A/N: Ecchi and amusing injuries abound. Navigate with caution.

The Stray Girl and the Incompetent Mage

Chapter 21: Spellbound Sachiko

...

The light of the early morning caresses her face, causing her to groan as a slightly upset expression takes over her features. Sachiko rolls on her side, slowly blinking as she awakens, her skin feeling the contact with the soft sheets underneath her and a small sound of satisfaction leaves her lips at the cool feeling they provide.

She can't remember absolutely anything she did last night, but it feels like her body desperately needed a break, and she managed to get it yesterday before going to sleep. With a light hum, she stretches her arms and legs, her back curving slightly at the tension. After doing this, she sighs, and sits up.

Only for something around her neck preventing her from even doing that much.

What the… she thinks, her eyebrows furrowing as a hand reaches her neck. There she can feel it. Made of leather, with a chain intertwined in the material and the line following until reaching one of the bedposts, tying her tightly to the bed.

She's trapped.

Just when she's panicking, wondering how in the world she got into this kind of situation, her ears catch a small sound just by her side. Getting an idea of what, or rather who, is making such a sound, she slowly turns around, her eyes following a lump under the sheets until it finds a chest, covered by a white nightshirt with the first buttons loose, showing delicate collarbones, and the flawless skin that covers lean muscles underneath. It goes up, reaching a chin, a pair of plump, rosy lips, a shapely nose, eyelashes long and curved, and it finally stops at a mate of wavy, strawberry-blond locks that under the morning sun appear more pink than blond.

Louis is sleeping soundly, unbothered of her entrapped state.

Seeing this, Sachiko does the only logical thing she can think of.

She raises a fist and deliberately drives her whole body weight on his stomach.

Louis spurts, his eyes opening and a choked noise escaping his throat. His body convulses, extending involuntarily at the sudden attack, before flexing on his abdomen as his arms hug the damaged zone, his eyes filling with moisture and his teeth rattling at the force with which he closes his jaw.

All of this happened in just the expanse of two seconds.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Louis shouts, hugging himself and groaning, burying his face on the pillow. Sachiko huffs, crossing her arms and looking at him with contempt.

"What is wrong with me? If I remember correctly, I was not the one to knock you unconscious not once but twice, and on top of that, chaining me to your bed the second time!" she yells in retort. As the morning fog is clearing from her senses, she starts to remember the events that unfolded just the day before. The first time he knocked her out was at Vestri Court, when she was declaring her love for Guiche, and the second was when she woke up after that one, and tried to run off to Guiche's room.

Louis growls, slowly sitting up and glaring at her with furious eyes. Yes, of course he remembers. She was trashing and wiggling so badly when she woke up sometime in the middle of the night, fighting him fiercely when he tried to keep her from wandering the academy searching for Guiche's room, of course he had no other option than to knock her out and chain her for when she inevitably woke up again and tried to do the same.

"What else did you want me to do? With the way you were behaving yesterday, you could have seriously hurt me!"

"Would have been your own fault" she hisses distastefully. Louis rolls his eyes, getting up from bed. He washes his face first and then walks towards his wardrobe, the pain receding as the seconds tick by. "Hey, aren't you going to unchain me?"

"Nope" he says nonchalantly. Sachiko gasps.

"How can you not?! This is horrible! What if I need to pee?!"

"Oh please" he snorts, starting to undress, before suddenly remembering something. With a nervous glance at her, he quickly enters the wardrobe and leaves the door semi-open, changing inside. He knows she doesn't care in normal days, being under the influence of a love potion making it more so, but still, he can't find himself willing enough to change in front of her, as ridiculous as it sounds.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean I won't unchain you, no matter how much you're trying not to show you just want to run right up to Guiche's arms" he explains, finishing with the change of clothes and leaving the wardrobe. He does it in time to see Sachiko's cheeks flood with color, her eyes showing both embarrassment and a little of longing at the name. He scoffs. "You're so obvious."

"I-I-I don't k-know what you're talking a-about…"

"Don't play pretend. You thought I wouldn't notice your real intentions? Really, don't take me for a fool."

