Chapter 3 - Sandwich Thief

Graverobber wanted to hug her back. He wanted to hold her tight and not let go for fear she would disappear again. But this wasn't the Shilo he knew from eight years ago. This Shilo had grown and seen things and learned things. Things that he had no part of. How exactly was he supposed to act, what was he supposed to say?

Lucky for him, he was saved by two squirmy ferrets scampering into the kitchen and stealing his sandwhich. "The hell!" And it wasn't long before Shilo's giggling turned into full hearted laughter as he stepped back, trying to get a good look at the rippling waves of fur. "Seriously kid? I spend all this time making sure your damn house is take'n care of and you bring home furry snakes?"

"Kodo and Podo are ferrets and they keep vermin out of the house. They will also steal any food that is unguarded. You dropped your guard, so they snatched. It's what they do." Stepping around his sputtering figure, she took a seat at the kitchen table and the two...ferrets...scampered off to be annoying else where. It took all his will power not to tell her that there would be no furry tubes living in his house. Which brought him to the realization that Shilo was back, this house was no longer his to claim.

Watching where she sat, he found himself not worried about going back to sleeping in dumpsters and lurking in alleys. Graverobber had been waiting a long time for her return. There were many long nights of wondering where she had gone off too. Many times he had regretted not following her the day she left to make sure she got off the island safely. Countless zydrate runs where he carefully checked every corpse to make sure that it wasn't her. Wasn't his Shilo.

Now, here she was. Sitting at the kitchen table, fiddling a napkin, dark locks falling over her shoulder as she watched her fingers work. She hadn't grown much past the height she was last he saw her, but her presence in a room had more then made up for that lack. The side effects of her 'medicine' had long since worn off and her cheeks were a healthy peachy glow, her hair rested just below her shoulder blades and her eyes had a light in them that was lacking before. And with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Graverobber realised that his Shilo was never coming home.

This Shilo who laughed freely, had traveled beyond the island and kept two wriggle worms as pets, was as different from the Shilo that left the Opera all those years ago as two people could be. He just hoped that somewhere deep inside, the Shilo that he was originally drawn too was still in there. That the fighting spirit hadn't been washed away with the sands of time and life experiance.

"Why are you staring at me like that Robber? Do I have dirt on my face?"

Blinking out of his thoughts, he smirked as he moved back to the counter to make another sandwich. A sense of de'javu coming over him as he decided to make two. One to replace the stolen meal, and one for the weary traveler. "Naw kid, was just thinking that you are still short. And looks like a good breeze could take you down. Didn't you eat at all while you were gone?"

She smiled, and it was even better then he remembered. Not that he had spent much time thinking of her smile. No. He was far to busy with other very important things to think of how her face lit up when she smiled. "Dad's meds affected the growth plates in my bones so I'll never be any taller. The Doctores I studied with were really surprised that hair lose and stunted bone growth were my only real side affects from the years I took Dad's medicine. But really, only time will tell if there will be more. And yes, I did eat."

He didn't know how to respond to that exactly. She sounded so sure of herself. Sure of the knowledge that she had gained from her time off island. "So that's what took you so long to learn? What the old Repo-man's meds did to ya? Damn kid, I could of told ya just by looking at ya!"

"Maybe," she replied, pushing away from the table, grabbing the finished sandwich from his hand, along with his beer, and leaving the kitchen. "But you couldn't teach me to be a good doctor. So I went to India, Germany, China, and England to study as much medicine as I could. India is where the hooligans found me."

"Those vermin teach you to steal food and drink?"

"You made me the sandwich and this is still my house so everything in it is mine for the taking."

The look she gave him made him go cold. His core turned over and his face heated up like a lobster. Suddenly, she wasn't just a kid anymore. She was grown, and if he was noticing he knew that everyone else would once she set out to do whatever she came back to this island to do. And Graverobber was more then looking forward to the ride.