Eyes On Me

Rangiku sighed and adjusted the front of her uniform. It really was too tight. Unfortunately, if she went to the next size larger, the front gaped open and people could see more of her breasts than she was really wanting to show. She had only been here a month or so, but Rangiku had filled out quite dramatically in that time. When she had arrived, she had been skinny and angular. Now angular was the last word Rangiku would use to describe herself. She hadn’t quite adjusted to the academy or the attention she was getting from all the men either.

She wasn’t quite she liked that. Thankfully, between her roommate (who might be young for a shinigami but was surprisingly powerful) and the fact that she had mean right hook, Rangiku had managed so far. One of the things that had disappointed her though was the fact that she rarely saw Gin and only at a distance. He was already a full shinigami and a seated officer to boot while she was still a student. There were days when she just wished he would look over her way. She missed him. Her life had been lonely since he left. She had hoped that becoming a shinigami would mean she’d see more of him.

Voices could be heard around the corner, and Rangiku pressed up against the wall.

“I swear I saw her just a moment ago. She has to be around here somewhere.”

“Good. I think the only way we’re going to get any action out of her is to ambush her. She just keeps playing hard to get.”

Rangiku bit her lip. She really didn’t want to get caught by those two. She could probably get away from them, but it was a fight she didn’t want to get into. Someone latched onto her wrist, and Rangiku found herself being dragged down a hall and into a room before she realized what was going on. And by then she had realized just who had a hold of her. Gin backed her into a shadowy corner.

“Are you all right, Ran-chan?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Good.”

Then he caught her up in a tight hug. “I missed you, Ran-chan.”

“I missed you too.”

They stood like that held in one another’s embrace for a few moments. Then Gin sighed and ran his fingers through her short hair.

“They bother you much?”

Rangiku shrugged. “They haven’t tried anything that I couldn’t get out of yet. I’m just not used to all the attention.”

“You should get used it. You’re beautiful. People are going to notice.”

Rangiku blinked then blushed. Gin thought she was beautiful? Rangiku knew she was pretty, but no one had ever flat out told her that before. Gin smiled at her, a real smile, not the mask she saw him wearing most of the time. He leaned in and kissed her. And before she could recover from that he was heading out the door.

“I’ll see you around, Ran-chan.”

Quiet Determination

Tsunade honestly couldn’t remember being this happy before. Even if she was stuck shopping with her stepsister and stepmother. It wasn’t the most pleasant of tasks, but once they were done, she was meeting Jiraiya, Akira, and Kosuke for lunch. And that she was looking forward to. She had finally found a place for herself among her fellow ninja, and she had friends who were more than just people who knew her name and were willing to share gossip with her. Also, thanks to her “unexpectedly good” performance in the chuunin exams, her teacher had actually started to pay some attention to her. Tsunade had managed to convince the man that it was his idea that she study to become a medic nin, and she found it was much easier to get information and resources once her teacher had signed off on that.

She had pretty much tuned out her stepmother and stepsister’s conversation as they shopped. She didn’t have much interest in it. Tamako was grooming her daughter to catch the eye of a wealthy and influential man and marry him. She had not been pleased when her own marriage to the Anbu’s quartermaster had not advanced her own social position as much as she had wanted. Of course, at the time the woman had been under the impression that it was Tsunade’s father who was related to the First. However, that had been Tsunade’s mother. Tsunade herself mostly took after that side of the family. What people tended to remark on the most is how much she looked like her cousin, the Fifth Hokage.

A sinking feeling appeared in her stomach just before the screams began. Tsunade had the forethought to shove her stepmother and stepsister into a shelter corner and tell them to stay put if possible. She might not like them very much, but she didn’t want them dead. Then she went to go see what was going on. It was probably dumb of her. After all, Tsunade really was a rather young ninja without much experience, but someone needed to do something. It took her a few moments to realize what exactly was going on once she reached the scene of the battle. The Hokage was here, and Tsunade could immediately tell that there was something wrong.

If she had to guess, she would say that Kyuubi was the one in charge right now. She gulped. Tsunade really didn’t want to face down an angry fox demon. Then she caught sight of Hinata Uzumaki, crumpled on the ground and clearly injured. Tsunade swore. This was bad. She doubted that Kyuubi was going to calm down at all if his mate was hurt. Tsunade could see other ninja around, mostly dealing with those enemies that weren’t dealing with the Hokage’s rage, but there were no medic nin in sight. Someone needed to do something though, and Tsunade couldn’t tell had badly Hinata was hurt from here.

Tsunade could think of a dozen reasons why this was a bad idea, but she was doing it anyway. She carefully made her way towards Hinata, trying not to attract any attention. This worked pretty well until she got closer to Hinata. Once she was in almost in range of the woman, Tsunade found herself staring down an angry fox demon. She met its eyes steadily.

“I’m not going to hurt her. I just want to make sure she’ll be okay. I’m a medic.”

