Chapter 7

Beatrix's Secret Admirer

Kuja drove back to the house that Beatrix and her friends were staying in. Unknown to both of them, Steiner was hiding in the bushes while watching them, like a beast stalking its prey. Beatrix got out of the hover-car and headed into the house. Steiner did not make his move just yet. Kuja started up his hover-car again and drove off. The very second that Kuja was out of eyeshot, Steiner slipped out of his hiding spot and walked to the back of the house, then ran off. Steiner came back a second later with a ladder. He leaned the ladder against the wall. Steiner grabbed a chunk from a nearby shrub and stuck it on the top of his helmet in an attempt to camouflage his head, then he started climbing up. He climbed to the top and looked in through the upstairs window and saw Beatrix and her friends beating each other with pillows while giggling like a bunch of little schoolgirls. Steiner kept his head low so the girls wouldn't see his face.

"So Bea, how was your date with Kuja?" One of the girls asked. Beatrix just excused herself and walked into the next room. Steiner started hopping to the side on his ladder. After half a minute, he made it to the next window. Steiner looked in to see that Beatrix just finished changing into her sleeping garments. Beatrix then turned toward the window and instantly recognized Steiner, she had no idea how long Steiner had been there. Now in most situations like this, some girls would have screamed and quickly torn out of the room, other girls would have walked toward the window and pushed Steiner to make him fall backwards while still on the ladder, but not Beatrix. She only silently gasped and just stood there and stared at Steiner. Steiner could easily see a blush creeping across Beatrix's face. He turned toward the readers and bounced his eyebrows up and down for a few seconds while grinning before turning back to face Beatrix. Both of them were silent. Just when it looked like one of them was about to say something, Steiner accidentally leaned backwards and fell down while still holding on to the ladder. He landed back-first on the ground, his armor making a clunk sound on collision with the grassy ground. Steiner was a little bit stunned. After he came back to his senses, he quickly ran back to the Delta Vista in case the sound caught the attention of a passerby.

Author's Note: this is more of a sub-chapter, if anything.