"Psss, fine" she pouts, seeing that she doesn't have to hold herself back anymore now that he has seen through her. "But come on, you really won't unchain me? I promise I won't be a bother. I just… I want to…" her eyes fill with tears, a blush adorning her cheeks as she looks at him, pleading. The sight makes Louis' heart skip a beat, but he composes himself, knowing he must resist. "I know already I can't be with him no matter how much I want to, that's why, only being able to see him and breathe the same air as him would be enough. So please…"

"No" he interrupts, making her blink before setting on a frown. "That won't work either. Stop trying to manipulate me, I won't let you free so you can embarrass both of us today" he says irritably, putting on his cloak and grabbing his wand. Sachiko growls at this, making him roll his eyes. "I'll come back as soon as I can, try not to make too much noise, alright?" he opens the door and leaves before she can further try to get him to get her free, leaving the young girl staring daggers at his back and then at the closed door.

It is only after a few minutes have passed that Sachiko finally gives up, her shoulders sagging and her head hitting the pillow under her with a defeated groan. To think Louis would go as far as to chain her to the bed is humiliating. What would Guiche think of this if he knew?

Nothing much, I guess, she thinks with a pout. It is strange, these new feelings developing on her chest whenever she pictures the face of the flamboyant guy. Just yesterday at the same hour she could barely stand him and his annoying habit of likening himself to a rose, but at the present time, it was impossible for her to even remember ever feeling any kind of negative feeling towards him.

She could, of course, understand he hadn't always been her favorite person, but hate? Dislike? That was completely impossible, couldn't even understand those concepts. Sachiko could just think about him, and the way her body yearns to be close to him, in any possible way she could get. She understands that due to their different statuses it was difficult if not downright impossible to be with him, but just being there, by his side, seeing his face, hearing his voice… that was more than enough for her.

But alas, even that possibility was cut short thanks to Louis and his meddlesome personality. It doesn't even occur to her to ask herself when exactly her feelings for Guiche started, and even less she's able to link it to the wine she drank the day before. But how could she? It's not like Sachiko even knows about the existence of a love potion in the first place.

Just when she's ideating a thousand different ways she can get away from the chains that bind her, the door opens slowly, catching her attention. Thinking is Louis, she opens her mouth ready to yell at him again, but before she's even halfway, a face pops up on the side, and Shiro's face is revealed to her.

"Good, it seems he's not here anymore…" she hears him mutter, his eyes darting from side to side as he enters. Sachiko is elated.

"Shiro!" she calls, small tears forming on her eyes. Shiro's attention quickly goes to her, and his eyes go wide upon landing on the collar at her neck, chaining her to the bed.

"Sachiko! Just what did that brat do?!" he exclaims, closing the door behind him and approaching the bed. "Chaining you like this, just what is his head full off…"

"That's not important right now! I think the key is in the first drawer of the desk, at least that's where it was the last time he did this. Please, unchain me now!"

"The last time that…?" Shiro shakes his head, not wanting to know, and instead does exactly as Sachiko tells him. He retrieves the key from the drawer and goes to unchain her. "There it is; although I'm surprised. Shouldn't he have taken the key with him?"

"He has two of a set. Thanks Shiro. Now, if you excuse me" she lightly pushes his shoulder and goes to stand up, "I need to go somewhere right away. I've taken enough time as it is."

"Wait" Shiro stops her just when she's about to leave. There's a frown on his face, and his eyes look at her confused. "Where are you going? We need to talk first, you know? Exactly what happened last night after we went our separate ways? Did Mr. Vallière do something to you? How did you end up chained to the bed like this?" he asks; true concern in his tone. To his increasing surprise, Sachiko groans.

"Shiro, nothing happened, now I need to…" he halts her again, and Sachiko glares at him. "Shiro, I am starting to get angry…"

"I should be the one saying that!" he retorts, surprising Sachiko. "What's so important you can't stay here and talk to me? I tried looking for you afterwards, but I couldn't find you anywhere; and now that I have the time to…"

"Oh" Sachiko suddenly looks sheepish, her altered mind finally coming up with a memory. More specifically, the memory of the two of them inside the warehouse, kissing and… "Shiro, I'm so sorry…"

Her tone and expression leave Shiro even more confused. He leans back to get a better look at her face, and with his frown just deepening, asks; "excuse me?"