It seemed like forever before she was allowed to pass, but Tsunade guessed that it had only been a few moments. Still, there was something unnerving about staring down a fox demon. She turned her attention to the injured woman. Thankfully, her injuries were not too extensive. Tsunade figured she would be able to heal all of them. She quickly set to work on the most serious of the damage. Figuring that nothing was going to get past Kyuubi, Tsunade felt safe enough to focus completely on the task in front of her.

Naruto came back to himself to find a blond medic-nin treating his wife. He didn’t immediately recognize the girl, but she did look vaguely familiar. However, before he could really do anything, his two older sons had appeared on the scene, and one of the ninja who’d been helping with their attackers was needing his attention. When things had calmed down, he found Hinata sitting up with Minato fussing over her. Jiraiya was fussing over the young medic.

“What were you thinking, Hime? Do you know how stupid that was?”

“I’m fairly certain that there is a level of stupidity needed for anyone who wants to be a ninja,” the girl replied. “Besides, can you imagine the outcome if I hadn’t?”

Jiraiya mumbled something he couldn’t catch and then kissed the girl’s forehead. Naruto raised an eyebrow. Was this the young woman that his son had taken a mysterious interest in? But before Naruto could further investigate this situation more, a woman had stormed up to the pair, and the medic was on the receiving end of a rather nasty scolding. The medic had pale and was looking down at the ground. Naruto frowned and stepped forward.

“Excuse me,” he interrupted, “I just wanted to thank the young lady.”

The girl looked up and blushed, and Naruto really looked at her for the first time. He blinked. She wasn’t Tsunade-baa-chan’s spitting image, but she was close. It would be easy to mistake her for a younger version of the Fifth.

“This is Tsunade Inoue, Dad.”

“You did a good job, Tsunade. Not many ninja show that kind of initiative or courage.”

She shook her head. “I just did what needed to be done.”

His son grinned at her. “That’s what most heroes say, Hime.”

Tsunade elbowed him. “’Raiya, I am not a hero.”

Naruto just shook his head. Jiraiya had flirted with girls forever, but this was something more. “Anyway, at least let me buy you lunch as a thank you.”

She blushed and tried to back out of it but was unable to, especially when Hinata chimed in. However, it did seem to have rescued the girl from the scolding she had been getting. The woman who had been doing the scolding was now staring at them wide eyed. Jiraiya slung an arm around Tsunade’s shoulders, and the whole group started heading for the Ichiraku. Naruto smiled. He was going to have fun embarrassing his son in front of his girlfriend.

That Time of Year

It was that time of year again. It was the only time of year when it was safe to slack off on your work just a little. The reason for this was simple: everyone was working on their novel, including Hawkeye. Yes, it was once again National Novel Writing Month, and nearly everyone at Eastern HQ was writing their novel, not just Mustang’s crew. Even the Elric brothers had gotten into it.

They had a Triumphant Chart of Noveling Progress set up to track the office’s word count. Hawkeye was actually far ahead of everyone else. It was an interesting and odd month in the office. For example, it was not unusual to have extremely jittery staff glaring at typewriters or compulsively filling all of the paperwork from the last three months in order to avoid working on their novel. There was always coffee and munchies around. And it was the one time of the year when Hawkeye didn’t threaten Mustang for fussing over her.

That was actually one of the more interesting parts of the month to watch. Mustang seemed to have made it his mission to make sure that Hawkeye had a wonderful noveling experience. He was always making sure that she had something hot to drink or had a snack when she needed. Fuery had even once caught them bouncing plot twists off one another. It was a little window into part of their relationship that most of the office didn’t normally get to see. Not that they would admit it, but most of Mustang’s staff thought they were rather adorable together.

Once the month was over, things would go back to normal around the office, but until then the office was staffed by six crazy novelists, and anything could really happen.

Diplomatic Duties

Caterina sighed and curled up in the window seat of her state room. She was thankful that she had a room to herself for this journey. It was likely to be the only place she could get any peace. As important as this trip was, it was also a headache. She was leading a group of Vatican officials to the capitol of the Empire in order to open peace treaty negotiations. The party consisted of both those who were in favor of the negotiations as well as a number of hardliners who were completely against them. It was hoped that the trip would help change the hard liners’ minds. Caterina wasn’t that hopeful about it.

However, she was in charge of this circus, so she was going to have to deal with them. Caterina sighed again. It was times like these when she missed Abel the most. It had been almost three years now since he and Ion had left in search of Cain. Caterina hadn’t heard from him in almost six months now. Of course, that wasn’t uncommon. Letters from Abel were rare, but at least they let her no that he was still alive. She had sent him a letter or two herself, though that was harder unless she knew that he and Ion were staying in one area for awhile. Caterina knew it was something that Abel needed to do, but she still missed him. He had been her main confidant for years.

Since rescuing her that night, Abel had been the one that she shared her hopes and fears with. He was one of the few people who she ever allowed to see her vulnerabilities. Abel she trusted with both her life and her heart. Though, she had never told him about the last one. Abel wasn’t ready to risk his heart in that way yet, and truthfully, Caterina could see far too many issues to bring it up. But she still found being in his presence soothing and comforting. She had the feeling that she would need both comfort and calm before this trip was over.

