I apologize for the fairly late update, readers. I just hope this chapter will satisfy you guys. And the good news is, I've almost finished writing the next chapter so it's not gonna take long until I update the next chapter ;)

First of all, I am sorry for you guys who were hoping to see ErenxMikasa or RivaillexMikasa since the recent chapters focus on Annie… But worry not, the next chapter is all about ErenxMikasaxRivaille! XD

Anyway, thank you alex, hiyomi, Enigma infinite, Nancy Haibara, eyesonbluefire, Kim20, Guest, Reichan25, Kuro-KuriKuri, Ayexia, Seraphicpapilion, Silentux131, GishelSasuhina, Iam Titania-falls, Dinendir, Kuroi Onee-san, Ustanak, Guest, Nathanael and Hmph da for reviewing the previous chapter! I give you each a cyber cookie~

Anyway, I'm super excited when I can finally download the full version of Guren no Yumiya and the second opening, Jiyuu no Tsubasa! X3 I'm so gonna listen to those songs a lot! They give me inspirations! And chapter 47 of the manga shocked me to death ._.

Okay, enjoy~

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin


Chapter 7. Her Grudge, His Guilt


She crouched and observed the now-unmoved object on the ground.

The white, fluffy thing was formerly a rabbit. It was a rabbit the school kept as a pet and she usually spent her allowance on carrots and lettuce to feed it every once in a while. She had grown fond of it, though. Who did this terrible thing?

"I'm sorry…" Annie muttered as she picked up the body and went to find a place to bury it.

Using her fingers, she dug a grave for the rabbit. Deep down she had already known who did this. It had been a month since they threw her into the fishpond. She thought they had decided to stop bullying her. Now it got even worse.

As she put the dead body inside the hole, she gritted her teeth. Bullying her was one thing, but hurting other people or animals to drag her down was cowardice.

"Oh my, fancy meeting here, Leonhardt. It's been a while since we last converse, has it not?"

It was Phoebe and her girls.

"Hey, hey, look! She's burying something!"

"Eww, is that a dead rabbit?"

"Gosh! You killed it, Leonhardt? I never knew you're this heartless!"

Annie clenched her fist in attempt to endure her anger. She was upset over the rabbit's death and now she had to listen to them spouting bullshits. For some reason she thought of Reiner's words back then.

.

.

"What's wrong with you? You flipped me down like I weighted a feather but you couldn't lay a finger on those limp girls! It's so not you! The Annie I know fights and wins!"

.

.

Come to think of it, why did she have to hold back? It wouldn't even take half a minute to take the five of them down. She could end this with barely any scratch on their faces they treasure so much, maybe. But then again, why did she have to hold back? That question kept repeating in her head.

Why do I have to hold back?

She glanced at the giggling girls once again.

Aah… Let's finish this quickly…

Without saying a thing, Annie launched herself at Phoebe, startling the girl in process, but before the girl could react at anything Annie had kicked her ankle hard. She cried in pain and crouched on the ground. The other girls stared in shock. After Phoebe was paralyzed on the ground, Annie went to the second girl, whom stomach she kicked with her knee. Next, she delivered a punch to the third girl. The fourth girl was the one who always reported Annie's activity to Phoebe; the most suspicious one. Annie did an arm-lock and spun a kick before flipping her over, resulting in the girl to land in a somersault pose.

Flicking her hair, Annie looked at the remaining girl; Historia.

From her pocket, she pulled out a band-aid and gave it to the timid girl who was shivering in fear. "Here, use this somewhere. They're gonna get suspicious if you're the only one without wound." Annie whispered.

Her blue eyes were cold and chilling. Historia was reluctant, but she took the band-aid anyways. Annie then pushed her, making her fall backward only to make the other girls thought she was hitting Historia as well.

Annie left to continue burying the rabbit.

"Th-thank you, Leonhardt-san…" Historia whispered.

Annie nodded before going home.


"Mister, your daughter, Annie Leonhardt, was reported to have assaulted her classmates yesterday afternoon. Of course I understand your circumstances of having to raise her all by yourself, but I would appreciate it if you discipline her a little more. In addition, she hasn't made any progress in socializing with her classmates, either. I have started to get worried that she might be mentally pressured. This happens often to children without mothers…"

Annie had her head hung low as she listened to her homeroom teacher's talk with her dad. But she didn't regret her decision one bit. She did the right thing, she convinced herself.

