Okay, chapter nine. I hope this fan fiction comes together okay, cause I'm not exactly thinking everything out. I'm just kind of writing it as I think of it. I mean, I know how the whole story is gonna go (heck, I even know how the sequel is gonna go), but I don't have like an out-line or anything. Oh well. Anyway, please read and review. And feel free to make any suggestions about what I could maybe make better about my writing…but be gentle, no harshness.

Inner voice- Because if you're too harsh, we may have to seek you out and kill you.

. . . No. We do not kill people.

Inner voice- Why not?

Well . . . because it's too much work.

Inner voice- Then we'll hire other people to kill them for us.

You're an idiot.

Inner voice- You cant call me an idiot! I'm you.

…well…I'm an idiot too. Oh shut up! --sigh-- ANYWAY! Let's get to reviews

Inner voice- And remember what I said…--glare--

Would you be quiet! You're gonna scare everyone away!

Gem-- Heh. Yea sorry 'bout that. I got distracted, and kinda shoved my fanfic to the side. It's that whole procrastination thing again. …darn that habit! Lol. But I made sure to get this chapter up quickly for you. Hope you enjoy it!

Aisler-- lol sorry 'bout that. I knew the whole age thing would probably confuse someone. --sigh-- I'm not good at wording things. See what I was trying to say is in the game Zidane was 16 and my story takes place a year after the game, which would make him 17. But I don't want him to be the same age as I made Blank (I want Zidane to be older) So instead of keeping Zidane the age he was in the game, I'm making him two years older. Which would mean he was 18 when the FFIX took place, and (since this is a year later) he would be 19 now. Oh wow…that IS confusing…I hope it made sense that time, although it still sounds confusing to me.

Disclaimer-- Bite me!

Chapter Nine
Who Likes Who?
The group had spent the night in Alexandria, resting up for another day-long flight to Daguerreo. Dagger was up early that morning as she was every morning. She was on her way to the library; Dr. Tot had told her to go there, saying someone was waiting for her there. When she opened the door the first thing she noticed were the books lying cluttered on the floor.

Dr. Tot never leaves the library like this, she thought to herself. Then she noticed a young girl sitting at one of the tables, her head resting on the tabletop as she slept soundly. Dagger smiled. Eiko. I wondered where she had gone off to. She must have been wandering the castle and decided to come in here and read. I wonder how late she was up till. Dagger decided to let the girl sleep a while longer. After all, it was only 6:30 A.M. She quietly crept back out of the room; turning around to leave and-

"OH!" Dagger yelped. Putting her hand over her heart and breathing heavily. "You scared me. I wasn't expecting any of you to be up at this hour." She looked up at the brown haired dragon-in-disguise, whom she had just run into.

"No, I'm sorry. It was my fault," Draco replied. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I was just on my way to the kitchen for some breakfast."

"I was as well. I'll go with you."

The two then walked off toward the kitchen. Steiner had been watching from behind the corner. Who does that guy think he is! Is he flirting with the Queen! Steiner started fuming as thought about it. I'll show him! No one gets to the princess…er uh I mean…queen without going through ME first. Steiner stormed off to the kitchen to keep an eye on the "untrustworthy" dragon.

(In the dining room)

"So what would you like to eat this morning?" Dagger asked Draco politely.

Oh, whatever you happen to have."

"Draco, not trying to brag but, I'm the queen of Alexandria. …We have everything you could think of."

"What do you think you're doing wandering around the castle!" someone suddenly shouted from outside the dining room.

"I wasn't 'wandering', I was walking to where I wanted to go. How else am I suppose to get around?" Blank argued as he walked into the dining room, Steiner waddling in not far behind him.

"Steiner, are you giving our guests a hard time again?" Beatrix joked with him. She had been standing next to Draco and Dagger.

"No…I just-"

Beatrix sighed. "Steiner, shut up and help me instruct the cooks in the kitchen."