Seth was looking forward to the delegation coming from the Vatican for a number of reasons, but mostly, she wanted to meet Caterina Sforza. She didn’t know much about the woman other than the fact that Caterina had been willing to take chances in order to make an alliance with the Empire and that Abel was very fond of her. That was enough to pique Seth’s interest. Abel had credited this woman with being part of what pulled him out of the grief that had consumed him since Lilith’s death. Seth wanted to know just what sort of woman could do that for her brother. When Abel had been in the Empire earlier, he hadn’t been entirely healed from that loss, but he had been healing. Seth owed Caterina for that.

Of course, the matter of the peace treaty was important as well, but she could trust Mirka to handle most of that. They had already come up with some basic plans that should work. Peace hopefully would not be a futile dream. Still, Seth was much more interested in the woman who would lead the Vatican’s delegation. This was going to be a very interesting visit.

Caterina bit back a sigh as her party wound its way through the streets of Byzantium. The guide who had met their airship was taking the long way around to the palace so they could show off the capitol city of the Empire. It was a very pretty city, and if Caterina wasn’t quite so tired, she would be enjoying this journey more. They had just turned a corner when a little girl caring a tray appeared. She smiled at Caterina.

“Would you like a cup of tea, lady?” The dark haired child smiled up at her.

Caterina paused. There was something about the girl’s eyes that seemed far older than they should be. Then a stray bit of memory trigger, and Caterina found herself smiling a little nervously.

“That would be lovely, Seth.”

The girl laughed and poured her a cup of tea. “So you’ve been warned. That’s no fun. I’ll be seeing you later of course, but I wanted a chance to meet you without all of the hoopla.”

Caterina did not get a chance to reply to that as the group had noticed her lagging behind. Seth pressed the cup of tea into her hands and winked before disappearing down the street. The rest of the trip to the palace passed in a blur. Thankfully, there wouldn’t be a formal presentation at court until tomorrow. Caterina was quite happy to have a quite meal in her room, a hot bath, and then curl up in the window seat with a book. She wasn’t quite ready for sleep yet, but she wasn’t really up for company either. At least, not the sort of company the rest of the diplomatic party would be.

However, she wasn’t too surprised when Seth appeared in her rooms. She had been expecting something of the sort since they had first met. Seth hopped into the window seat, settling herself across from Caterina.

“You aren’t exactly what I had expected.”

Caterina met the empress’ eyes. “Oh?”

“Have you ever looked at the official information on yourself? You come off as a rather bland woman who is an effective diplomatic. There’s no mention of that fact that you’ve ever been anything other than a proper daughter of the Holy See. I, of course, know better, given you’ve had some contact with my people to arrange joint missions, but really other than that and what my brother’s told me, which really isn’t much, I don’t have much else to go on.”

“What has Abel told you about me?” Caterina was more than a little curious about this.

Seth shrugged. “As I said, not much. I know you met shortly after you had lost your parents, and that you befriended him. I know that you made him a part of the AX. You’ve given him a home, and you’ve protected him. And he’s awfully fond of you.”

She found herself blushing a little. “Has he mentioned how many times he’s saved my life or how much I rely on him? I honestly don’t know what I would do without him. Since the night he saved me from my parents’ assassins, Abel’s been one of the few people I know I can trust completely.”

“You’re not afraid of him.” It was statement, not a question.

Caterina shook her head. “How could I be? From the beginning Abel had been nothing but kind towards me. Besides, once you get to know him, no one could think that Abel wants to hurt you. It’s not in his nature. He had fought when he’s had to, not because he likes it.”

Seth smiled broadly at her. “You’ll do, Caterina Sforza. You’ll do.”

Caterina blinked, realizing that she just passed some sort of test. Seth just continued smiling.

“I’m going to look forward to getting to know you. I’ll let you get some rest.” The empress hopped off the window seat. “I’ll see you around.”

Caterina shook her head and finished her tea. It was definitely going to be an interesting trip.

However, the next morning, interesting wouldn’t be the word she would use to describe things. Irritating, exasperating, obnoxious, overbearing, and frustrating were though. Breakfast with the rest of the diplomatic delegation had not gone well, and the day had only gotten worse from there. Caterina was more than thankful of the fact that she was the only one here who had the authority to negotiate terms. She was seriously contemplating asking the Imperial diplomats to simply confine the rest of the delegation to their rooms and ignore them. Even the people who were supporting the treaty were causing her headaches.

Breakfast was followed by their formal presentation to the court. Caterina managed to get through that without anyone causing any major diplomatic incidents. She was half certain that at least two of the courtiers had given her sympathetic looks. At the reception that followed, Caterina circulated around the room, doing her best to keep an eye on all of the troublemakers. She couldn’t help noticing that there were some slight differences in the way she was treated versus the rest of the delegation. No matter who she encountered, Caterina found herself being treated politely and with wary respect. There were even a few courtiers who were down right pleasant. Her colleagues did not fair so well. There was nothing that could spark an incident, but Caterina was clearly getting a warmer welcome than anyone else.

