Part B

CHAPTER TWO

I've always known that he hated that fact I could fight. It's not something that I can help. I may not be as strong as him, I may not be as witty or as skilled but if I can't at least hold my own, where does that leave me.

Behind.

(*)

Sinbad stared at the food, if it can even be called that, placed in front of him. He never understood why she even bothers to try to cook. It was just a waste of resources from his standpoint. He couldn't even recognize any of the ingredients inside the bowl of black bubbling slop, but Eris calls it fried rice. It is not fried rice. He wasn't eating it.

"I'm not eating it." He plainly stated, pushing the bowl away.

"You promised." She pushed the bowl back towards him, smiling. It was genuine, carefree, and full of trust. He wasn't falling for it.

"I did no such thing. I'm going to die if I eat it!" He shoved the bowl farther to her side of the table.

"Eh? Really? You've survived my cooking before." She placed a finger to her lip remembering all the other times he ate her food. Sure he got sick but never deathly ill.

"Cooking? You mean poisoning?"

Eris frowned. "It's not that bad. I've been practicing you know!"

Sinbad gave her a calculating stare. He wasn't going to say anything anymore.

"Come on Sin," she gathered some of the "fried rice" onto a spoon and brought it close to his face while staring into his eyes. "Just one little bite. I know you hate seeing things go to waste."

Hook, line, and sinker.

Sinbad grimaced at the black, bubbling mess in front of his face. Eris carefully placed the spoonful of slop in his mouth and Sinbad promptly fell backwards. Eris, surprised, quickly stood and looked over the other side of the table.

"Oops! I think it actually killed him this time!" She panicked.

(*)

"Eris," shouted Sinbad as he frantically ran through the town. "Eris where are you?"

Sinbad had lost her in the bazaar at some point during midday. One minute she was looking at some stall selling pretty trinkets and the next gone. Poof. She vanished. And she was almost a professional at it too. Not a trace of her left behind. The only inkling she was there was the faint lingering scent of her perfumes and some essence of sorts Sinbad could just feel. Some unseen part of her left behind, unintentionally abandoned. Soon the feeling faded and he lost her completely.

The sun was starting to set and Sin wanted to find her before dark. He scanned the thinning crowd from his vantage point on the rooftop, searching for a head of dark brown hair. Oh why did her hair color have to be so generic? And why does she have to wonder about like a child? Attracted and drawn to every shiny object, like a bird. Flitting from here to there, preening her feathers, flying off at every chance she gets. One day a cat may just eat her.

She was such a stupid little bird too. Insisting on cooking like that. She knew if she wasted ingredients like that then they would have to go into town to buy more… She knew. A loud frustrated groan escaped his lips. Of course she knew. The dumb bird wanted to get out of her cage. Her mother would kill him if she knew.

A loud crashing noise from the alleyway below distracted him of his thoughts. Sinbad glanced over the edge and saw some poor men getting beaten by a girl.

Wait. What?

Sinbad was now halfway hanging over the edge watching intently as the girl fought with some guys. She elbowed one in the face and kicked the other in the shin. The man with the now broken nose tried to grab her from behind but she managed to duck. The bruised shin man tried to kick her down but she grabbed his foot and swept him off his feet. Broken Nose leaned down to grab her again but she ended to head butting him.

She did well fending them off as they continuously attacked her. She dodged their uncoordinated efforts and threw sloppy attacks of her own. Surprisingly they have yet to catch or even land a hit until Broken Nose caught her off guard and landed a punch to the side of her chin. She stumbled backwards right into Bruised Shin's embrace. He lifted her up from under her arms but she kicked and flailed as much as she could. Broken Nose tried to get in closer to her legs prevented him coming too close. She managed to break free but before she could plant her feet firmly onto the ground Broken Nose punched her square in the face, returning the favor.

That's when Sinbad landed in the fray. Well on top of fray. He managed to kick Broken Nose in the face with complete accuracy. Sinbad turned around and swiftly punched bruised shin in the gut as he advanced towards him. Sinbad then turned his attention to the girl still on the ground. Blood dripped from her nose but she still managed to grin megawatts.

"You stupid little bird," he smiled. Rage emitted from his very being. Eris shrunk back and her smile faltered. "Stop running off whenever you please."

Sinbad held out his hand but she was very wary of taking it. He pulled her up anyways and held on tightly to hand. She was not getting away this time.

"What would have happened if I hadn't been there?" He sighed already knowing her answer.

"Eh? But you were there." Eris looked at him blood still dripping from her nose. Her lip split and chin bruising nicely.

"What if I wasn't?" His continued automatically while reaching into his pocket for something to wipe the blood away.

"Then I would have tried anything to win." She said softly, not looking at him as he gave her a handkerchief. Sinbad was shocked and didn't know whether to disapprove or agree. All he knew was that he suddenly felt abandoned that she wouldn't rely on him until the very end anymore. It hurt knowing she didn't always need him or want him there for her. A groan broke Sin out of his thoughts.

Bruised Shin and Broken Nose were starting to stir.

"Let's get out of here before they wake up." Sinbad suggested and tightened his grip on her hand. His knuckles were white at this point and if she was in pain then she didn't say anything just squeezed his hand back in response. He brought them up to his face and softly kissed them.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Okay."

...

"We should also bandage your face up before you go home."

"Did we even buy groceries?"

They were so dead...

(*)

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?" Eris' mother screeched in horror.

"Oh, well. You see…" Eris trailed off, avoiding her mother's eyes. She broke out into a cold sweat as her mother zeroed in on her. This was it. This is the moment where she would die and could only brace herself for the worse lashing out in the history of lashing outs.

"She walked into a wall." Sinbad said firmly. No hint of emotion on his face.

"I," Eris whipped her head toward Sinbad, blushing. "I did not! What kind of idiot would do such a thing!"

"You," Sinbad said simply before running out the door.

Eris' mother just sighed as her daughter went running after the purple haired boy and right into the closing door. Only her daughter was foolish enough to turn a lie into the truth.

(*)

Haha seems short now that I upload it but enjoy. I kinda feel bad though cause I wanted to post the Part A chapters but I felt like Part B Needed at least a second chapter before I posted any of the other Part A stuff. I feel like I killed my plot line too but oh well it t'was a train wreck waiting to happen. Well tell me what you think?