However, after her teacher went home, her dad started scolding her again.

"Do you understand what you've done, Annie? I thought I told you to always take the smartest decision in any situation…"

"They killed the rabbit…"

"Well… that's wrong of them. But you shouldn't use martial arts for this. I didn't teach you martial arts for you to use it this way, Annie…"

Annie glared, "I didn't learn it because I want it. You forced me into it."

"What are you saying?" her dad frowned.

"It's never even useful. I'm sick of it! What did I even learn it for? Just to endure the pain of being bullied? What was all that training for, then? What do you want me to do?" she yelled.

"You're being very rude, Annie! I never taught you to talk back at me, put aside yelling!"

With her patience wearing out, Annie stormed out of the house.

"Annie!"

She could hear her dad shouted one last time before disappearing completely.


Wandering around the streets in normal clothes wasn't the best thing to do on winter. Annie had started to feel cold and she had to hug her arms to keep herself from freezing.

Night fell and the temperature lowered even more.

I have to look for a warm place or I won't survive until morning.

She remembered the huge pipes at the park she used to hang out with Reiner and Bertholdt in. It would be a little warmer there. While thinking that, she made her way to the park.

"Hey, is that you, Annie?"

Annie turned around just to see the two guys she always hung out with.

"Those clothes… did you run away from home, Annie?" Bertholdt's guess hit the mark. Why did he have to be such a smart-ass?

Avoiding his gaze, Annie sweated.

"I thought so!" Bertholdt said again.

"Why did you run away, Annie? Leonhardt-sensei yelled at you or something?" now Reiner's guess hit the mark. Since when did he become a smart-ass!?

Annie sweated even more.

Reiner and Bertholdt exchanged looks before nodding at each other, agreeing on forcing Annie to tell the truth. At first, Annie avoided telling the truth but eventually she gave in. She told them about her beating Phoebe and her girls because they killed the rabbit, and about her dad yelling at her just now.

"I'm surprised they still haven't given up on bullying you until now…" Bertholdt commented.

"Rather than that, wow Annie! You actually fought them? I mean, did you use one of your special moves?" Reiner exclaimed excitedly. His eyes sparkled.

Annie looked away nervously, "Yeah… I guess…" she mumbled.

"Shiiiit! That's so cool! I wish I was there!" Reiner punched his palm, overly-excited.

Annie sighed at his enthusiasm while Bertholdt only smiled. As the three of them stood there, a sudden gust of wind blew past them and Annie hugged her arms while shivering.

"Hey, Annie, where do you plan to stay tonight?" Reiner asked.

"I don't know."

"Seriously? Why don't you come to my place? Bert is staying over at my place too! I mean, winter vacation starts tomorrow anyway. We don't need to worry about school. What do you say?" Reiner grinned.

Annie thought for a while before speaking up, "Alright. It's way better than sleeping in the pipe anyway…"

"Sweet!" Reiner and Bertholdt smiled at her.


"We're home!" Reiner greeted once he stepped inside his house.

From inside, a woman's voice replied, "Welcome home, Reiner—Goodness gracious, who is this little angel!?"

Annie jerked away as the blonde woman approached her with sparkling eyes and twitching fingers. However, when she made her attempt to run away, she was already in the deathly grip of the older woman. The young woman rubbed her cheek against Annie's and hugged her tighter. "She's soooo cute, Reiner! Can I keep her?" she squealed.

"What's wrong with you, mom? She's not an animal!" Reiner shouted.

'Mom!?' Annie gasped. This young woman was Reiner's mom?

"Aww… Reiner, you meanie…" the woman pouted and released Annie. Still not satisfied, she patted Annie's head and grinned almost stupidly, "Oh… Why does she have to be so cute?" then she pumped her fist firmly. "I've decided! I want a daughter! I'm going to discuss this with your dad, Reiner!" she said in a very serious tone.

"Are you okay, mom!?" Reiner freaked out at the sudden decision his mom made.

"Why not…?" Mrs. Braun moaned.

"Dad is abroad and he already said that he doesn't want another child anyway! And it's not like I want a sister, okay?"

The blonde woman pouted before sighing, "Okay…" then she looked away. "You're just like your dad… You never listen to what I want…" she mumbled.

"Knock it off!" Reiner groaned.