"No, I… I understand now. Shiro, I must apologize for leading you on all this time… but the truth is… well…" she chuckles awkwardly, avoiding Shiro's eyes that look like they're going to smolder her where she sits. "I-I'm in love with someone else…"

"…what" he says, his expression unchanging. Sachiko shrugs, trying to downplay it.

"Yes, ehm, you see… I guess my feelings just started growing bigger and bigger without me realizing it… and even though he hurt me so badly in the past, and our continuous fights, and his creepy tendencies… somehow, along the way, I couldn't help it…"

"Sachiko" Shiro interrupts, completely bewildered at not only her bashful and blushing expression, but at her words, and what he thinks they mean. It couldn't be… with her master? "You're not trying to tell me… you're breaking up with me? Because of some asshole you suddenly think you like despite how he usually treats you?"

"Hey!" Sachiko yells, shoving a finger at his face. Shiro leans back again, but his frown is still in place, and his eyes are angrily looking at her. "Don't call him that! It's true he's egotistical and too prideful, but deep down I know, he's a good boy. Even after what happened he would go out of his way to try and compensate me time and time again, and for a very long time I just wouldn't listen. But now, now I can't lie to myself any longer. I am in love with G-!"

"I don't want to hear it" he cuts her off with a growl, taking a step back and shaking his head. "So what? Does this mean you've always been playing with me? Why would you even go out with me in the first place?"

"Because I knew, deep down, that I would never have a chance with him. After all, I'm just a familiar, lucky to be called a commoner in this kind of world, and he is a noble from a prestigious family. What chance did I have with him?"

"So you mean I was just an attempt to forget him?" even though he feels he has heard enough, Shiro can only continue asking. Because he doesn't want to believe, that the one girl he thought was different, would do something like this to him. Not after all their talks, and not after he finally let himself open to another girl after the fiasco with Agnes.

"Well, that sounds bad when you say it like that…" Sachiko says, lowering her voice and looking away. She tries to think of something that would make the situation better, because, in love or not, Shiro is still a good friend of hers. And she doesn't want to lose him for something like this. "I mean, it was a nice experience, finally being liked by a guy… and specially someone as good-looking as you… I just couldn't… waste that chance…"

She knows as soon as the words get out of her mouth that she should have just shut up when she had the chance. Shiro doesn't look hurt. He looks furious. Sachiko gulps, having never seen an expression like that on his face before.

"Shiro, I…"

"Shut up. Don't even try to justify yourself" he practically spats at her. He turns around and leaves, making sure to slam the door with force before he says something to her that he will no doubt regret. He isn't thinking straight. He needs time to be alone.

Inside, Sachiko simply stares at the closed door, her body unable to move, and her mind still processing what just happened.

"Sachiko…" Derflinger finally speaks, after a few seconds have passed without the girl moving. She jumps, startled at the voice, before shaking her head.

"No… I… I guess I just lost a friend…" she says, hanging her head in shame. She trembles slightly, but immediately slaps herself, shaking her head with vehemence in order to clear her thoughts. "I-I can't stay here. I need to…"

And before Derflinger can say anything to stop her, she's out of the room.

Reunited in Montmorency's room after lunch, Louis can barely believe the girl in front of him.

"You don't have all the ingredients? You were the whole morning in Tristania!" he shouts, wishing just for a moment she was a boy, so he could vent all his frustrations on her. Unfortunately, he has no other option but settle with verbal abuse, at most. Montmorency rolls her eyes.

"I got them all, except for the water spirit tears. They were sold out" she explains arrogantly. She crosses her arms while Louis glares at her. The desire to hit her is just getting stronger with each word she speaks.

"And what are we going to do then? We cannot leave Sachiko like that" Guiche says worriedly, after being explained about the situation and made to go with Montmorency to Tristania looking for ingredients. Louis snorts.

