.
"Hey, umm. . . William?" Talim reached out and tapped him. He didn't
even flinch. Once again, William managed to baffle one more person.
Talim took a sideways glance at the burly man and looked at his face. 'He looks so peaceful and innocent.' she thought, reflecting on how William wore child's smile while he slept. Silently she doused the fire and slipped into her small tent. Unknowingly to Talim, a man lay still in the tall grass, watching them go to bed before slinking off into the darkness.
O======I==================================================
"Takaishi! Where are you goin'!?" Xianghua shouted after him while he bolted down the street.
"Someplace, just hold on and stay put." Takaishi shout back as he slipped off into the gloomy darkness of the town.
"*sigh* hope he doesn't get himself killed." Xianghua leaned against wooden wall next to her sword that was also propped against the wall. Slowly her thoughts drifted around the shard that she and her companion Takaishi found the other "night" when they were attacked by Raphael's little minions. Takaishi had insisted that he go and scout the town for any more minions since he was the supposed "master of stealth" out of either of them. Xianghua took a glance around the street and noticed people starting to come out once again to the market now that Raphael's minions were disposed of. She smiled to see that life was returning slowly. Suddenly she felt slight a tug on her shorts. Glancing down she saw a little asian boy looking up at her smiling.
"You kill de bad bads didn't you!" said the child, who seemed no more than six. He was wielding a fearsome looking twig (or so he thought). Xianghua could only smile at the little boy and crouched down so she was head level with the boy.
"Yes, me and my friend killed the 'bad bads'. The town is safe." She smiled again.
"I woulda helped but my mommy wouldn't let me go. I wanted to help!" The little boy swung his twig making it whip through the air.
"Well, your mommy made the right choice. When you get older, and you train, you could be a good warrior." Xianghua ruffled the little boy's hair once.
"Really? You tinks so!? Me?" The little boy got excited and ran off to go tell his mommy. Xianghua just stood up and leant against the wall with her hands behind her head waiting on Takasihi.
O======I==================================================
Iataik stood silently propped against his rusty spear. He had no clue where on earth he was, he only knew that he was far, far away from the dojo he grew up in. Dirty, beaten, and tired, Iataik had to keep dragging forward. The storm of vengeance drove him on even when his body said no. Each muscle screamed for him to stop and rest, but he was like a zombie, so intent on his mission until he finally collapsed from exhaustion. He had just recently awoken from his last black out to utter darkness. After traveling for so long in the dark, his eyes had adapted to it, and he could see roughly fifteen feet ahead of him clearly without a torch. He continued a steady march and found the ground going softer and the presence of more pebbles than usual. Instantly he knew he was on a road. He glanced around and saw a tiny light approaching his left, with the sounds of a wagon or cart coming from the general direction. The light got brighter. . .
O======I==================================================
Screams told Xianghua that things where not going alright in town. Apparently Takaishi had found more enemies still roaming and engaged them. Xianghua bolted down the many streets following the sounds of clashing steel. Already she started passing mutilated bodies of both legions and townsfolk. Finally she founded a curb and found Takaishi decapitating a legion that rushed forward at him. Around him lay a ring for dead legions that were apparently to mindless to try anything new.
"Takaishi you dolt!" she screamed at him.
"What?" he asked innocently as he wiped crimson off his blades.
"You started the party without me! I can't believe you! You didn't even leave ONE for me!" she continued ranting but Takaishi paid no heed. Instead he focused on trying to clean his blades off.
"Are you even listening to me!?!!?!??!" Xianghau practically screamed in his ear. Some of the braver townsfolk came out of hiding to see the scene going on and to collect the dead. Suddenly a cry broke Takaishi and Xianghua's playful teasing. An old woman lay crying over the body of a little boy. The boy's head was cracked inward, blood still flowing from the wound. Xianghua recognized the corpse as the little boy who she inspired. In his hand, he still bore the same twig she saw. This image imprinted itself permanently into her mind. Both Takaishi and Xianghua strode over the old woman and crouched near the body. The woman paid no heed to them and continued mourning the little boy.
