Chapter 5 - The List
Amy looked over a spare sheet of paper, completely blank without any purpose for being there except perhaps for her poetry or story writing. However, there were plenty of men who want her hand and women who want her life. She could always turn down the men politely for the only man she loved was her father Raphael. As for the women, she knew it would not so simple to get rid of them.
She always knew what the women looked like because most would never reveal their names unless Raphael was around. Amy took the pieces of paper and began drawing each one of the women she remembered most that pursued her or Raphael. That way, she could easily recognize them next time this happened. If only she could put a name on all of them.
Amy was able to draw the most recent one, Setsuka, quite clearly knowing that the geisha would not hesitate to hurt her if it meant getting closer to her father. The next was Ivy Valentine, a woman with short white hair and dressed with nothing more than a few strips of leather. Her outfit didn't leave much to the imagination.
"Who else, who else..." Amy wondered, absently drawing a random female she still recalled. She realized later that the woman she was drawing from memory was some strange girl, possibly no more than a teenager like her, with a very short skirt and her medium blonde hair tied in a simple black bow. How come she couldn't put a name to this one?!
She barely remembered the villagers who had constantly brought their eldest daughters up to Raphael in hopes of getting them married off to him because of his beauty. Amy realized that her right hand was tense, ready to take her drawing pencil and throw it across the room in her rage.
She quickly dropped it on her desk, wringing her right wrist in an attempt to help her relax. *How stupid,* she mentally scoffed. *I have nothing to be jealous about! Why do I need to worry about something like this?*
She placed her hands on the desk and pushed herself out of the chair so she could stretch after sitting in the same position for so long.
However difficult it would be, she knew that her beloved father would think of her safety first before a woman's beauty. Raphael wasn't a man that could be swayed with the temptation of a one night stand, if that was the short-term result.
The one time he had a significant other was long before he found Amy all those years ago. The redhead couldn't quite remember the name of the woman, but she meant everything to Raphael then.
Amy grabbed the list and drawings she had created and began to open the door to her room. Seraph, who had been sunbathing on the windowsill, rolled to his paws and leapt to the floor, using her bed as a stepping stone to chase after Amy before she could accidently lock him in her bedroom.
She hurries down the staircase, the sound of the rain like stones thrown into water as the small drops rolled down the pane, and headed to her father's library. Raphael would usually be here in his spare time.
Just as she suspected, her father was lying against the sofa with a book in one hand and his reading glasses perched on his nose. He looked up when her presence entered.
"Hello, Amy!" he said, subconsciously placing his bookmark in the novel and setting it aside for later reading. The male noticed the sheets of paper in her hands. "What are those?" he inquired curiously with his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
The silence of the study was filled with the soft steps of Amy's feet as she calmly approached her father. "I was making a list upstairs in my room," she replied. "I don't want to be caught off guard again."
Taking his glasses off with his right hand, Raphael held out his left hand in request to take a look. She placed the fragile sheets in his outstretched palm, her blood red eyes looking over his posture as he glanced at them.
"Let's see," he mumbled. Pointing to the one with a black bow, he said, "This one is Cassandra. I see you already have Ivy and Setsuka labeled here." Raphael set the drawings on the table nearby and rose to his feet, heading over to his desk in search of something.
He produced a black book that seemed to be falling apart. "Here it is," said Raphael, knowing that it was the one book that had depictions of every woman (or man) that could be a threat to his dear little Amy.
"Now then," he began, flipping open the book. "Here's the list I have." He began pointing to each person that could show up one day and potentially hurt her. Should they, however, she should be ready to defend herself. At least, that's what the redhead thought.
"I'll copy my list and give it to you, that way you won't have to worry about-" He stopped, seeing his daughter was slightly distracted. "Amy? Is something wrong?"
Amy looked into her father's brown eyes and said, "I was just thinking that maybe I should polish my skills a little." Raphael was surprised to hear this from her. She was already a splendid fighter.
He began to laugh, "Are you sure, Amy?" With a simple nod of her head, he placed the book on the table next to her drawings. "If you truly insist, I'll be your opponent for a while."
"Of course I'm certain, father," replied Amy earnestly. A gentle smile graces his lips in his amusement. "How about we start tomorrow afternoon?" Acknowledging this with another nod, she embraces him tightly in her joy, warming his seemingly cold heart.
Once they separate, she turns on her heel and dashes towards the staircase, her drawings forgotten.
~A/N: Alright! I've got five chapters in! XD *victory fanfare!* I hope you all are enjoying this story! Please Review! X3