The reception ended shortly before lunch. Caterina was sorely tempted to escape to her rooms and eat on her own, but she needed to see what the others were thinking now that their formal introduction was over with. She had a meeting after lunch with Mirka Fortuna to set the schedule for the rest of the negotiation meetings. Spirited discussion would be the politest way to classify the conversation at lunch. Caterina did her best to referee, but since her opinions on the matter were well known, more often than not she came under attack as well. It was almost a relief to escape to her meeting.

The Duchess of Moldova was a much more pleasant company. She provided tea and a number of sweets to nibble on while they hashed out the schedule of events. Caterina found this was easily accomplished and had the urge to linger afterwards, not wanting to go back to the chaos that she knew was waiting for her. Mirka seemed to understand this, and quickly engaged her in conversation about some of the people Ion had met during his travels. Caterina regretted having their companionable hour to end.

Her life quickly found a schedule here in Byzantium. Caterina took her breakfast with the rest of the delegation and then they were in negotiations until lunch. After lunch, Caterina had meetings with various members of both her delegation and the Empire’s negotiators. She had tea with Mirka and Seth at four-ish, and most of the evenings were spent at some sort of social event or another. It wasn’t particularly fun, but they were making progress. A number of the hardliners were starting to shift some of their opinions. Caterina hoped it was only a matter of time before they could get down to real work of creating a peace treaty.

The social events were the worst. Caterina did her level best to look interested as once again she had been trapped between a crotchety old priest and one of the varies Imperial nobles, trying to keep things from getting ugly. When she noticed Father Sassone making his way towards her, she hoped it was a potential escape. He interrupted the conversation and drew her off to the side of the room. Caterina smiled at the man. He was slightly older than she was and had been one of Francesco’s supporters for years.

“What can a do for you, Father?”

He smiled at her, and Caterina felt an odd fission of nervousness run down her spine. A glint of metal was the only warning she had before the knife cut into her. Caterina didn’t even remember screaming.

Asthe swore viciously as she tried to stop the bleeding. They did not need the head of the Vatican diplomatic delegation dying on them. Besides, she rather liked Caterina Sforza. But Asthe could see that there wasn’t much she could do. The cardinal was beyond medical help at this point, and Asthe didn’t think that she could survive the change either if turning the woman into a Methuselah was an option.

“Bring her. Quickly.”

Asthe was startled to find the empress beside her, but she didn’t question the order. The viscountess followed the petite empress through a maze of corridors, keeping up only due to the speed granted Methuselah. Asthe didn’t recognize the room they stopped in, but she set Cardinal Sforza down on the counter were the empress told her to.

“Make sure no one interrupts us.”

Asthe nodded and went to guard the door. She just hoped the empress knew what she was doing.

Seth gently stroked Caterina’s hair. They really only had one option to save her, and Seth couldn’t let her brother lose another woman that he loved. She had to try this.

“Caterina?”

The woman blinked pain filled eyes at her. Seth couldn’t tell how aware she was.

“There’s something I can try that might save you. I can’t promise that it will work. You may die anyway. And if you live, it’s going to change things for you.”

Caterina managed something between a grimace and a smile. “Go ahead. I’m not ready to give up on life yet.”

Seth nodded. She hoped this would work; they were running out of time. While it took her mere minutes to get everything set up, Seth worried over every second lost. Finally everything was ready, and she began the process of infusing Caterina with the nanomachines. Then the only thing left to her to do was wait.

Caterina fought her way to consciousness only to find herself tucked in a comfortable bed under almost a mountain of warm, soft covers. The last thing she remembered was pain and Seth offering her a choice. Now she wasn’t even sure were she was. She also found that she didn’t have the strength to move more than a few inches. However, her movements seemed to have alerted someone to the fact that she was awake.

Asthe Asran’s face came into view. “Are you awake, your eminence?”

“Caterina, please.” Her voice was hoarse, but Caterina didn’t think she could deal with formality right now. “Yes. I think so at least.”

The viscountess helped her sit up, propped up against pillows then produced a tray with a cup of tea. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. A little sore too.”

“That’s to be expected. You’ve been asleep for three days while you recovered.”

“Three days?”

Asthe nodded. “You were very badly hurt. I’m still not sure how the empress saved you. Speaking of the empress, I need to let her know you’ve woken up. Will you be all right alone for a few minutes?”

Caterina nodded. She leaned back against the pillows and sipped her tea. She was pretty sure she knew what Seth had done to save her. It would change things for Caterina, but she was too glad to be alive to really care. She hadn’t been ready to die, no matter how tired she was. There was still too much she had yet to do or experience. She just hoped that nothing had gone terribly wrong during the time she was asleep. Caterina could imagine all sorts of trouble that the delegation could cause or get into. Hopefully, Seth could tell her what had been happening in her absence.

Seth, herself, arrived an hour or so after Caterina had woken up. She’d fussed over Caterina some before settled down to the serious issues at hand.