"It fits!" Mrs. Braun clasped her hands.

Annie was wearing a small girl's pajama which had been left unused in Mrs. Braun's closet for years. She mentioned that she had wanted a daughter ever since Reiner was born but since her body was weak and she almost didn't make it when delivering Reiner she was banned from having another child.

"You're even cuter now, Annie-chan! By the way, I made Reiner wear this pajama when he was five. You're ten years old now, aren't you, Annie-chan?" Mrs. Braun questioned quizzically.

"Wha—" Annie didn't even know where to begin pointing out what bugs her from Mrs. Braun's sentences just now. The fact that Reiner wore a female pajama when he was five or the fact that Mrs. Braun just said Annie was as small as a five-year old.

Annie jumped in surprise when the older woman stroked her hair. "I heard from Reiner that you lost your mother shortly after you were born?" she smiled lovingly at her.

Nodding, Annie avoided her gaze.

"Don't worry, you can become my daughter!" she beamed.

"…What!?"


Two days after Annie stayed at the Braun house, Christmas was just around the corner. Mrs. Braun decided to take Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie to a restaurant and did a lot of Christmas activity, including decorating Christmas tree and exchanging presents.

"Lame, Annie, you're lame!" Reiner laughed mockingly at the sight of Annie jumping again and again to reach the highest part of the tree.

"Shut it, Reiner!" Annie shot a glare.

"Come on, you two…" Bertholdt tried to separate them.

Mrs. Braun patter her chin thoughtfully, "Still too tall, Annie-chan? I bought the smallest tree in the shop, though…" she muttered.

"The smallest tree and you still can't reach it! Seriously, Annie, I'm gonna die of laughter soon!" Reiner literally rolled on the floor laughing.

"Dammit…" Annie mumbled before shoving the star to Reiner. "You put it on."

Reiner ceased his laughing and grinned at her before shoving her hand back and picked her up and made him sit on his shoulder. "Now you can reach it, right?" he said.

Annoyed at how he seemed to be mocking her height, she elbowed his skull and earned a yelp from him before putting the star on top of the tree. Overly-excited by the scene, Mrs. Braun quickly pressed the shutter of her digital camera again and again while Bertholdt chuckled nervously at it.

Annie stayed longer than expected. Betholdt's sleep-over session was over but Annie still stayed. And for some reasons, her dad never looked for her. The Braun house had gotten used to her presence day by day. In a blink of an eye, it was New Year.

The three of them clasped their hands and began saying their prayers in mind.

After they were done, they made their way to buy some snacks from the stands. When buying some takoyaki, the shopkeeper said, "What lovely children you have there, ma'am. Here, let me give you some extra balls."

"Oh my, thank you. Aren't they just cute? Especially my daughter." Mrs. Braun smiled brightly.

Beside her, Reiner began mumbling, "The hell? She prefers Annie over me? I'm her real child!"

The three of them sat on a vacant bench and ate takoyaki together. When she was eating, Annie felt as if someone was watching her. Quickly, she turned around. Surely, a shadow quickly hid behind a tree when she did so. Getting suspicious, she left the bench and went to that particular tree. When she peaked behind, she saw a somewhat familiar girl crouching in fear she might get found.

She knew this girl.

She was one of Phoebe's girls. And she was the one who always reported to Phoebe about her activity. This stalker, so she always followed her everywhere. Surely Phoebe had known that she had been staying at Reiner's place for a week by now.

"Oi. Stand up." Annie's eyes looked down at her.

"N, no!" her voice was trembling, but the girl's got guts. "Phoebe is furious right now. I'm not sure what she will do if you keep clinging onto Reiner!" she warned.

Annie raised a brow, "What does Reiner have to do with anything?" she asked.

The girl stopped trembling and faced Annie with an unexplainable expression, "What? You mean you don't know anything and you keep up with the constant bullying up until then!? What's wrong with you!?" she yelled.

"You have no right to judge me, jerk. Just answer my question."

"Wait, seriously, you didn't know anything about Phoebe's crush on Reiner Braun? Not one bit?"

Annie actually blinked at that, "Huh? Crush? What are you even talking about?"

"You really didn't know anything!?"

Annie shrugged.

"Oh God, then you really need to return to your house. I overheard Phoebe talking about hurting your dad or something. Don't get me wrong, okay? It just doesn't sit right with me when I learn that you know nothing but have to through something like this." The girl sounded too serious to be considered joking.

