Housekeeping

Disclaimer: SnK and its characters are not mine.

A/N: As will be apparent later on, I'm going to have to make up stuff from Levi's background (although I'll base it as closely to canon as I can.) Hard to keep it accurate when it's an ongoing story. Oh, and sorry for the short chapter. It seemed like a good place to stop before the next part.

Chapter 5

Mikasa couldn't believe she was still entertaining the idea of giving that jackass a chance. Too late to go back on her plan now, though, even if it wouldn't start for a few weeks. Maybe she shouldn't have used Eren as a cover like that, since it seemed to set the Captain off, but if she hadn't, she knew he'd be suspicious of her motives. Oh well, she would have eventually sought out his training one way or another she was sure, regardless of feelings. What she had said was nowhere near a lie; he was the best, and as such, it was only logical she would want him to train her.

At least with the prospect of finally sorting out her emotions once they began training, she found it much easier to face him without conjuring up those pesky images of his handsome body.

Mikasa could feel Armin's intent stare on her during class that day. She wondered if he was sorely disappointed when she was able to maintain her pokerface throughout the lesson, or when she fell into the Captain's traps to get a rise out of her by picking on Eren. The dark-haired girl didn't care, so long as it would keep him from asking one more damn time if she was okay with her new chores. Don't get her wrong, she loved him like a brother too, but his constant watch over her was starting to get annoying.

The rest of her day flew by as normal. Once she cleaned up after 3DMG practice, she made her way to her now familiar workplace. She only knocked on the office door out of courtesy, even though she knew she wouldn't be interrupting anything. Mikasa barely paid the muffled acknowledgement any mind as she let herself in.

They both worked at their own tasks in silence for quite some time. Mikasa whimsically imagined that a first date with him might be quite similar, with neither of them willing to break the ice.

At one point, though, she noticed he wasn't writing anymore. Instead, he was gazing out his window with an utterly bored expression on his face. He rested his chin on one hand while he tapped his pen absently against the table with the other. Mikasa could sympathize, since she was getting to that point with her work as well.

"Where did you learn your spin technique with the 3DMG?" she asked offhandedly without really thinking.

This jerked him back to attention, and for a moment, he simply blinked at her. He then sat up and cleared his throat. "It was a standard maneuver in my second squad with the Survey Corps," he stated, resuming his paperwork shortly afterward.

"So they taught you everything you know?" Mikasa tossed out there while she went back to scrubbing the floor.

"I wouldn't say everything, but a lot, yes." Levi flipped to a fresh page. "Now if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"I see…" She figured the memory of them must have been painful, so she left that topic alone. However, another question popped into her mind just as randomly as the first. "What did you do before joining the Survey Corps then?"

He paused mid-stroke to comment, "You're quite nosy today, you know that, Ackerman?"

She shrugged. "I didn't know slogging away at paperwork was that important to you. So important that you were staring at the clouds. My mistake." Mikasa raised her head up in time to meet his fierce glare.

After a moment, he gave a sigh and turned back to his desk. "I was a criminal in the Underground."

Mikasa's eyes went wide. "A criminal?"

"One of the best. My friends and I would do anything for the right price: theft, murder, drug smuggling…"

"Human trafficking?" Mikasa queried with a waver in her voice. She could feel a knot forming in her stomach.

He paused and looked at her, his expression turned to stone again. "No, I refused to cross that line. Those bastards were the lowest of scum. Sometimes I'd kill them for sport if I got drunk enough."

The raven-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now if you're quite done with your little interrogation, I have a few reports to finish."

Mikasa merely nodded as he turned back to his work. She would leave it at that for the day. Focusing back on the floor, she had given it a few more scrubs when his dull voice spoke once more.

"Oh and Ackerman."

She could hear a metal object being flicked in her direction. The kneeling girl single-handedly caught it over her head without so much as looking up. She brought it down to her level and curiously peered at the item in her palm. Mikasa instantly recognized it as the key to his room.

"Make sure to lock up and bring that back once you're done. The window had better be spotless with all the trouble you're going through for it."

The next few days went by quickly for Mikasa. Her cleaning duties with the Captain went in much the same manner. It didn't always end in such amicable terms, though. Sometimes they ended up in verbal sparring sessions, with Levi winning most of the time. However, there was one time when Mikasa scored a small victory.

One afternoon, they got into a discussion about the Captain's infamous quirk. "So you're telling me you've been a clean freak ever since you lived in the Underground?" she asked him pointedly.

"Oy, you don't have to keep calling me that." Levi rubbed at the back of his neck. He'd been hunched over his desk for far too long today already.

Mikasa reached into the closet to retrieve some rags she would need. "I always imagined the Underground as a filthy area. It's a wonder you could keep your own place clean long enough."

"I made due with what I had."

She left the office briefly to retrieve some fresh water, but she made sure to continue the conversation when she got back. "Cleaning supplies are expensive, though. If you were living from job to job, you'd barely have enough money for them and food."

