Anna was from the future. Anna was the Real Anna, the one who left her world and her future and her whole life to go back in time for...for what? She had that butterfly tattoo. Did it mark who she really was? No wonder she said she was never close with any of her sisters. She was always different, and she knew it.
But there were times when Anna's confidence wavered, too. Then what was the tattoo? A fake she'd put on her back to give her confidence and an identity? Gaius stared at her back walking into the waters. He only snapped from his thoughts when he realized that Anna had taken off her shorts, leaving her in nothing but smallclothes.
Gaius blushed. Dammit, Red's got a good-looking behind... Gods, what am I saying?!
"Anna!" Gaius got up, calling out to the girl as he watched her go farther and farther away. He worried a bit. She seemed shaky after she'd revealed that secret to him. He stepped towards the end of the beach, cursing a bit when he felt the cool water hit his feet. If he waded in there, his clothes had no hope of drying for the morning march tomorrow...
"Gods, I can't believe I'm doing this..." Gaius muttered, as he pulled off his shirt and threw it to the sand. He stared down at his trousers. Heavens, they were going to take forever to dry now.
"Red, are you really just crazy or are you really just crazy?" Gaius scolded as he finally jumped into the water and reached Anna, grabbing a hold of her shoulder. "You can't go swimming late at night in your smallclothes!"
"Oh please, I'd do it naked if you weren't around," Anna said, teasing, instantly causing the thief to blush. Anna caught sight of it, surprised that Gaius was embarassed. They usually joked with innuendo anyway, and they hadn't been bothered by it...
"That sounds waaay easier to deal with when you're not saying it wet and half-naked," Gaius pointed out. His gaze had involuntarily fallen to Anna's chest. Sweet mother of honey glazed buns.
Anna noticed where his eyes went and readily blushed, turning her back towards him. Gaius was getting bolder and bolder these days, frequently asking for her time and attention, and readily flirting with her. She hadn't expected this much boldness, though. And then she nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt his fingertips brush along her bare back, giving her goosebumps.
He had reached out to her tattoo, staring at it.
She meant to raise her voice at him and reprimand him, but he beat her to speaking. "So... You're the Anna of all Annas, you mean to say," Gaius said, starting with his conclusion. Anna could actually totally be lying-not unusual for Red, typical merchant thing to do after all-but of course it could be true, 'coz who would lie about this?
She could feel his fingertips on her back, and then, rather abruptly, he drew her into him. So abruptly she crashed into him a bit, her face buried into the hollow of his neck. "Always fond of playing the spectator, aren't we, Bubbles?" Gaius said, calling out to the shore.
Wait... Bubbles? Anna turned around, facing the shoreline. She could see slight movement behind some trees and bushes. "C'mon, Robin, come on out or else I'll be forced to give you a show more awkward than this," Gaius said, with a smirk in his voice. He reached out to Anna, putting an arm around her waist and drawing her in. "Let's give Robin something to get flustered about, hmm?" There was a sparkle of mischief in his tone.
"W-Well," Anna was slightly speechless. Gaius was pulling her in too close for comfort, and while normally the two of them would have been totally comfortable with this sort of prank-Robin did have a funny habit of catching people in awkward situations, and her reactions to them were priceless-this time, Annna felt herself... get warmer. Perhaps being wet and half naked together doesn't do much good after all.
I wonder how my sister Anna even manages to sell wares while in a bikini.
There was a yelp and a rustle from behind the bushes, until a figure was pushed out, revealing himself in the moonlight. Inigo scratched his head as Robin revealed herself, pointing at the mercenary. "It was his fault!" Robin said. "It was his idea to pause from gathering firewood to... err... watch you two."
"That was not how I phrased it!" Inigo retorted. "I rather suggested we ought to be quiet and not disturb them!"
Anna and Gaius stared at Robin expectantly, as if waiting for an explanation. The tactician's eyes were downcast, remembering the initial shock of the sight of Gaius and Anna in the water... with their clothes scattered all over at the shores. Robin turned beet red when her mind involuntarily made conclusions.
Gaius smirked, and held a hand around Anna, resting his hand just on her tattoo so he covered it. "Hey. You seem to have caught me and Red in a... sensitive position... if you know what I mean," he said, then winking.
