Disclaimer: See previous… I'm still lazy.
Mariam gives the three of us the biggest smirk ever. And it's a happy smirk. Not the evil smirk. I glance around nervously. Joseph's snarling at me through his gritted teeth, his hands in an upset position that are ready to strangle me at any moment. Dunga's eye is twitching at me, also growling, his fists shaking at me, almost trembling. Dunga wasn't known for holding anger in.
"Guys?" Mariam asks again, seeing us all silent.
"That's great, Mar…" Joseph says, still growling at me, seemingly faking his enthusiasm. Joseph elbows me in the ribs, causing Mariam to raise a brow at him, then at me. I shove the boy back, then rub the spot I just got elbowed, "Really, we're happy for you!" you didn't need to be a scientist to figure out that Joseph was just pretending, even more so when the he growls out the word 'happy' hard is the biggest hint, "Right, Ozuma…?" he elbows me again.
Mariam looks over at me and her expression changes instantly. From her happy smirk to concerned, worried agape face. She blinks a few times, and then she brings a weak fist just under her chin in concern. It was almost like she was thinking. I give a small, quick nod of my head.
"Right…" I force out a firm tone, both fists by my sides. Mariam's expression weakens a bit and her eyes quiver, the bright emerald sparkling at me, but I force out an encouraging smile at her and head for the stairs, "I'm taking a rest. Dunga's in charge and you guys had better have gotten further in the mission by the time I wake up!" I yell down, halfway up the stairs. I would normally put Mariam in charge, but right now, I'm just not sure anymore. I take a few more steps up the stairs until something calls me back.
"Uh…!" Mariam reaches a hand out to me, confused at my actions. I turn around to face her, my normal scowl on my face glowering down at her, "Ozuma?" she asks, sounding hesitant.
"What?"
She flinches a bit at my voice and backs away a step, "Um, never mind." She looks down at Joseph who's giving her a dark glowering look, his arms on his hips in an angry fashion. Mariam just blinks in confusion and sends me a small, weak attempt at a smile.
I scoff lightly and turn back to the stairs, "Whatever…just make sure that Draciel and Drigger are in the rock before I wake up. Joseph, you're on standby. Mariam, you're getting both Draciel and Drigger, got it?" I say firmly.
Mariam gasps a bit, "What? Why me?"
"You're in rendezvous with Rei…you could get it easier than Joseph," I reply simply, closing my eyes. For some reason, I don't think I sound too cruel. I could hear Mariam stuttering for something to say from behind me, "couldn't you?" I add, trying to see if she really did want to do such a thing to Rei. Like somehow steal Drigger right from under him.
"I guess so, but Ozuma--!" Mariam starts quickly, trying to bring up something that I'm assuming I know I don't want to talk about. I quickly turn my head around to face her, my eyes glaring hard at her which seems to stop her. I turn back.
"Very well then…" I go all the way up the stairs and find a nice spot to sleep.
"Oh…!" I hear Mariam say gently in worry. I ignore her.
Now, mastering the art of faking sleep does have its advantages as I fake my sleep near some bags of sand…or are they flour? Who knows? I didn't look before I lay down. I shift around until I find a comfortable position. I hear the familiar squeaking of the stairs. I really have to get some oil for those stairs some time… meh, I'll do it later.
"Ozuma?" a gentle feminine voice asks. Mariam… the floor creaks a bit more as her footsteps get louder and finally, I hear her kneel down to my side, feeling her shadow looming over me, "Oh…Ozuma," She mutters down at me. My eyes clamp tighter together and let out a small grunt, turning over on my left side, accidentally facing her.
She sighs sadly at me, and in that sigh, I can sense the worry, concern and fear. I turn over on my back again, feeling a bit uncomfortable in my last position. After a while, with me still lying on my back, Mariam reaches down and winds one gentle finger in the red strand in front of my face. She plays with it gently, in hope that I won't 'wake up' and find her like this. As soon as a let out a small uncomfortable grunt, she withdraws her finger from my crimson strand and moves her other hand to pat the top of my head, to try to comfort me, and I will say that it is working.
"I'm sorry, Ozuma…" her voice is quietly sorrowful, though directed at me, I don't know what she's sorry for. I really have no stinking clue. My eyes loosen so that they aren't so clamped shut. Then for some reason, I hear more creaking of the floor and I feel breath beating down on me. What the hell is going on? I can't even open my eyes to find out or else she'll know that I'm faking my nap.
The next thing I knew, I felt a pair of warm lips pressing against my own softly. As much I wanted to yell or push her off, I couldn't; her lips were rather…silky against mine. I let out a soft groan, and of course, I can't do that without opening my mouth. For some reason, I felt her tongue tentatively meet mine. Although the kiss being soft and gentle, for sure there were noticeable sparks. She tasted like…vanilla, in a way and it intrigued me, so I ended up kissing her more.
Lips mold together and we somehow got caught up in the whole thing, despite me supposed to be subconscious to the event. A throat cleared and she pulled up. I turned over, pretending to see something unusual in my 'dream', drawing out an uncomfortable breath.
"Mariam, can I talk to you downstairs?" Joseph's voice… I recognized. He didn't sound even the slightest bit disturbed at what he just witnessed, although I felt weird about it myself. Floorboards creak as Mariam gets up, walking over to her brother. The louder sounds of their weight against the steps of the stairs tell me that they've gone. Carefully, I roll over to the railing where I can look down at them. Joseph sits himself down on a crate and Mariam just stands in front of him. Told ya mastering the art of faking sleep had its advantages.
"I know you're hiding something." Joseph says firmly. Mariam tilts aback a slight bit, shifting around and playing with her fingers and her head twists around to search the room, finding that Dunga is over in a corner, throwing a fit at something else, like normal. And I'm 'sleeping' so I shouldn't cause any problems.
"Hm?" Mariam brushes her hair behind her ear. She tends to do that when she's nervous, I've noticed.
Joseph just smirks at her, his head tilted in pride, "While you were…talking to Ozuma in his sleep, I went to talk to the blondie…" I blink at what Joseph's saying. For a second, I didn't know what Max had to do with anything, and then I remembered that Max was the one who set this whole thing up in the first place.
"What about Max?" Mariam tilts her head to the side, bringing a hand to her hip. She seems upset.
Joseph grins, "I won't tell Ozuma and Dunga about Rei, on just one condition." Mariam blinks at him, wondering how she's supposed to answer that. I don't even know what Joseph's talking about. I already knew about Rei, so what's the big deal?
"You tell me what Rei's got that Ozuma don't got." (1) Joseph says firmly, standing up on the crate to have better eye contact with his sister. I don't understand what he's talking about…
Mariam just glares at him, then she fiercely throws her jacket at Joseph and storms out. Joseph just stares at the door for a while, then he looks down at the jacket, then seeing Drigger in the inside pocket, Joseph gasps, "Shit…" he says in an irritated tone.
Even from up here, I saw the glimmer on the White Tiger of Gold's blade. I race down the stairs, "Way to go, Joseph…" I utter harshly, not even stopping to look at the boy and I head quickly for the door, slamming it behind me.
Someone has a lot of explaining to. Everyone knows something I don't and someone's going to tell me. Someone with blond hair and cerulean eyes…
(1) – Yes, that's how I intended the sentence to be. I know it's supposed to be "…that Ozuma doesn't have" or "don't have" but this is what I wanted Joseph to say instead. Why? It's a reference to something….totally unrelated to the story, but I just needed to put that in there.
Yes, I know it's short, but try not to hit me! (I just needed this part out of the way…)