"Obviously. Did you use all the money I lend you? Really, these broken nobles…" he murmurs, annoyed. Montmorency and Guiche stare coldly at him, but he ignores them. "And these 'water spirit tears' are hard to get by?" he asks, a weary look on his features. Montmorency shakes her head slowly.

"The only way to obtain them is by asking the water spirit itself" she responds, sighing, "And the only one I know of lives in Ragdorian Lake…"

"Then let's go" Louis rapidly says, standing. Montmorency glares at him.

"Where? To Ragdorian Lake?" she asks derisively. Louis narrows his eyes at her but nods. She gives a dry laugh. "Right; even if we actually made the journey there, the possibility of the water spirit giving us something is from a hundred to zero. It will be safer to simply wait for the store to replenish" she says indifferently.

"And how long it will take for that?"

"Two to three months."

"No way we're waiting that long" he declares irritably. "After class I'll ask the principal for permission to leave the academy. First thing tomorrow, we're parting, understood?"

"What? You know, some of us have other things to do" Montmorency stands up, putting her hands on her hips.

"The only thing you should worry about is that I don't go telling Queen Henrietta about your criminal act. There's nothing more important now than reverting this mess you put us in" Louis retorts acidly. Montmorency is taken aback at his words and attitude, but rapidly shakes her head, trying to stand up to him. She was just opening her mouth to say something back when the door of her bedroom bursts open. All the heads turn around to see what the commotion is about, just to see a raven-haired girl standing in the threshold, breathing rapidly and with her cheeks flushed.

"Th-there you are!" she yells. There are a few tears shining on her eyes, and her smile is shaky, but there's no denying the affection behind them. She runs up to Guiche, before hugging him and burying her face on his chest. Guiche blinks, and looks at both Montmorency and Louis, not knowing what to do. Montmorency has a disgusted face, her fists balled up at her sides, but Louis' expression is unreadable.

"I'm glad I've found you" Sachiko continues, as if it's nobody's business. "I… I did something very bad, and I don't know how to fix it. Guiche…" she looks up, her eyes moist and her mouth quivering. Guiche blushes scarlet, more so when Sachiko presses her chest to his, allowing him to feel the intimate push of her breasts against him. "Just this once… is it alright if I find comfort in you?"

The implication of her question is clear to anyone who can hear it, and Sachiko doesn't leave much place to doubt when she takes his hand and slowly but surely brings it up, towards her chest. Before Guiche can think of stopping her o even reply to her, Sachiko is out cold on the floor. The young man takes a step back, surprised, and looks at Louis with a reproachful glare, just to see him looking at Montmorency with his jaw hung open.

"Enough with this nonsense" she growls, lowering her potions book, a heavy leather-bound tome. She turns to Louis, actually making him take a step back with just the sheer anger she's emanating. "We're going. Tomorrow" it's all she says, and the two boys can't do much but nod in agreement.

Making Sachiko stay still was no easy work, in fact, Louis almost failed uncountable times during the night, the only thing maintaining her in place being the collar he had used earlier that day. She pulls at it with a sullen face, sitting on the floor near the bed after finally calming down, seeing as she's not going to leave the room anytime soon.

She still feels bad for what happened with Shiro a few hours ago, but surprisingly, that event is slowly fading in her mind as the constant reminder the collar makes that she's not be free to stay with her beloved is occupying most of her thoughts. She's having a staring contest with Louis' back, who's sitting on his desk, carelessly flipping through the pages of a book. She huffs.

"Is this any way to treat a woman? I'm not your property, you know" she complains, making a sound of irritation in the back of her throat. Louis sighs.

"I beg to disagree."

"With what? Being your property?"

"That; and that you consider yourself a woman" Sachiko rolls her eyes.