That was all it took and Robin looked like she would faint. "R-Right! Excuse me!" Robin said, fleeing the scene out of embarassment. She'd left behind the firewood she was supposed to be carrying, but Inigo bothered to pick it all up.
"Robin! Don't just leave these behind! Frederick will kill us!" Inigo bent down, hurrying to gather the stray firewood in his arms. As he was doing it, his eyes turned towards the sea again-to Anna. And Gaius noticed it, instinctively drawing Anna closer, as if declaring his possession over a property. Anna, surprised at this, gasped a bit, while Inigo only gave Gaius a sheepish smile. Dude's got no shame. Unlike Robin, he made nothing of seeing the two in the water, clothes strewn all over the beach. Nothing at all.
Gaius made no effort to conceal the scowl on his face. But Inigo just gave him a small smile, and then got up and left, carrying the firewood in his arms. Well... what was that?
Gaius just blinked. "...Bubbles needs to get married," he suddenly said, a conclusion, remembering how Robin went beet red at the sight of them. "I mean how does she think those future children came about?"
Anna smiled, but then pulled away from Gaius, shying away from him. Gaius couldn't stop himself frowning-usually Anna wasn't one to be too worried about personal space. Sweet talking, flirtation included, was never too new to Red. She wasn't even fazed by me seeing her bathing. She clearly didn't mind stripping to her smallclothes in front of me... So when she pulled away, it caused a bit of an ache.
"There's actually something I've been meaning to tell you, Red..."
Anna looked up to Gaius, questioning. "Yes?"
This is it. Just damn tell her. I have feelings for you. I'm falling for you. Gaius knew he had to say it. He had to know if he had a shot at this.
But... There was no future here. Gaius knew it. A handful of the children of his comrades showed up, and they mostly knew each other-there was no kid with an appaling affinity for money-making and candy-hoarding. There hasn't even been mention of him or her... they perhaps went along their merry ways, dying separately, with someone else...
"Gaius? What was it?" Anna asked again, finally snapping Gaius to his senses.
"Nope. 'Twas nothin'" Gaius said, forcing on a smile.
"Are you sure?" Anna asked, slightly worried. She'd seen the crestfallen look that fell on his face for a moment. She knew that 'nothing' was a lie.
"Yuuup," he said, as convincingly as he can. "Nothing except asking you when you intend to get out of here. The water's ice cold. Let's head back to camp and get some rest."
She shivered as soon as she got on the shore.
"And this was why I told you this was a bad idea," Gaius said, staring down at his own trousers that were soaked. He picked up his shirt, dusting all the sand that was on it, and was about to get a head start walking back to camp when he managed to get a look at Anna.
Her hair was dripping wet, her body still glistening from the water. She was holding onto her shirt, about to put it on, until he stopped her. "Wait," Gaius said. He took her shirt from he hands and replaced them with his. "Put this on instead, so your shirt doesn't get wet."
Anna looked down at Gaius' shirt, which he offered. "Are you sure?"
"Go ahead," he said. "Wouldn't want you to have nothing to wear tomorrow."
Anna knew a good deal when she heard it, and slipped on his shirt over herself. It looked quite oversized on her, but Gaius couldn't help but stare.
For some reason it was much, much sexier than seeing her in a bikini.
The next day, a very flustered Robin stood right out by Anna's tent. "Anna, I am so, SO sorry about last night-"
Anna got up, yawning and groggy, as the tactician had interrupted her sleep. She opened the tent flaps and flinched at the light, narrowing her eyes so she could take a good look at Robin.
Robin, however, has turned beet red and was now backing away from Anna. "I-I'm sorry!" Robin apologized loudly. "I didn't know you two-I don't mean to interrupt! Gods, why do I have the worst luck running into people in awkward situations?!"
Anna was confused for a bit, wondering why Robin was acting that way, until she looked down at herself and saw that the had slept in Gaius' shirt, since he insisted she just return it in the morning. The color on Robin's face clearly spelt that she misunderstood this... again. "Robin, this is-"
"I am so sorry! I'm going to give you two some privacy now!" Robin quickly said, interrupting Anna, and then quickly making an exit. Anna just yawned, still too sleepy to care. She looked down on the shirt she was wearing. It smelled like candy.
A/N: I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing this, and finally got ideas and got over my writer's block. For now I just wrapped up the last set of events. We will move onward soooon. Got some inspiration on how to wrap up the whole story.
Robin has the worst luck running into people.