“Your delegation is still here. We’ve let some of them see you while you were still asleep but always escorted. I don’t know if the man who tried to kill you was working alone. We also didn’t tell them just how badly you were injured. At this point, only you, Asthe, Mirka, and I know how extensive your injuries were. You and I are the only ones who know just what I did to save you.”

“And the negotiations?”

“Stalled for now. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to accomplish anything more on this trip quite frankly.”

Caterina nodded. That was understandable. With this sort of incident occurring, people’s focus would no longer be on the negotiations at hand. There were half a dozen things that needed to be done, including an investigation into the assassination attempt itself.

“You should be well enough to get up tomorrow I think.” Seth frowned. “But I’m not sure I want you going back to your old quarters even then. We don’t know if that man was acting alone, and I’m not about to risk you.”

Caterina sighed. “But keeping me from them is not going to help matters either. It will foster distrust. There are a few people in the delegation that I know I can trust. I’ll set up a discreet guard for the rest of the trip. Once I’m back home, I can have the AX look into the incident and set up something more permanent if necessary.”

Seth sighed. “I don’t like it, but I don’t see what choice we have.”

Then she reached up and cupped Caterina’s face in her hands. “Be careful, sister. I don’t like losing family.”

When Caterina blinked at that, Seth just smiled.

“You were family before, you know, but you’re doubly so now.”

Seth released her and adjusted the blankets around Caterina’s form. “Go back to sleep, Caterina. It will be another few days before your back to full strength. We’ll talk again before you leave, so I can tell you what to expect in the way of changes.”

That Is From Side to Side

She was not normally prone to panicking, especially when there really was no need to. After all, dinner and movie had been something she and Gin had done for years. Of course, this would be Rangiku’s first official date with him, but really how different could it be? Unfortunately, no matter how much Rangiku tried to convince herself of this, she couldn’t quite seem to manage it. And that was why she was standing in front of her closet in complete agony over what to wear.

Thankfully, Rangiku did know a good way to put things in perspective. She reached for her phone and dialed up one of her fellow grad students. If anyone could help her right now, it was Nanao. And as expected Nanao didn’t disappoint. Once Rangiku had laid out her problem, Nanao had sighed.

“Rangiku, you didn’t have to do anything besides be yourself to attract the man. I doubt that has changed in the space of a few days. It’s supposed to rain this evening and the temperature has been falling all day. Wear a comfortable pair of jeans and a one of those sweater tops you have.”

As always, Nanao’s practicality soothed Rangiku’s panic. When Gin showed up to pick her up twenty minutes later, most of her nervousness had passed. They chatted about the classes they were teaching this term as they walked to the movie theater. Rangiku had chosen an action/comedy (she wasn’t going to inflict a romantic comedy on him yet) that was playing at the closest theater to the school. While it wasn’t the biggest theatre near campus, it did have the best prices. It was something of a secret. The most of undergrads didn’t seem to be aware of the place, but nearly all of the grad students and professor knew it.

A Growing Storm

Lullaby

Going South

That made her laugh like Jiraiya hoped it would, and she got to her feet. Jiraiya took her hand in his. He doubted he’d be letting her get away from him. He wasn’t entirely sure what all this meant for either of them, but he wasn’t going to let his confusion stop him from getting to know this Tsunade. Maybe the fates thought they deserved a second chance, and this was a nudge in the right direction. Maybe not and it was all coincidence. Jiraiya wasn’t going to worry about. He was going to take Tsunade out to lunch and introduce her to Akira, and they would take things from there.

Bus Stop

He’s Tall

The Prince and His Contessa

The garden was warm and sunny. Flowers were in bloom every where, filling the area with a heady fragrance. A fountain cheerfully burbled, and at first glance it was the epitome of a peaceful spring day, perfect for lovers. Stephan Peacecraft knew better. This garden was about to become one of the most important battlefields in his son’s life. His son would meet his future wife today, and if all went well, the children would take to one another. That had been the reason behind arranging the marriage so early.

His friend and supporter, Leopold Noin, had a daughter the same age as his son. Politically, it was a good match. Both Noin and his wife were believers in the ideals of total pacifism, and the family was closely related to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Noin himself was the Duca of Florence while his wife had passed on the title of Contessa of Livorno to her daughter when the child had been born. Add to that the fact that the girl’s maternal grandmother was a minor Sanc noble, and it couldn’t have been a smarter match.

However, there was still that matter of the children themselves. Stephan knew that children could be most unpredictable. Hopefully, enough time spent together would form some sort of bond between the two if they didn’t take to each other right away. Milliardo was a stubborn child, and while he wasn’t anti-social exactly, he had very few friends among the children his age and no close friends what so ever.

The king watched as his wife and Donnatella Noin led the children into the garden. They were a contrast in looks. The two children shared pale skin, but that was all. Like his father, Milliardo showed his Northern heritage in fine, platinum blond locks and icy eyes. Most of the time his hair was an unruly mop, but for today’s meeting it had been neatly combed. The little contessa, on the other hand, was a dark little beauty. Shoulder length raven hair was pulled back from her face with barrettes, and the girl’s eyes were an unusual shade of dark violet.