"Wait, what is Phoebe plotting?" Annie had to fight the shivers in her voice.


Someone pressed the bell of the Leonhardt house.

"Coming!" the voice of a man could be heard from inside. But once the door was opened, a group of six men in black pushed their way into the house. "Hey, what is the meaning of this?" Mr. Leonhardt questioned, sounding irritated.

One of the men pointed a gun at him and he stared in surprise.

"If possible we didn't want this to end bloody, Mr. Leonhardt. But you see, your daughter did a good number on our precious Milady, so…" the gun was pressed on his forehead. "…your life is required to pay it at the least…"

Before the man could do a thing, though, Mr. Leonhardt had already crouched down and kicked his ankle, making him fall on his knees. In a flash, the gun was now in his possession. "Weapons down!" he demanded.

I might be a skilled martial artist, but under the presence of long-ranged weapons I am powerless. I have to make sure none of them holds their weapon, he thought.


Annie ran and ran, hoping to make it on time. Behind her, Reiner followed.

The girl's voice echoed in her head.

.

.

"From what I heard, those people are professionals. They can assassinate anyone!"

.

.

She increased her speed, getting desperate.

Please be safe, dad!


When Annie had arrived, however, her dad was already lying cold on the floor in the pool of his own blood. No one else was there at the scene.

Annie felt her whole body trembled at the sight.

"DAD!" she shouted as she ran to his side but it was too late. He could move no more. She could never see him anymore. And her last conversation with him was a ridiculous fight.

Behind Annie, Reiner was not less shocked, knowing that Annie's dad died because of some girl who held a crush on him. Just for a ridiculous reason like that, Annie had to lose her only family member left.

Ever since her father's death, Annie grew colder than before. She even swore that she would be leaving the world of martial arts. And by the end of the winter vacation, Annie had moved to another school, following the family who would be taking care of her. However, after a month, Reiner managed to track her down. And under his mother's permission, he moved to Annie's new school, followed by Bertholdt.

In the new school, however, Annie acted like she didn't give a damn about them. And in that new school, it seemed as though the words about Annie beating up five girls at once had spread everywhere. This made everyone looked at Annie with fear.

This continued until middle school.

Most of the students still kept their distance from Annie due to fear. But one day, a guy approached Reiner and asked him a certain thing.

"Hey, Reiner, it seems that you're quite close with Leonhardt. Truth is, I'm interested in her, you see. She's feared but I know that deep down, she's a kind person. I want to confess to her today. Can you, like, tell her that I'll be waiting behind the school building?" that guy looked a little flustered when saying those things.

"You're interested in Annie?" Reiner's eyes lit up. "Alright, I'll do what I can!" he grinned.

"Thanks, dude!"


Annie wasn't the easiest person to convince. She kept refusing stubbornly but after a few more attempts, she gave in. "Just this once…" she muttered in a bored tone.

"Of course!"

Walking behind the school building, Annie met with the guy. Reiner was secretly watching them. The guy timidly greeted Annie and she only replied with a nod. After fidgeting for a while, the guy blushed and finally confessed but Reiner couldn't hear a thing.

"I like you, Leonhardt! W-would you go out with me?" he blushed heavily.

On the other hand, Annie's expression didn't waver. "…Is that it?" she asked.

"…Eh?"

"My answer is no. Can I go home now?"

"Wait—You can't possibly turn me down just like this! That's cold!"

Annie's blue eyes pierced into him, "I know everything, okay? I know you're bullied by that big guy… Who was it? Troy or something? He made you do this, didn't he?"

"What? I didn't—"

"What? He blackmailed you or something? Being bullied is not a nice feeling, is it?" Annie's face was still stoic as ever.

Gritting his teeth, the guy was at loss. He could think of nothing to counter Annie and finally lost control. He brought his fist up and prepared to launch it. Once he launched it, however, it was caught by a bigger palm.

"Don't use violent when you're rejected. That's not very manly." Reiner said in a low tone.

The guy gasped and ran away, tail between legs.

Reiner turned around just to find Annie had disappeared from her spot and was walking toward the school gates. Not a word of thanks.

Feeling the uneasiness in his heart, he shouted to Annie, "Annie! I'm really sorry about everything! Can we stay friends?"

Annie stopped her track for a couple of second before looking over her shoulder, "Stop apologizing…" she said coldly.