"We are sorry for your loss, ma'am-" Takaishi started, but was quickly cut of by the old woman.
"You! You! You! It's all your fault! Both of you! Especially that GIRL!" She screamed, pointing delusional at Xianghua.
"You! If you didn't tell him he could be a warrior, he wouldn't have gone outside and died so painfully-"she was cut off by Xianghua.
"Shush! First of all, what I said was right! I believed the little boy-"
"His NAME was Xien, you disrespectful bitch!" the woman interjected. Soon, the argument was drawing a crowd.
"Listen lady, we just saved this town, you all could have been burned to the damn ground, but we risked-"
"-Takaishi, silence." Xianghua turned to the woman, "Listen to me! It doesn't matter WHOSE fault it is. Xien is dead, and the focus now is proper and an honorable burial for him." Xianghua knelt down beside the body and began inspecting the blow to the head. All the while, the woman tried to claw at Xianghua, but Takaishi kept her back.
"At least he didn't suffer, like what most the monstrosities do to people. It was a swift butt blow to the head, didn't feel a thing." Xianghua gestured to a mutilated corpse.
This made the woman break down and cry. Soon, the townspeople clean out the remaining dead. Takaishi almost had to drag Xianghua away from the scene back to the inn. In their room Xianghua stood silently next to Takaishi, not shedding a tear for any of the dead. They spoke not a word to each- other, and just stood side by side. Silently Takaishi put his gloved hand on Xianghua's shoulder and nodded, silently conveying a message that they needed to move on. Xianghua turned her head and smiled warmly at Takaishi. They had a long road ahead of them.
O======I==================================================
Talim awoke to the smell of cooking fish. She was almost instantly out of her tent just from the smell. She glanced around and a torch along the bank of the stream. From the torchlight she was William standing in the stream with a bow and quiver, occasionally shooting an arrow at what was most likely a fish. She smiled. No longer she was alone. She had found someone to travel with. William looked up and waved at her frantically with his trademark big stupid grin. Talim felt an odd draft, and suddenly realized that she never had changed clothes after her bath. Blushing, she dropped back into her tent and rummaged through what small possessions she had for a new set of clothes. By the time she was out, William had dragged back a large amount of fish, and was already roasting more.
"Hiyuz!" He smiled and waved, "How many fish you want?"
"Just two please." Talim said and took a seat next to William at the bonfire.
"Hey William, I was wondering, if you . . ." she stopped talking and stared in awe as William started eating. She just sat and stared at the pace he was eating. Occasionally he would even swallow a whole fish. This both fascinated and sickened Talim.
"Huz?" he managed to say with a stuffed mouth.
"Um. . . nevermind William." She said and then started eating the cooked fish that he left on a pad of clean grass for her. Together they sat eating fish by the bonfire while a dark man lurked in the shadows behind. Talim all of a sudden got a tingling feeling down her spine and looked over her shoulder, but nothing was there from what she could see with the bonfire's light. Talim shuddered.
'Now I'm getting the creeps' She thought to herself.
The man watching the girl known as "Talim" slipped off into the shadows, with him a very well drawn sketch of the girl and a copy of conveyed orders for the giant man William, which he left in his bag. Something was amiss, and no one suspected a thing.
End
A/N: Well, I've been workin on this one periodically, and I got the next chapters plot up and running, but havne't written it yet. I should change the title and genres to A&A/ Romance because I got some pairing coming up.
Chapter 5: Conspiracies
Darkness gloomily loomed over a small tower out in the plains of what is now known as Russia. Lights faintly flicked through the stain glass windows. Each window had a picture of a blade wielding man or woman performing an act of valor. At the top of the tower, through a small window, one might see an odd man pacing around.
"Lord, is everything in place?" A man standing in the looming shadows asked.
"Yes, yes, everything is good. I have the girl off to collect the shards. Is William in place?" the pacing man responded.
"Yes Lord, I specifically told William, many many times, to stay at the crossroads until the girl came by. He has the lines of what he is to say written on his arm so he can go over them. I think I can trust him to follow these orders at the least. Hopefully he won't get distracted and run off again like last time . . ."
