Chapter 9 Young Friends

He looked around the training room one last time, checking the repairs that had been made. Satisfied that all was in order, he opened the door. The slight girl in his path made him stop suddenly.

" You!"

The brown beret perched on top of her head tilted up, revealing a glare. A shapely nail poked him in the stomach, hard enough to make him wince. Her male teammates stood behind her, grinning at the sight of his shocked face.

" You have not come to see us!"

" Coco! I..haven't had the time!" he tried to explain.

An equally short rabbit faunas joined her, also glaring up at him. A delicate finger waved under his nose. " No excuses!"

The attempt at a contrite look on his scarred face made Fox laugh out loud.

" Velvet!? Umm..I'm sorry?"

With an evil look on her face, Coco leaned towards the other girl and whispered loudly " Get'm Velv's!"

The twin glares disappeared as the faunus lunged forward to wrap her arms around his waist.

" We're happy to see you again Mister Odson!"

Hugging her, he looked fondly down at those long ears. " I've missed all of you, too."

They followed him down the hall, Coco walking next to him.

" You know, girl, it's only been a year since we last met. There are others who've waited longer without trying to poke holes in me!" he complained.

She swatted him with the back of her hand. " Yeah, but we wanted to thank you again for helping us with that mission. Besides, one more scar won't make you any uglier than you already are!"

He stopped her with a hand on a deceptively thin shoulder. " It was both a pleasure and an honor to fight by your side."

She looked up at him as the team caught up with them.

" Velvet wanted to talk with you, so the guys and I are going to get something to drink."

With that, she moved off, the two boys in tow.

Edda looked down at the girl in front of him. Gone were the drooping ears and downcast eyes. A single year had changed her into someone who looked forward to the next challenge life gave her.

" So, my young friend, what did you want to talk about?"

Velvet took one large hand in both of hers as she craned her neck to look up at him.

She still felt so small standing next to him! He was the largest person, faunas or human, that she'd ever met. Even her partner, Yatsuhashi, had to look up slightly to meet his gaze.

" I wanted to thank you for...helping me..."

She struggled to find the right words, finally giving up when he raised the other hand to her lips.

" Hush now. All I did was show you something you already knew you had inside. All you needed was to see where it was!"

" Will you be staying here now?" she asked hopefully.

Large shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. " I don't know. My work here is almost complete, but I promise I will see you again before I leave."

" Okay!" Giving his hand one last squeeze, she hurried off to find her teammates.

Edda watched her go, hoping there would be time enough to speak with her again.

'You shouldn't make promises you don't know that you can keep, you old fool!'