Wow. It's been over two weeks. I'm really sorry. Part of is that I'm "grounded" from the computer, and that school has really dropped a heavy workload, and it's only the second week! .

Thanks a lot to my reviewers! I really appreciate the feedback, and because I don't have the time now and I'm sure you'd rather ge the fic now, I won't respond to the reviews today, but I'll come back and edit this to add the comments (hopefully tomorrow) :suddenly things: wait, did I do that for the last snippet too? Oh my... well, I definitely have to write responses to all those then... sorry!

Warnings: language. Alcohol, possible implied shounen-ai? (if you wanna take it that way) and Kitchel/Thatz

ENJOY! BTW I edited and there's responses at bottom. On the last snippet too, so check those if you want too.

Dragon Knight Snippets: Selfish

Thatz and Kitchel got drunk. A lot.

Though normally it was Kitchel who coerced her thieving partner into spending a couple hours down at the local bar to see how much alcohol it took to be able to see shooting stars when you looked up at the sky, she didn't do it for herself.

Outgoing as he was, Thatz often his troubles to himself, and unlike a certain transparent Fire Knight, was actually able to hide them dreadfully well. He rivaled even Kaistern's ability to play things down.

Part of it was that he was honorable to a fault, which was ironic considering he was a thief, but that honor usually manifested itself in odd ways. Like his fellow knights, he gave all he could to accomplish the mission, even if it meant hurting himself or coming back exhausted to the point where he could barely stand for days on end. It was a fact Kitchel could not understand, hard as she tried, and one that had caused friction between them on more than one occasion. She had the good grace at least to save the bickering until after he was well-rested or healed, but she couldn't for the life of her accept it. Here was the one who wore her heart on a string, going of to keep the peace and fighting demons to save people who didn't appreciate, who discriminated and hurt him because he was human, and yet he still would fatally give it his all, only to come back in shambles to the ones who really loved him and wanted to keep him safe. It wasn't fair, and what she couldn't understand was that it kept him free inside, because he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of knowing he tried his best to save a life.

What she couldn't blame him for was the way he look over Rath and Rune. He understood how hard it was for the both of them, especially Rath, and always tried his hardest to keep them safe, and make things easier for him, even at the cost of making it harder for himself. Then there was the relationship between Rath and Rune. He'd once told Kitchel that he'd always been a bit jealous of just how much Rath loved Rune, but that he'd prided himself in helping to keep their bond intact. This had meant everything from keeping Rune from finding the truth about Rath's demon side, to small things like lying about who had told on Rath about not doing his lessons. The result was that Thaz was often the villain, at least in Rath's mind, and he was so good at it that even Rune hadn't realized what Thatz did for him yet.

But Kitchel knew it hurt him, and that the only way he consoled himself was by the fact that they were happy, and least the most they could be.

She knew all this because he'd told her. He would have never told her all of this sober though, because he didn't want to burden her. That had always been frustrating to her, because chivalrous as it was, and no doubt about it, she loved that aspect of him as well, it did kind of tick her off that he wouldn't open himself up enough to tell her what was going on just because he was afraid of burdening her.

Nonetheless, even through the lack of communication skills he exhibited, she had been with him long enough to recognize the warnings that signaled it was time for another trip down the booze lane.

It was when he got a slightly glazed look to his eyes as he sat by the window, pretending to listen to her ramblings while his mind was fifty miles away at their last mission, or as close as the next room, where Rath and Rune were sleeping together, exhausted by the fight with their own personal problems and finding small solace within each other. Her voice would face off, until the room was silent except for Kitchel's small sigh. Then jade eyes would widen as they finally realized the lack of sound in the room, and his head would snap from the window onto her face, mildly disapproving but sympathetic.

"Sorry, I kinda spaced out for a sec," he apologized, standing and kissing her nose lightly.

"That's fine, it's only to be expected of someone as scatterbrained as you."

Thatz smiled softly, but the laugh was forced, she could tell. She'd seen the act often enough.

"I'm craving a couple beers," she said lazily, arms raised in a casual stretch as she spun and sat down on his bed, "I'm gonna go down to Master's bar 'night, you wanna come?"

It was the perfect tactic; as her boyfriend and a gentleman, he wouldn't let her go alone, though he knew very well that she could take care of herself perfectly well- she'd been doing so since before they'd even met each other, and for a long time afterwards, when they'd been rivals, he'd learned the hard way that she was definitely someone to watch out for.

"Course, babe," he grinned slightly in anticipation; Draqueen was like their second home. Or maybe the castle was.

Much later that night, or, Kitchel mused, early in the morning, after a large amount of shots- it took a lot to get either of them drunk- Thatz's eyes had the hazy look of alcohol, and his cheeks were just a touch flushed. Kitchel had carefully avoided all of the stronger drinks- Thatz was the one who needed to be drunk right now, and she needed her wits about her. She was sure the dragon knight had noticed, they knew their booze by heart, but he hadn't said anything. It was the one way in which he indulged himself. This had happened often enough that he knew what she was doing, but he let her do it anyway. Maybe he knew that there was no winning against adamant, persistent-to-a-fault Kitchel, but she was happy that it was her for once who could help him. He wanted it, she knew.