The pacing man stopped a moment, as if contemplating, his face half covered by shadow. For a moment, the man showed his true age, but only briefly before returning to his stern disposition.
"James, I am getting to old for this, and I have not found one to replace me yet. William would make a good choice . . . but you know him, a little slow to thought-"he tapped his temple, "-even though he is quite strong and skilled, he needs a lot more brains to take this job." The man went back to pacing.
"Edgemaster, might I suggest one of them?" the shadowed man pointed to a large amount of blue, glowing glass shards.
"James, you know I've thought of that, but many of them are inexperienced, and I am trying to be specific in my choosing." The old man glanced at the shards on the table.
"Lord, I was just trying to make a suggestion. If you must be so picky, you might never find a successor. You should just find one soul that fills at least partially all the needs for the title of Grand Edgemaster, rather than finding the perfect person." The shadowed man shrugged.
"Perhaps . . . but for now, we must keep to the task at hand, getting sunlight back into this damned world. I want you to double check on William, make sure he hasn't wandered off again." And with that, the man in the shadows bowed and disappeared.
"Perhaps the boy is right, time is ticking too fast for my liking, and I should find a successor soon." He mumbled lightly to himself, and then started to descend the tower to his quarters.
O======I==================================================
Talim screamed so loud she later swore that it echoed off the mountains. She had been bathing when a rather large, masculine man wandered into her small campsite and rummaged around before noticing her. What surprised her, was the man screamed back almost as frightened as she was. Quietly she stood with water up to her chin, staring at a bulky man that was staring right back at her from the shoreline. It seemed like eternity before the man spoke.
"Hiyu, I'm Weelium." The man waved to Talim, who was stupefied.
". . H. . .h . . . Hello, um. . . William?" Talim stuttered, completely confused.
"You scareded me when you screamd." The ogerish man beamed a toothy smile. Obviously the man lacked intelligence. "You taking bath?" he asked, almost innocently. Talim blushed, but the light was dim so it was unnoticeable.
"Yes, now if you don't mind, can you leave my camp so I can clean off?" she said patiently, not wanting to be rude to someone who obviously had the brain of a five year old.
"Okies, I'll be over der-" he pointed to a rock dimly lit by the firelight. "bye bye girly." He waved backwards while walking. Talim stood in the water a bit longer, completely confused and surprised.
O======I==================================================
"So, your name is William?" Talim asked quietly.
"Yup, that be me, I be William!" the man seemed gleeful that she remembered his name. Talim invited him back to her small camp after she had put her clothes back on. He seemed even bigger up close, standing nearly seven feet tall. His face held many expressions, but the one expression that shone was open stupidity.
"I'm Talim, a traveler, what do you do, William?" she asked while handing him a small cup of warm water.
"Um. . .-" he glanced quickly to his left arm. "I be a traveler too. Me looking for these wittle yellow sliver tings for the wind, its tells me things." He said while pulling at a glowing sliver, almost identical to Talim's. Suddenly Talim was intrigued.
"The wind told you to collect those?" she asked.
"Yup. Me've only found one tho." He sipped some of the water and spat it out, sucking in cool night air for his burned tongue. Talim could only giggle. "I think I can trust you William, you're an okay person." She said with a smile.
"Ah tinnk ah lahke ou tuu" he said while waving air onto his tongue. Talim only giggled more as he tried to speak without use of his tongue. The big man let off a big, stupid grin, and took another sip of water, repeating the same process over again. Talim sighed and changed his cup with hers, since she let it cool off.
"William, I should be getting to bed. . ." she yawned. "I'm tired from the hike I had today, where are you going to sleep?" she asked with concern.
"Ground, I like the ground. It's all comfy, and de grass is all soft." He ripped out a large hunk of the tall grass and fashioned a makeshift pillow. "And I always have Cracker wit me, make me safe." He grabbed hold of something in the grass and slowly tugged it out. Talim's eyes grew in astonishment as William pulled out a blade bigger and wider than she. It looked beautiful to her. It had a sky blue tinting, a serrated cutting edge, it's hand guard gemmed with rubies and emeralds, the pommel looked balanced and comfortable, and the end of the hilt was a cruel looking spike. It looked even larger than a zweihander, almost doubled in size.