“May I present his Royal Highness Crown Prince Milliardo Emrys Stephan Zechs Peacecraft of the Sanc Kingdom?” Katrina Peacecraft made the introduction. “Prince Milliardo, this is Contessa Lucrezia Alessa Fiammetta Illeana Noin of Livorno.”

The two children warily sized each other up. Lucrezia tipped her head to the side. “Zechs?”

His son considered her. “Noin.”

He held out his hand to her. “Did you know there’s a fairy that lives in the lilac bushes?”

Her fingers curled around his and a smile kissed her lips. “Really?”

Stephan watched as the two disappeared into the garden and turned to his friend. “Well, Leopold, I think we’ve done it.”

The dark haired man laughed. “Oh, my friend, but think of the trouble we had just set ourselves up for. If you though your son’s antics were a hassle, just think what potential for trouble they have together.”

That was not something that had occurred to him before. Milliardo was very prone to causing mischief without a willing partner. Stephan grimaced. He might just have unleashed a monster upon the staff.

“Now what is that frown about?”

Katrina and Donnatella had climbed the steps to join them on the veranda that overlooked the garden. The two children could still be clearly seen from here, though they probably couldn’t see the adults watching them.

“Leopold just reminded me that we have two set two four year olds loose on the staff without any warning.”

Donnatella laughed. “Have you ever considered the mischief was due to the lack of a playmate? They’ll be fine. I think their first meeting went extremely well.”

The sound of laughter rang out from the garden, and all four adults smiled. It wasn’t a bad beginning.

Hard Work

There were some parts of his job that Jyuu really hated. This one of them. He shared a look with Shunsui as they went over the information with the military officers.

“So they'll be in position in two hours?” Shunsui asked.

The naval officer nodded. “And they'd be booked up by a second carrier group plus the F-14s off the George Washington and the Carlston.”

“How long before an estimated B.D.A.?” was Jyuu's question.

“Ten minutes.”

Ikkaku Madarame, the secret service agent in charge of the night shift, appeared in the doorway. “The President's waiting.”

Jyuushiro nodded. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”

“Jyuu, do you need me?” Shunsui gave him a sympathetic look.

He shook his head. “No.”

With a soft sigh, Jyuushiro headed into the Oval Office. Urahara was there, leaning against the desk in jeans and a sweat shirt. Jyuushiro took a deep breath and walked towards him. His news was bad.

“Mr. President, Kaien Shiba is dead.” He watched the man pale and flinch. Jyuushiro continued, wanting to get this all over with. “An air force transport carrying Morris, twelve hundred other doctors, forty-two support staff, and a crew of five to a teaching hospital in Amman exploded in midair about one hundred fifty miles north of Tartus. What was first thought to be a mechanical failure was then claimed by a fundamentalist group after a keyhole satellite sent back a record of a heat stream coming from what's called an F.I.M. 92, which is a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile launcher. In the last ninety minutes or so that's been debunked as well. Hard intelligence is telling us the order came from the Syrian defense ministry. Tessai and Hachigen are on their way from the Pentagon, and Kensei's in the Situation Room preparing for your briefing.”

Jyuushiro watched as Urahara composed himself before speaking.

“What time is it?”

“It's 10:38 in Damascus,” Jyuu informed him.

“Where is the Syrian ambassador?”

“He's at his residence on a secure phone line.” He and Shunsui had gotten everything set up before Jyuu had come in here.

“Tel Aviv and London?”

“State's waiting for your word.”

“Alright.” Urahara sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I'm going to call Kaien's wife now. I'll meet you in the Situation Room.”

Jyuu nodded and turned to go. “Yes, sir.”

“Jyuushiro?”

Jyuu turned around and looked at him. Urahara met his eyes.

“I am not frightened. I'm going to blow them off the face of the earth with the

fury of God's own thunder.” Urahara paused a moment. “Get the commanders.”

Jyuushiro bit his lip as he left the room. This was not going to be good. They had some long days ahead.

The Long Road Home

Toushiro rang the doorbell with a smile. He enjoyed these dinners quite a bit. They were one of the few chances he got to relax and not think about being a captain in the Gotei Thirteen. The door was flung open, and he found himself mobbed.

“Uncle Shiro!”

It was surprising how quickly he could go from being a revered captain of the Gotei Thirteen to a jungle gym for his adoptive nieces. Inari and Seiko were followed at a more sedate pace by their mother. Toushiro smiled. Motherhood had certainly suited Rangiku. His former lieutenant was clearly very happy with her current life. As much as Toushiro had hated loosing her from his division, he knew that Rangiku wouldn’t have been happy if she stayed.

“Let your uncle come inside, girls.”

Once he was no longer covered in little girls, Rangiku collected a hug from him. “Come on in. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes. We’re having curry tonight.”

He had only a few moments once he was inside before the girls mobbed him again, this time bringing with them a book they wanted him to read. Toushiro knew better than to refuse. He settled down on the couch with one twin on either side of him and started reading.