"I'll always only be a familiar in your eyes, won't I?" Louis doesn't answer, so she continues. "I thought we already discussed this, remember? A few days ago, in Tristania? That I'm a human being with my own will and…"

"I know that!" he interrupts her, raising his voice and surprising Sachiko. He turns to look at her; "but that's not the point now, if I let you free, who knows what kind of disaster you will get into. We're lucky the incident from this afternoon wasn't so bad that we had to make excuses, but I know it could have been way worse, what with you running around the academy asking everyone if they had seen Guiche. Letting you go freely to Guiche's bedroom is just going to make that possibility become reality sooner than what I would like" he crosses his arms and glares at her. Sachiko, however, is hardly taken aback.

"I'm not going to do anything, I swear, I just want to be near hi-"

"Right, I'm going to believe you" he rolls his eyes. "Listen, you're not really in love with Guiche" he makes a face, as if just the mere idea of something like that happening is disgusting. Which certainly is; "it's the stupid love potion you drank last night that's making you act like this. So just calm down already and stop blabbering about 'wanting to be with him' and being 'star-crossed lovers' because I swear, if I hear something like that again I'm going to-"

"It's not a love potion!" the girl shouts immediately, glaring daggers at the boy in front of her. "What I feel is real. It feels real. To fall in love with someone, and not being able to be with them… that's a painful thing, and not only because of the difference in status, but because he already has a special person of his own. He doesn't love me, he never will, h-he…" she begins to sob. Louis watches her, amazed at the sincerity of her tears, but quickly shakes his head. No wonder love potions are prohibited. For something to have such an effect on a person, it's really a frightening thing.

"Of course he'll never love you. I doubt he even loves Montmorency, the Gramont are famous for being womanizers" he stands up and pats her on the head. "And I really hope this is not how you normally act when you're in love, otherwise nobody would ever want to be with you" Sachiko snaps, trying to bite off his hand, but he quickly dodges, furrowing his brow. "Anyway, tomorrow we'll have to wake up early, so let's get to sleep now, ok?"

Sachiko's face lights up. "We're traveling? Where? Is Guiche going too?" she rapidly asks.

"That's what I just said, no? To Ragdorian Lake and yes, that idiot is going" he puts on his sleeping robe. "We can't possibly leave you alone with him, and I'm pretty sure it will be impossible to separate you from him anyway" he sighs.

"Is Ragdorian Lake a nice place? If it's so, I want to travel with Guiche in the same horse. Oh, I can see it now, the surface of the water shining under the sun, the two of us walking together; maybe I could even steal a kiss?" she giggles, her eyes closed and her mouth perking up a little on one corner. If they were in a different situation, Louis might have thought her cute, but as it is; her expression is just causing him a headache.

"Yeah, whatever, just go to sleep already!" he shouts, throwing her a blanket and snapping his fingers to turn off the light. Sachiko huffs again, taking the blanket and covering herself with it.

"At least let me sleep on the bed, you big meanie."

"No way! As if I'm going to let a repeat of this morning happen again!" and with that said, Louis closes his eyes, trying his best to fall asleep.

It's somewhere around three in the morning that he's rudely awoken, by no other than Guiche's yell for help.

Rolling and turning, Guiche is in his bed, having a bad dream.

"No, Montmorency, I'm sorry, you're the only one that I like! I promise I won't flirt anymore! Please, the love potion no…!"

As expected, knowing the girl he likes was willing to use such a potion on him because of his infidelity, Guiche was deeply troubled. Although she's the only one he actually wants, he can't stop his nature as a man, and less of all pretend his existence isn't a gift to be bestowed upon all and every girl. Seeing the effect the potion has on Sachiko, whom he considers more of a comrade than anything else, and who he knows isn't very fond of him, was enough to bring forward unwanted nightmares of what would have happened, had he drank the wine instead of her.

It's because of this nightmare that keeps him trashing in his bed, his brow glittering with sweat and his teeth grinding in fear, he's unable to listen to the door of his room opening and closing, and small steps gradually approaching his bed.

It isn't until a weight is settled on his side, and an adventurous hand slowly drags itself down his chest, stomach and even lower, that he wakes up with a start, his eyes wide and his mouth about to shout a call for help.

"Shhh" the voice of a girl whispers, lifting her hand and pressing it against his mouth. Sachiko's face appears under the light of the moons, her eyes smoldering and her mouth curved up slightly in a smile. Guiche does not know what is going on. "Don't want to wake up anyone else, do we?"