"You can fight with that!?" she asked, astonished. For a man to wield a blade like William's, they would have to be incredibly strong and have great stamina not to be drained after one swing.
"Yah, Master trained me with it, and gave it to me when I became a berserker status."
"Who is your master?"
"I not supposed to tell. . ." William opened his mouth and yawned wide, "Me tinks big hush hush secret . . . no tell nobody. . ." he dolled off into sleep.
"Hey, umm. . . William?" Talim reached out and tapped him. He didn't
even flinch. Once again, William managed to baffle one more person.
Talim took a sideways glance at the burly man and looked at his face. 'He looks so peaceful and innocent.' she thought, reflecting on how William wore child's smile while he slept. Silently she doused the fire and slipped into her small tent. Unknowingly to Talim, a man lay still in the tall grass, watching them go to bed before slinking off into the darkness.
O======I==================================================
"Takaishi! Where are you goin'!?" Xianghua shouted after him while he bolted down the street.
"Someplace, just hold on and stay put." Takaishi shout back as he slipped off into the gloomy darkness of the town.
"*sigh* hope he doesn't get himself killed." Xianghua leaned against wooden wall next to her sword that was also propped against the wall. Slowly her thoughts drifted around the shard that she and her companion Takaishi found the other "night" when they were attacked by Raphael's little minions. Takaishi had insisted that he go and scout the town for any more minions since he was the supposed "master of stealth" out of either of them. Xianghua took a glance around the street and noticed people starting to come out once again to the market now that Raphael's minions were disposed of. She smiled to see that life was returning slowly. Suddenly she felt slight a tug on her shorts. Glancing down she saw a little asian boy looking up at her smiling.
"You kill de bad bads didn't you!" said the child, who seemed no more than six. He was wielding a fearsome looking twig (or so he thought). Xianghua could only smile at the little boy and crouched down so she was head level with the boy.
"Yes, me and my friend killed the 'bad bads'. The town is safe." She smiled again.
"I woulda helped but my mommy wouldn't let me go. I wanted to help!" The little boy swung his twig making it whip through the air.
"Well, your mommy made the right choice. When you get older, and you train, you could be a good warrior." Xianghua ruffled the little boy's hair once.
"Really? You tinks so!? Me?" The little boy got excited and ran off to go tell his mommy. Xianghua just stood up and leant against the wall with her hands behind her head waiting on Takasihi.
O======I==================================================
Iataik stood silently propped against his rusty spear. He had no clue where on earth he was, he only knew that he was far, far away from the dojo he grew up in. Dirty, beaten, and tired, Iataik had to keep dragging forward. The storm of vengeance drove him on even when his body said no. Each muscle screamed for him to stop and rest, but he was like a zombie, so intent on his mission until he finally collapsed from exhaustion. He had just recently awoken from his last black out to utter darkness. After traveling for so long in the dark, his eyes had adapted to it, and he could see roughly fifteen feet ahead of him clearly without a torch. He continued a steady march and found the ground going softer and the presence of more pebbles than usual. Instantly he knew he was on a road. He glanced around and saw a tiny light approaching his left, with the sounds of a wagon or cart coming from the general direction. The light got brighter. . .
O======I==================================================
Screams told Xianghua that things where not going alright in town. Apparently Takaishi had found more enemies still roaming and engaged them. Xianghua bolted down the many streets following the sounds of clashing steel. Already she started passing mutilated bodies of both legions and townsfolk. Finally she founded a curb and found Takaishi decapitating a legion that rushed forward at him. Around him lay a ring for dead legions that were apparently to mindless to try anything new.
"Takaishi you dolt!" she screamed at him.
"What?" he asked innocently as he wiped crimson off his blades.
"You started the party without me! I can't believe you! You didn't even leave ONE for me!" she continued ranting but Takaishi paid no heed. Instead he focused on trying to clean his blades off.