Rangiku watched the scene in the living room from the kitchen door. Toushiro really was very good with the girls. It was probably a good thing too. Momo had once mentioned at a Shinigami Women’s Association retreat that she wanted a big family someday. Rangiku was not going to tell Toushiro that though. There was no need to send him into a panic at this point. There would be plenty of time for that once he got around to marrying the girl.

Gin’s arms slipped around her waist and her husband rest his chin on her shoulder. “I take it the girls are suitably entertained?”

“You know how they get when Toushiro is reading to them. A bomb could go off, and they wouldn’t notice.”

“Good.” Gin chose to put their daughters’ distraction to good purpose by kissing her.

Rangiku let out a content sigh and leaned back against his chest. She rest in her husband’s arms, watching Hitsugaya entertain the twins. It had been a long road from here first meeting with Gin to here, but she felt it was worth it. It had led to home after all, and that wasn’t a bad destination.

Keeping the Faith

Tsunade let out a deep sigh and went through the kata again. She was frustrated and nervous, and the fact that the chuunin exams were in less than a month did not help. Her teacher wasn’t useless precisely. He just didn’t care about her. Both of her teammates had bloodline specialties and most of their teacher’s attention was focused on them. Tsunade was less noticeable for two reasons. She didn’t have any sort of specialty, and while her father supported her ambitions to be a ninja, but her stepmother did not. And she had made that clear to just about everyone she met. She let out a cry of frustration, slamming her hand against the wall. Apparently, that was enough to attract some attention.

Someone took a hold of her wrist and turned her around. Tsunade blinked as she found herself face to face with one of the Hokage’s sons. He seemed more interested in examining her knuckles for damage.

“You know, if you’re going to hit poor defenseless walls, you might consider hitting them properly, so you don’t hurt yourself.” The boy flashed her a smile. “I’m Jiraiya by the way. So what did the poor wall do to you?”

She huffed and shook her bangs out of her eyes. “Nothing. I’m just frustrated. I’m never going to pass the exam.”

“I doubt that.” He studied her a moment. “From what I saw earlier, you’re pretty good. You just need to stop hesitating. It’s throwing you off.”

Tsunade tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

Jiraiya frowned at her. “When you go through a kata, you hesitate before the blow is supposed to land. Your teacher hasn’t mentioned it to you?”

She snorted. “I doubt he’d notice unless it was about to get me killed. I don’t have a bloodline specialty like my teammates, and most of the time it’s like I don’t exist.”

He smiled at her. “Don’t look so discouraged. Having a bloodline specialty isn’t everything. Or as my dad would say ‘inbred mutant freaks.’ You have your own skills.”

Well, that was the first she had heard about it. Jiraiya seemed to realize this.

“You have really great chakra control. Use that. Here.” He turned her so she was facing away from him and slipped his hands over hers. “Relax, Hime. Just follow what I show you.”

He walked her through the kata again. His hands over hers made it clear what he was talking about in regards to hesitation. There was a moment when she would have paused, but he kept her moving.

“See? You can do it. Just don’t let them intimidate you. Half the battle is having faith in yourself. Heroes are the ones who are stupid enough to walk into a fight believing that they can win and then don’t let their opponents convince them otherwise.”

Tsunade couldn’t help but laugh at that as she turned around. She grinned at him. “Thank you.”

To her surprise, Jiraiya leaned down and kissed her nose. ““You will do just fine, Hime. Good luck and keep practicing.”

She watched him walk away and tried to ignore the warm, fuzzy feeling that had taken up residence in her chest. Tsunade would have time to explore that after she passed the exam.

One Sweet Love

Riza sighed and shut her book. She should really be heading home to do her assignments. As much as she liked to spend time in this little café, it wasn’t the most conducive place for actually getting work done. Reading through course materials was one thing, but to actually get a paper written, Riza needed more than just a comfortable chair and a cup of tea. Music helped for one thing as did having a well stocked cupboard of snack food.

The young university student sighed again. It wasn’t that she didn’t like school, but this term had highlighted a number of things to her that she hadn’t thought about before. In the past six months, all of her friends had either gotten married or gotten into serious relationships. And Riza was still alone. She had gone from sharing her apartment with three other women to having it to herself. Riza liked solitude, but she also missed the company. She thought twice anymore as well about calling up her friends to get together for a movie night or to go out for shopping and dinner.

She gathered up her things and her purse and headed for the door. She would like to fall in love at some point, but she had never met someone who she felt would accept her as just Riza. Most men fixated on the fact that her great-grandmother had been the daughter of the hero Brigadier General Maes Hughes. They never even bothered to really get to know her. Even so many years later, her great-great-grandfather was considered to be quite a hero. Her own namesake was more of a footnote in history outside of the family than anything else.

She had just gotten out the door and headed down the street when the call came.

“Miss? Wait!”

She turned to find a dark haired man chasing after her. He held out a book.

“You left this at your table,” he smiled.

“Thank you.”

She felt a jolt of electricity when their fingers brushed. She tucked the book under her arm before looking back up at him. He’d stuck his hands in his pockets, but he hadn’t left yet.