"Sachiko" he whispers once her hand leaves his mouth, his heart beating up fast due to the fright of before. Sachiko tilts her head to the side, her hair managing to shine under the moonlight in an ethereal light. She looks otherworldly, but there's something more important than that right now. "What are you doing here? Rather, how did you get here? I thought Louis would make sure you didn't leave his room."

"He chained me to the wall and left me to rot there, but I couldn't take it anymore. Guiche, I'm sad" she sits up, the fabric of her shirt sliding down a shoulder, and it's in that moment Guiche realizes what she's wearing: a white shirt, completely open and showing a line of flawless white skin between her breasts and to her bellybutton, and her black stockings.

And nothing else.

Guiche jerks away, his fight-or-flight response activating, but Sachiko prevents him from doing so by pushing him down by the shoulders, swiftly straddling his hips and keeping him trapped in place. Guiche starts shaking slightly. "S-Sachiko, whatever you're doing, I-I ask y-y-you…"

"No" she responds easily with a smile, and leans down, closer to his face. Guiche gasps, still doing his best to get away, but she's so firmly planted on his lap, there's very little he can do about it. That he's utterly and completely unable to think straight due to the expanse of skin she's showing just further adds to this. "You need to help me Guiche, I'm sad. Even though we can't be together, I still yearn for you to touch me. I'm fine with just this much, if it's alright with you."

"Well, I'm not! Sachiko, you need to get away before…!" Guiche tries to make her see reason. His own body is betraying him, and even if he isn't attracted to her it's very difficult to ignore a practically naked girl sitting on top of him without responding at least a little. His next words are choked on his throat at the feeling of Sachiko swaying her body tantalizingly, though her eyes show it wasn't intentional on her part.

"No, don't say that" again, her eyes shine with unshed tears, her hands caressing up his chest until she curls them atop his collar, her lower lip popping as she stares straight at him with desperation. "Even though I know it was bad of me, I did something very terrible today to someone I care deeply about, but I can't lie to myself any longer. Even if I ended up losing him, I have to, no, need to know that I can still be with you, so please Guiche, I beg of you, please just let me, this time…"

Guiche is left speechless, having never seen such a cute face from Sachiko before. He can't even remember a time he thought she looked so appealing. However, he is taken out of his thoughts at the feeling of something wet and soft pressing against the base of his throat. It's when he looks down, and sees Sachiko tenderly kissing that zone that his body is pierced with lightning, and suddenly he's doing everything in his power to try to push her away.

"Come on Sachiko, don't do that! You'll leave a mark!"

"Good, that way, that annoying Monmon won't put her hands on you anymore…"

"Wait a minute! Don't say that! Montmorency is not annoying! She's an angel, and even if she gets angry sometimes she's still the cutest girl in the academy!"

"Lies! You think she's annoying too! Because she always gets angry whenever you talk with other girls… if it was me, even kissing is allowed, because I know you can't help yourself, but more than that is definitely prohibited! Only with me, ok?"

As she's saying this, Sachiko keeps kissing his chest, his neck, biting and sucking and leaving as many marks as possible. Guiche tries to push her away, but his strength is diminishing with every new love mark. When Sachiko is finally satisfied, she sits up and looks at her handiwork. There are at least ten marks marring his neck and chest, and she's proud of herself when she sees him trembling and convulsing slightly, with his whole face flushed till his ears.

"Now, you mark me too."

Guiche blinks, dazed, before being presented with Sachiko's chest. Thankfully, the shirt manages to cover her, but he can still see the rounded and soft form of both breasts, pressed together as she pushes her hair back and points at the zone right above and between them.

"Do it right here."

"Ehm… no."

It took all of his self-control to utter that, turning away and thinking of not only Montmorency but of Louis' murderous faces. One thing is letting Sachiko do what she wants, but actively participating will surely get him killed, one way or another.

Sachiko pouts, and for the increasingly bad luck of Guiche, starts rocking back and forth, all the while complaining. "Do it! Don't be a coward! I covered you with my marks, the least you can do is return the favor!"