"Are you even listening to me!?!!?!??!" Xianghau practically screamed in his ear. Some of the braver townsfolk came out of hiding to see the scene going on and to collect the dead. Suddenly a cry broke Takaishi and Xianghua's playful teasing. An old woman lay crying over the body of a little boy. The boy's head was cracked inward, blood still flowing from the wound. Xianghua recognized the corpse as the little boy who she inspired. In his hand, he still bore the same twig she saw. This image imprinted itself permanently into her mind. Both Takaishi and Xianghua strode over the old woman and crouched near the body. The woman paid no heed to them and continued mourning the little boy.
"We are sorry for your loss, ma'am-" Takaishi started, but was quickly cut of by the old woman.
"You! You! You! It's all your fault! Both of you! Especially that GIRL!" She screamed, pointing delusional at Xianghua.
"You! If you didn't tell him he could be a warrior, he wouldn't have gone outside and died so painfully-"she was cut off by Xianghua.
"Shush! First of all, what I said was right! I believed the little boy-"
"His NAME was Xien, you disrespectful bitch!" the woman interjected. Soon, the argument was drawing a crowd.
"Listen lady, we just saved this town, you all could have been burned to the damn ground, but we risked-"
"-Takaishi, silence." Xianghua turned to the woman, "Listen to me! It doesn't matter WHOSE fault it is. Xien is dead, and the focus now is proper and an honorable burial for him." Xianghua knelt down beside the body and began inspecting the blow to the head. All the while, the woman tried to claw at Xianghua, but Takaishi kept her back.
"At least he didn't suffer, like what most the monstrosities do to people. It was a swift butt blow to the head, didn't feel a thing." Xianghua gestured to a mutilated corpse.
This made the woman break down and cry. Soon, the townspeople clean out the remaining dead. Takaishi almost had to drag Xianghua away from the scene back to the inn. In their room Xianghua stood silently next to Takaishi, not shedding a tear for any of the dead. They spoke not a word to each- other, and just stood side by side. Silently Takaishi put his gloved hand on Xianghua's shoulder and nodded, silently conveying a message that they needed to move on. Xianghua turned her head and smiled warmly at Takaishi. They had a long road ahead of them.
O======I==================================================
Talim awoke to the smell of cooking fish. She was almost instantly out of her tent just from the smell. She glanced around and a torch along the bank of the stream. From the torchlight she was William standing in the stream with a bow and quiver, occasionally shooting an arrow at what was most likely a fish. She smiled. No longer she was alone. She had found someone to travel with. William looked up and waved at her frantically with his trademark big stupid grin. Talim felt an odd draft, and suddenly realized that she never had changed clothes after her bath. Blushing, she dropped back into her tent and rummaged through what small possessions she had for a new set of clothes. By the time she was out, William had dragged back a large amount of fish, and was already roasting more.
"Hiyuz!" He smiled and waved, "How many fish you want?"
"Just two please." Talim said and took a seat next to William at the bonfire.
"Hey William, I was wondering, if you . . ." she stopped talking and stared in awe as William started eating. She just sat and stared at the pace he was eating. Occasionally he would even swallow a whole fish. This both fascinated and sickened Talim.
"Huz?" he managed to say with a stuffed mouth.
"Um. . . nevermind William." She said and then started eating the cooked fish that he left on a pad of clean grass for her. Together they sat eating fish by the bonfire while a dark man lurked in the shadows behind. Talim all of a sudden got a tingling feeling down her spine and looked over her shoulder, but nothing was there from what she could see with the bonfire's light. Talim shuddered.
'Now I'm getting the creeps' She thought to herself.
The man watching the girl known as "Talim" slipped off into the shadows, with him a very well drawn sketch of the girl and a copy of conveyed orders for the giant man William, which he left in his bag. Something was amiss, and no one suspected a thing.
End
A/N: Well, I've been workin on this one periodically, and I got the next chapters plot up and running, but havne't written it yet. I should change the title and genres to A&A/ Romance because I got some pairing coming up.