077. Implicit rules

Roy shifted on his feet, chewing on his lower lip in deep thought, hands jammed in his pants pockets as he stood down the hill from the town. He had promised his aunt he would behave himself. He had agreed with his sensei that he would follow all of his rules. He had made a bet with his sisters he wouldn't get distracted from his alchemic studies by anything, let alone girls. Well, he had kept to at least two of those promises. He had lived with his sensei for nearly seven years now. He wasn't a little kid any more. And if it was any consolation, neither was his sensei's daughter.

When he had entered his sensei's home at the age of ten, there were a set of rules he was asked to follow. Well, more so demanded to follow. The first sets of rules were simple enough.

Don't touch restricted books.

Be on time for tedious studying.

Do not disturb Sensei on days when studying isn't required.

And these rules changed as he aged.

Don't bring strangers to the house.

Don't stay out late.

Don't touch Sensei's alcohol stash.

And most importantly, by time Roy was 13- Don't touch Sensei's daughter.

Roy was certain those other daughter related rules would have lead up to that particular rule however. Before, it was simply, do not bother her when she is studying, cooking, cleaning, or leaving to run errands. The day he had happened to catch her on her way to town wasn't considered bothering her and Roy found he hadn't broken a rule. You can't be bothering someone if you've been invited, right?

So now here he stood, after nearly seven years sharing the same roof as this particularly off limits female, waiting for her to get out of school and start off the first day of summer break. He had graduated a full year before her and found he was distracted far easier when she wasn't in the house. He remembered Sensei smacking him over the back of the head with a particularly thick volume of Modern Alchemy, and telling him to stay focused a few hours ago. He reached up, scowling, and rubbing the small knot on the back of his head. He was certain Sensei could possibly read minds and knew exactly what he had been thinking of as he stared blankly out of the window.

All bitter thoughts of the mistreatment he was receiving left the young alchemist's thoughts at the distant sound of excited chatter. He perked up some and moved up the hill, watching as groups of teens chattered excitedly and made their way to home or where ever it was they'd spend the first day of their summer break. His eyes scanned for a blonde hair. There weren't that many people in the small town that shared the same hair color of his Sensei's daughter and he had lived with her long enough to tell her out of the group. He perked significantly as he spotted the blonde parting from the others, a smile on her face as she waved at a group of girls who called after her.

"Riza-chan!" Her attention, as well as her friends', swiftly turned to the smiling young man. The blonde froze in her steps, amber eyes widening. She glanced back at her friends, who all seemed to be staring silently at Roy before they began blushing and giggling, causing Riza to huff and practically stomp up to him.

"What're you doing here?" she asked harshly. Roy's smile dropped into a pout.

"I wanted us to walk back home together. It's a long walk alone from school to the house you know." At this, the young woman stared at him irritably. Riza was 15 years old now. She was nine when Roy met her and the most that had changed about her was her appearance. She allowed her once cropped blonde hair to grown to just above her shoulders, framing her no longer round face perfectly. And would it be completely wrong to note that her body was actually filing out sooner than both Roy and his Sensei had expected? That school uniform sure didn't leave much to assume.

"Didn't my father tell you not to follow me to school like a lost puppy?" she asked, glancing back at her still staring friends and a few other girls who were walking slowly by to get a look. Roy noticed this but ignored the girls, continuing to pout.

"I didn't follow you to school. I was going to go to town for some things and decided I'd wait for you to get out of school." He partially lied.

"Father says no lying."

"I'm not!" The pair glared at each other before Riza straightened and huffed.

"Father has rules for a reason, Roy-san," she then indicated to the small group of curios girls. "And now you've broken two. Don't bother me when I'm in town and don't bring people to the house."

"I didn't follow you to," Riza gave him a pointed look. "Alright fine! But I didn't bring people to the house." At this, Riza began walking past him and towards home.

"Trust me, if they follow us home its not to talk with me." Roy huffed and followed after her. He wouldn't admit out loud that he was wrong, but he realized he might have made a little bit of a mistake. It wasn't like he was interested in any of those girls anyway. They could have followed all they wanted. He would have just to deal with hurtle when it came. There were bigger issues he had concerned himself with as he followed the scolding teenage girl home. He might have broken a rule that hadn't been set but implied.

You're not supposed to start falling Sensei's daughter.