It doesn't seem like she's trying to have his body respond, just a way to show her frustration and ask for a whim, but it has an undesirable effect on Guiche, and Sachiko halts all movement when she realizes what's going on. Shyly, she looks down, and her blush explodes all throughout her face and chest when she sees that.

"Oh… I didn't mean to…"

"Enough!" Guiche yells, embarrassed beyond belief. "Louis, HELP!" he screams what he should have done since the moment Sachiko entered his room, pushing her and sitting up, gathering his knees against his chest and burying his face between them. Even though he enjoys flirting with girls, Guiche is surprisingly innocent, and the situation is way more than he can handle by himself.

Sachiko slowly stands up, after being shoved from the bed, and looks at Guiche with confusion.

"Guiche, are you alright? I didn't mean to…"

Her words are cut short by the thunderous sound of steps rapidly approaching the room, and the door being thrown open as Louis enters, winded and with his clothes and hair a mess, wand in hand. Before ascertaining the situation, before even looking at Guiche or Sachiko, he yells, from the top of his lungs.

"Explosion!"

And the windows burst, the blast leaving nothing more but soot and smoke behind.

Guiche thinks this is completely unfair.

"Asshole, not doing anything to prevent this from happening. What kind of man are you if you can't even control yourself and properly reject a girl's advancements?" Louis rants, saddling the horse and all the while complaining and mumbling curses and offenses under his breath. Montmorency is no better. She hadn't even look at him, instead concentrating in her own horse, her chin raised in contempt and her eyes cold as ice whenever she actually turns to look at him.

"That's not how it is! And why are you treating only me like crap? Sachiko is the one who came upon me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

He truly thinks he didn't. And still, his face is covered in bandages, his arms and legs too. His crotch hurts like hell, after Louis kicked him there once the smoke cleared up and he could see what kind of situation he and Sachiko were in before he intervened. The girl in question is sitting on the side, a sullen expression on her face as she waits for Guiche to prepare his horse, after he told her to wait until he could do that much, not even the least bit annoyed at the murderous looks Montmorency is throwing at her.

"Because you clearly enjoyed yourself before calling for help! Or are you going to tell me you were unable to get away while Sachiko left so many h-h-hickeys on your n-neck and chest?!" Louis shouts, finishing preparing the horse and walking up to him, just to yell at his face. Guiche winces, but remains firm.

"I would have liked to see what you'd do in my place!"

Louis opens his mouth to yell a response, but Montmorency steps up, pushing them away from each other by grabbing their hair and pulling. "Enough! You two better shut up before I make you! Guiche! You're an idiot! And Louis! You better keep your temper and your familiar in check before I do it for you! Is that clear?!"

The two boys wince at the force she applies, which increases when she doesn't get an answer.

"Ah, alright! Stop that!"

"Montmorency! That hurts! Please, I swear it wasn't my intention to let things escalate to that point!"

"As if I care" she huffs, releasing them and turning to mount her horse. "Now we better get going. Our permission from the principal is only for two days, and we don't know how long it would take us to convince the water spirit, if we even manage to do it at all."

Louis and Guiche grumble, the first annoyed and the second depressed, before mounting their horses too. Sachiko, seeing this, runs up to Guiche's horse and sits with him, much to the boy's nervousness and the other two's irritation. Fortunately, they don't say anything, already having agreed she would travel with him in order to keep her calm. That doesn't mean they don't keep an eye on them at all times. Guiche feels like he's being judged again; and feeling Sachiko happily rubbing her cheek against his back just makes that feeling increase by tenfold.

A/N: I like to think that for all his flirty ways, Guiche actually has no real idea on how to deal with women. On the other hand, remember the idiot Shiro mentioned a few chapters back? The one that forced him into dangerous missions to get King Henry's attention? It was Agnes. Disguised as a boy. I have a whole story thought about them and how Agnes came to meet Henrietta. But that's a story for another time.

Hope you liked the chapter, despite its content. I actually had fun writing it, hehe.