"I cant!" Steiner quickly said. I cant leave that dragon beast in here with the queen. he though silently.

"Why not?" She asked.

I uh - I have to…um"

"Stop making excuses!" The General glared at the Captain angrily.

"Were you or were you not flirting with the princess…uh queen!" Steiner suddenly snapped at Draco.

"What!" Draco stared at Steiner in shock, but quickly regained his composure. "I have no interest in human women…or dragon women for that matter." he said calmly.

" . . . AHA! So you're gay!"

Draco fell out of his chair in shock. "WHAT!" He hurriedly got back on his feet and dusted himself off. He then looked back at Steiner. "I have no interest in men either!"

"Steiner you're being irrational." Dagger butted in. Blank, who was now sitting across from her at the large, rectangular table, lowered his head slightly to try to cover up his need to burst out laughing. Now go and help Beatrix," Dagger ordered. "And no more harassing ANY of our guests!"

Steiner lowered his head in shame. "Yes, your highness…" Beatrix then grabbed Steiner by the ear and dragged him off to the kitchen.

Once they had left, Draco sighed heavily and sat back down at the fancy wooden table. "What the hell was that all about?" He then looked up at Blank and Dagger to find that they were covering their mouths, trying to hide their laughter. The man glared at his two younger companions and sighed again. With that, the two of them couldn't stand it any longer and they burst out in laughter.

"What's all the laughing in here about?" Marcus said as he walked into the room, Baku standing next to him.

"Nothing…it was nothing…" Draco answered.

Marcus just blinked in confusion.

"Blank, I'm surprised you're up at this hour," Baku walked up to the table and sat down next to Blank, Marcus sat Blank's other side. "You do know that it's not even seven yet right?" Baku added.

"Yeah." answered Blank.

"I'm didn't think you knew what seven A.M. was." Baku laughed loudly at his own corny joke. "His idea of getting up early is more like eleven A.M." Baku told the others.

"Typical teenager," Draco replied.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Blank asked, slightly insulted by his comment, but still keeping a non-confrontational tone in his voice.

"I mean exactly what I said you're a typical teenager…lazy."

"You don't know me," Blank said after a long pause, still keeping the same 'I'm not gonna get upset' tone in his voice.

"Blank isn't lazy," Marcus entered the conversation. "In fact, he probably works harder than most of us other guys in Tantalus do."

"That doesn't surprise me." the dragon continued. "You all look lazy."

"You don't make friends easily, do you?" Blank snapped bluntly.

"Alright that's enough!" Baku stepped in.

Dagger sighed, keeping quiet as the others argued. Are the always like this? she asked herself silently. Maybe I should reconsider about joining them on their journey.

Blank had turned his head away from Draco, but Draco kept starring at Blank. The man looked at Blank's arm intently, studying the tattoo of the dragon. I know I've seen that mark before, he thought. A black dragon… I wonder…

Later that morning, after everyone else was up, they all met in the dining room. Their were plenty of chairs for everyone to sit in, seeing as the table was so large.

"Well, I guess we should be headin' off," Baku told them.

"Thanks for all of your help," Blank added.

"Dagger, you should come with us," Zidane said with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Well actually, I was planning on it. That is if no one minds."

"Of course we don't mind," Eiko beamed. "We want you to come!"

Dagger smiled and looked back at Steiner and Beatrix.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. We'll take care of things here at the castle," Beatrix assured her, practically reading Dagger's thoughts.

"Then I guess that's settled," Dagger said, looking back to Zidane.

"We're glad," Zidane smiled.

Inner Zidane-- "YAAAAAAAAAAYYY!"

"Yay! Another female companion," Ruby enthusiastically added. "It's so nice not having to hang out with just guys all the time."

Dagger smiled. They all said goodbye to Steiner, Beatrix, and Tot; then headed off towards the airship. Dagger had already packed her stuff the night before, so she took her belongings and set them in the room that was given to her, the same room as Kaira.