"So…" she cuddled up to him, wrapping her arm around his waist as he sloppily placed his around her shoulder, pulling her slim body to his, "What's up, baby? You've been kinda down."

"Have not," he muttered into her hair, breathing in deeply, before continuing quietly, "We're going on a mission tomorrow."

There was a pause, and Kitchel felt as if the breath had been knocked temporarily out of her.

"Oh."

He didn't say anything, and she bit her lip, feeling his arm squeeze her tighter, she could feel his breath on her scalp.

"Well then, can't I –"

"No," he cut her off, and she huffed, momentarily put off, and he stroked her hair in an attempt to soother her ruffled fur.

"You know why," the argument was old, "The area's dangerous, and the people are dangerous. Alfeegi warned us to be careful. I'm not endangering you."

His gaze strayed off, and she looked up at him, watching him run a hand through his hair wearily and mutter in slurred words, "Damn... Nothing's working out… Alfeegi was telling me that His Majesty was feeling ill," Kitchel frowned at the news,"And him and Ruwalk aren't talking to each other, even though I tried to get them to… Rath's been careless and moody since Cesia left… and I think Rune's having a hard time as well with the extinctiong of his people… And they won't talk to me either," He sighed again, closing his eyes, and Kitchel squeezed his hand, knowing how much that little fact hurt him, "They got into a fight yesterday."

"They'll be alright. They always will in the end."

He didn't respond, as if taking her words and wondering what they meant exactly.

Kitchel knew this routine. It didn't take long for Thatz to finally spill, in fact, it was a wonder he kept all this to himself for so long. He hardly ever worried about himself, always looking out for others. She wished he'd let her go with him on the missions. She wanted so badly to be with him, and to help him. She hated having to wait long weeks for him to come back while he was alone out there and she was left to worry. She knew he was only trying to protect her from seeing the cruel brutality that he often saw, not only youkai, but human too. It made her angry anyway, even if inside she understood. At least she knew that Rune and Rath would be there to help him, because despite their closeness to each other, they loved Thatz too, and if it came to it, they would die for him without a moment's hesitation. It was one of the few consoling thoughts she could come up with.

Hazel eyes looked up at his tired one, and smiled gently, touching his cheek, "You're so selfless it's selfish."

He grinned, but it was serious nonetheless, "That's why I have you too keep me selfish, right?"

Ugh, is it just me, or do I screw them up horribly? They're a nice couple to write, and I seem to like Thatz more than I realized... he's just such a sociable character.

Puppy: Yeah, honeybun. . It was actually kind of embarrasing putting that there, but i thought it'd be funny. His face would have been priceless. Definitely random, but that's the beauty of snippets, lol.

Kaouru: It was? Probably :sweatdrop: Thanks.

Kage: Yeah, it probably wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I had tons of fun writing it. Definitely out there when it comes to... whatever that was.

Angstluver: I had fun making Ruwalk tease Tetheus :snicker: I love having characters tease each other, but Idon't exactly do it right,so it doens't come out all that good, lol. Alfeegi's an ice-skating loser::huggles:

Vera-chan: Yup, eat my ice chips. Kinda like when swimmers say eat my bubbles. I swear, they do::seen it with her own eyes at swim meets: They write it all over themselves with water-prrof marker, lol.

crazy-meow-meow: Good, I was sure the pairings would scare anyone off cause they're totally opposite what's usually done... I'm personally a sucker for K/T and R/A, but I like K/A too. R/T is kinda out there... And yes, I'll read your fic, definitely! Not sure when, but I'll get to it.

Aquajogger: Train! oooh, fun! Where'd you go? Lol, drawing anywhere other than a hard flat unmoving surface is hard. Yeah, Ringleys doesn't feel the love as much, lol. Poor ... thingy... I don't know if I can come up with something Ringleys themed, but I wanna try to write more stuff with him included.

Lost and Far Away: Yeah, I don't know why R/T aren't as compatible with each other as the others...wow. Just between the 4 officers there's6 pairings possible, and out of those... hm... R/A and K/T is normal, K/A I like, and then the other three... K/R just seems like ... they don't contrast each other at all, thought it would make sense cause they're so similar. A/T would make sense too cause they're similar, but once again it seems like they would be too serious... then there's R/T, and for some reason, they have the least appeal to me. Don't know why...

Old Fiat: Lol. I'm sure that got old to you. But you don't have to read them, you know. I did warn that there was shounen-ai. thanks anyway.

DOE: GIllaam :huggles: thank you!

nanrz: Thanks. They're really fun to write. I hope you liked the Gil/Ram one, if you got a chance to read it.

DarkKeeper: Yeah, I just threw that race in. It wasn't there originaly, lol. Who was Fire cheering for? The world will never know. Lol.

Thanks a lot for your reviews people! They're really fun to read. Next I think there's going to be... a shoujo-ai one. Now, before you think yuck::laughs: It's not quite what it sounds, and is more humor than anything, and Thatz/Kitchel, Rath/Cesia Rune/Tintlett fans will like it. Maybe someday I'll write a real shoujo-ai one.

Next update at 272 reviews. Got two snippets halfway typed, and if I sit down and force myself to write, I should have it up in less than a week. Maybe even by monday, since I have the weekend...

BTW, does anyone know where to get good X (1999) scanlations?