That dialog kept repeating itself over and over for years.


Present…


"She hates me ever since that day, ever since her father's death… And she stopped doing martial arts because of me…" Reiner lowered his head. His eyes were dark and at loss of hope.

Eren spoke up, "I don't think she hates you at all."

Looking at Eren, Reiner chuckled, "Are you trying to cheer me up?"

"No. She couldn't say she likes you, but she doesn't hate you. She said that herself, Reiner. And come to think of it, she told me to tell you something…" Eren tried to recall what Annie told him at the karaoke.

Reiner waited patiently for Eren to say what he was trying to recall.

Eren's face lit up as he finally recalled it, "She said that she's okay now, so you don't have to always feel guilty." He faced Reiner and smiled bitterly before continuing it, "She said you don't need to act nice to her out of guilt…"

Wide-eyed, Reiner stood up. "What's she talking about!? I'm not acting nice to her out of guilt!"

"I know that, Reiner. But Annie doesn't seem like she noticed. And on the other hand, you don't seem to notice her true feelings too, you dense guy."

"…Her true feelings?"

"What she wants to hear isn't an apologize. From what I hear from your story, what she wants is simple, Reiner. You should've realized it by now, too, man." Eren grinned.


Reiner ran down the corridor, hoping to catch up to her. Not long after, he saw her walking slowly while checking the documents she wrote before.

"Annie!" he called.

She turned around, "Reiner? What's with the rush? There's a change in the decision?" she asked.

Not answering her question, he stood exactly three meters away from her and in his fighting pose. She blinked quizzically and tried to read his expression.

.

.

"You should've realized it by now, too, man. She wants you to tell her it's okay to fight and not run away. She wants you to tell her not to regret the decision she made."

.

.

He grinned at her.

Finally understanding his intention, Annie put down the documents and prepared her fighting pose as well. Despite her unchanged expression, Reiner knew that she livened up quite a bit.

"Come!"

At her signal, Reiner's foot hit the floor as he launched himself to her. He surprised her by lifting her up by her waist. However, her reaction was faster than the old days. She elbowed his skull and slipped away from his grip before jumping away and landed safely.

On the other hand, Reiner fell flat on the floor.

"That was kinda nostalgic." She commented.

Reiner's heart jolted. For six years straight, Annie acted like they were strangers who never knew each other. This was the first time after six years she finally said something like that. Something that indicated they had known each other for a long time.

He laughed loudly, startling her.

"What's with you? Did you hit your head too hard?" she asked warily.

"You know what, Annie?" he asked, not even bothering to get up from the floor.

"What?"

.

.

"She wants you to stop her from leaving the world of martial art she loves…"

.

.

"You're still cool. Just like when we were brats. You fight and win!" Reiner grinned at her and pumped his fist.

She looked away, slightly flustered. "It's not like I fight to look cool…"

Still grinning, Reiner pointed his little finger at her, "Promise me you won't ever leave the world of martial arts ever again."

Annie closed her eyes and sighed, but Reiner could see the faint smile shortly before it disappeared. She hooked her little finger around his, "You're six years late…" she muttered.

"Not my fault. How am I supposed to know what you want?" Reiner grinned.

"You really don't know what guilt means, do you?"

"Well, you don't like me feeling guilty, do you?"

She snorted before picking up the documents and continued her journey to the Student Council room, Reiner following from behind.


"I can't believe the Student Council approved of that ridiculous voting result!"

Eren commented when Reiner and Annie was back from the Student Council, informing them of the approval of their meeting result. But then again, the ultra flexible secretary of Student Council, Hanji Zoë, was there. Everything was possible.

When Eren turned around, however, he found Mikasa typing in her phone at the corner of the class.

Mikasa closed her phone and a smile of satisfaction made its way to her lips.

The content of the text message she just sent was:

Thank you very much for your corporation. I am in your debt.

-Mikasa

TO BE CONTINUED


Alright, guys! The quiz for this chapter is: "Who did Mikasa send the text message to?"

I guess this question is very easy, but oh well, for you who manage to answer this, I'm gonna send the preview for the next chapter via PM ;)

By the way, yeah, I am mimicking Digibear's style since I was so excited when she sent me a sneak peak for the next chapter of her The Corporals' Words! Kyaa! I still can't forget the feeling!

See you next time~