"I hope you're not allergic to cats," Kaira said as she walked into the room.

"Meow…" (A/N that's was Kilala meowing incase you couldn't figure that out.)

"Aww…what a cute little cat," Dagger leaned down to pet Kilala. "Her eyes are very umm…red, though. And she has two tails. What type of cat is she anyway?"

"Well, to be honest I don't know. I mean, I don't even know what I am, let alone what Kilala is."

"Yeah, I sort of know what you mean. For a long time, I didn't know any of that either." Dagger set her suit case down on her new bed, and reminisced about the past and all that she had learned on her adventure with Zidane.

Kaira just stood starring at her, slightly puzzled. "You mean, you didn't know anything about your past? But how come? I thought you had always lived in Alexandria."

"It's a long story. I'll tell it to you sometime, but right now I have to get my stuff unpacked."

"'Kay, I'll see ya later." Kaira set her stuff down on her bed and started for the door.

"Aren't you gonna unpack too?"

Kaira turned back around to face Dagger. "Nah. I'm a little less organized than you are…heh." Then she turned back towards the door and walked out.

Kaira walked over to the side of the airship and leaned against the side railing. She stood there for a while and watched the sun that had just recently risen. She also watched the ground as it passed by below them.

"Wish I could see the scenery like everyone else can…?" Blank said from behind her. He had been watching her from behind, but she was too caught up in the view to notice him.

"Oh, Blank. I didn't know anyone was there," (A/N obviously, since I just said that) "Sorry."

"About what?" he asked in confusion.

"About you being…well, blind," Kaira stuttered.

Blank just laughed at her.

"What? I didn't know what else to say, alright! Stop laughing at me."

Blank fought to compose himself. "It's fine. I've gotten use to being blind. It doesn't bother me now; in fact I hardly notice it anymore."

Kaira looked down at Blank's side, noticing a sword sheath. "How do you fight?"

"The boss trained me pretty hard until I finally got the skill to fight without using my eyes."

"The boss? Why is it that everyone here calls him that? Why doesn't anyone just call him 'Baku'?"

"Cause if we do, we'll probably get punished." Blank got the vibe the Kaira was a bit confused, "Don't ask. He has a strange and strict way of doing things. But he really does care about us, even if he doesn't show it. If any of us are ever in trouble, the boss always has our back."

"…Must be nice…to have someone like that."

"What do you mean? Draco seems to be just as loyal to you, if not more."

Kaira stared down at the ground moving beneath her, a frown on her face. "Yeah, he is."

Blank could tell there was more to this than what she was saying. "It's ok. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

Kaira smiled at his comment.

God, this is so hard… Blank thought silently. I really don't know what to say to women…well, I guess I'm doing alright. I mean, she hasn't run away from me or slapped me or anything yet. Getting slapped is what always happens to Zidane. Yea, note to self, don't say anything perverted. Blank looked over at Kaira as she stood watching the scenery. He couldn't make out certain things about her such as her hair color, the color of her clothes, stuff like that; nor could he see much of the details of her face. But he could tell that she was thin, and very fit. Basically everything pertaining to her figure (which is really all that most guys care about). Blank scanned her body, looking her up and down. Hey I didn't realize she had a tail, he thought to himself. He then found himself starring at where the tail was connected at. Oh crap… shouldn't be starring there … damn it, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! (A/N Bad Blank! Bad!)

Kaira, of course was oblivious to everything going on in Blank's head (which is probably for the best). She was too hypnotized by the scenery as they flew over the country side of the Mist Continent, in between Alexandria and Lindblum. It would be a while still before they even saw the shore of the Forgotten Continent.

Yay! Another chapter done. I'm still not sure about the title of this one though. I don't know how well it fits in with the chapter. If you can come up with a better title for it, or if you like the title I already have, please let me know. Thanks! Luv ya!