"I didn't say I could afford them," Levi coolly replied, adding another sheet to the stack on his right. "Like I said, I made due with what I had. So it's not like I was able to get it as clean as you're doing now."

The girl paused and couldn't help but give a slight smile. "Hm, is that a compliment on my cleaning I hear?"

"Tch. I never said it was bad," he grumbled.

"Yes, you did." She frowned at him. "Every. Single. Day."

Levi coughed. For the rest of the hour, he didn't say another word to her.

Eren was glad to see his sister was back to normal. In fact, he would have to say she seemed much happier. It'd been five days since their talk in the hallway, and in that time, he noticed she was more engaged in their conversations and smiled more often. After they had breakfast together, he walked her to the site of her chores like usual before splitting off to his. Today was the start of a new job cycle, so Mikasa was now on stables duty while he and Armin would be mopping up the castle floors.

Once they reached the entryway to the outdoor building, he started to say their customary good-byes. However, Mikasa interrupted him. "Ne, Eren…"

The brown-haired boy tilted his head to the side. A troubled look had suddenly appeared on her face, so he wondered what could possibly be the matter.

"Do you mind if I don't go to your experiments today?" Her onyx eyes took a new interest in her feet. "I really want to get in some extra training."

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Normally Mikasa would do anything to make sure he was okay during Hanji's crazy experiments, even if none of them were anywhere near fatal. She'd once cleaned the whole kitchen in 30 minutes flat so she could get out on time to see him. "Are…Are you sure?" was all that he could croak out.

His sister bobbed her head slightly. "I haven't had a chance to do any in the last few days. I don't want to lose my edge."

"I guess, if that's what you really want," he agreed reluctantly. If it had been any other week, he might have been rejoicing at a break from her overprotectiveness, but in light of recent events, it only made him worried…and a little bit sad.

She pulled him in for a quick hug before giving a small smile. "It is. Thank you for understanding, Eren." With that, she turned and headed into the stables. The teenage boy could only raise his hand in a slight wave as her back disappeared from view.

"She what?!" Armin gasped as he and Eren walked together in the open, grassy area.

The emerald-eyed boy stretched out his arm a bit. "Yeah, that's how I felt. Said something about wanting to do extra training."

Armin pursed his lips. "Did she seem moody this morning like she was before?"

"Hey, you saw her at breakfast too. Everything was fine."

"Yeah, you're right. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary." The bewildered teenager reached up to scratch the back of his blond head.

By this time, they had just walked into view of a waving Hanji Zoe. "Yoohoo, boys~!" She was standing by the well where they would be conducting today's experiments, but soon enough, she was jogging up to meet them. "Should we wait for Mikasa? You know she'd kill me if I laid a finger on you without her permission," Hanji joked with a chuckle.

"Um…" Eren started nervously, not quite sure how to break the news. "Mikasa's…not coming."

"Wait, what'd you say?!" The woman's jaw dropped. "Is she sick? Do I need to go get the medic?"

Eren waved his hands in front of him. "No, no, she's perfectly healthy. She's got some training she wanted to do instead, no big deal."

"Yeah, she's been fine almost all week, actually in a better mood than several days ago," Armin chimed in.

"Is that so…?" There was a creepy gleam in Hanji's eyes. "Maybe because of a certain boy perhaps?"

The two friends looked at each other, confused.

"A boy? Are you talking about me?" Eren asked and pointed to himself. "I haven't done anything special."

Hanji's smile instantly turned into a frown. "Oh, so she hasn't been going out with anyone?"

"Going out?!" The two teenagers gawked at the same time.

"What hell are you talking about?" Eren demanded.

Realization seemed to dawn on the scientist's face. "Ah, I just thought…you know, with her being in better spirits… Oh, never mind I said anything." She gestured dismissively at them with a single hand.

Armin's eyes narrowed. "Hanji, is there something we should know about Mikasa?"

"No, no, just me being silly and jumping to conclusions and all." She gave a shaky laugh. In an instant, though, her face turned scary. "Don't you tell her anything I said, got it?"

The boys reeled back at the look she was giving them, their courage disappearing like a puff of smoke. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good, now Eren, into the well. We're going to practice generating titan legs."

The dark-haired boy sighed, "Yes, Hanji."

The Squad Leader's words still rang in Eren's mind.

"Oh, so she hasn't been going out with anyone?"

Now he couldn't get the idea out of his head. Was Mikasa seeing someone behind his back? Is that why she skipped his experiments? If that were true then…

Eren clenched the hands at his side as he lay on the hard bed. Anger started to well up inside of him. Why couldn't she just tell him the truth? There wasn't anything about him that she didn't already know, so what was with the secrets all of a sudden?

At the same time, sorrow hung like a weight on his chest. If someone else had replaced him in her heart then what would become of him? What would become of them? They had been inseparable since childhood. He couldn't imagine a life without her always there by his side.

So that night, as he attempted to sleep in his dungeon cell, he resolved to do what any normal brother would do in this situation: spy on his sister.