“I’m Roy.”

“Riza.”

“Do you like Emma? I always thought it was one of Austen’s weaker works.”

Riza blinked. She hadn’t expected him to strike up a conversation about literature, but her response slipped out.

“Oh, I agree. Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park are my personal favorites, though Pride and Prejudice is probably her best work quality wise. But we’re covering all of her books for class.”

“Lit major?” Roy asked.

Riza shook her head. “Minor. I’m a history major. What about you?”

He smiled. “Poli-sci major and history minor with an odd smattering of lit classes. You must be taking Romance Lit with Professor Burns. I wanted to take it as well, but it conflicted with on of my required courses. How is it so far?”

They chatted about her class for at least another five minutes before Riza remembered that she really did need to go home and get her paper done. Even so, she was a little reluctant to say goodbye.

“It was nice meeting you, Roy.”

“You too. I’ll see you around campus maybe.”

She headed back to her apartment, feeling a little better about things. Riza had enjoyed her brief chat with Roy, and it really was too bad he wasn’t in the class with her. She had a feeling he would have some interesting opinions for some of the discussions, and it really would be nice to have more than just two guys in the class. From Riza’s point of view, having a minority of guys meant that, for the most part, their opinions didn’t get heard. There were a number of things about the books they were reading that Riza would like to have a man’s perspective on.

Roy popped up her thoughts quite a bit over the weekend and on into the next day which was surprising since Riza had only really talked to him for ten minutes. Twenty minutes at the most. That really wasn’t enough time to get to know someone. Besides, she didn’t think they’d meet again. After all, she had gotten through her first two years of university without ever meeting the man.

So when she ran into him in the library, she was startled, especially since she had literally run into him. In her own defense, Riza had an armful of books that had been blocking her line of sight. She had sidestepped to avoid being trampled by a pair of football players and smacked right into the man. He’d been very nice about it. Roy had steadied her then helped her gather up the stalk of books with a grin.

“So we meet again. Are you professors trying to cause you back injuries?”

Riza laughed at that. It was rather ridiculous just how many books she needed for this assignment.

“Yes, I’m sure they get a kick back from the chiropractors for every paper that requires at least ten sources or more.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” He had appropriate about half of her books. “Do you have a study carrel or were you taking these downstairs for check out?”

“I’ve got a study carrel. I was just dropping these off then running down to the café to grab cup of tea before getting back to work.”

“Let me give you hand then.”

Roy got her talking about her assignment, and before she knew it, Riza found herself letting him buy her a cup of tea before they parted company. And to her surprise, Riza found this the start to a pattern. At least every week she would run into Roy somewhere around campus, and they would spend fifteen to forty-five minutes chatting. It was rather nice actually. Riza found that she really enjoyed Roy’s company. He didn’t seem to care about the fact that she was related to a historically famous person. In fact, Roy seemed more interested in her mind and personality than just about any man she had met in the last few years.

She liked spending time with him, which was something of a surprise to her. Riza had never really been that comfortable just hanging out with guys. There were a few exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, she spent her free time alone or with her few close girl friends. Riza hated to admit it, but she had only ever been on three dates, and she wasn’t sure if what was developing between herself and Roy was a friendship or romance. And Roy really wasn’t helping with that. He had never really given her much in the way of signals either way.

Nearly two months after first meeting Roy, Riza found him waiting outside her last class of the week. He was armed with a tall cup of her favorite tea. He presented it to her with a smile and then ran a hand through his hair.

“So, I really enjoy talking with you, and I was wondering if you’d like to go out to dinner with me tonight. As in a date, I mean. If you don’t that’s okay, and I’ll still want to be your friend, but--”

Riza cut him off with a kiss on his cheek. “Dinner sounds lovely.”

Roy grinned and slipped his hand into hers. “Great.”

More than ever, Riza was glad she had left that book in the coffee shop.

Will You Be a Lucky Bride

Rangiku sighed and printed out her results. This was the last of the work for Gin. She’d gotten his statistics all sorted out, and now she no longer had them as an excuse. If she was reading her friend correctly, she wouldn’t actually need an excuse to get together with him from now on, but Rangiku didn’t know that for sure, and she was just a little bit uncertain about where she stood with the man.

He hadn’t actually ever really asked her out after all. Most of the times he’d taken her out to eat recently, he had started out asking about the work she was doing for him. They hadn’t stayed on that topic for long, but it was still there. Gin had never actually said he was interested in her romantically. She really needed to get him to clarify where he stood on the subject. She grabbed her jacket while the pages printed and started hunting for her shoes. Speaking of Gin, she was supposed to be meeting him at her local coffee ship in ten minutes. She had actually been planning on leaving earlier, but she had gotten distracted by an article in the new math journal that had just arrived in the mail today.

With the statistics tucked safely into her purse, Rangiku sped out the door. She should have just enough time to get there without being late. In her haste, Rangiku actually manage to get there with several minutes to spare. Not seeing Gin there, she took the time to get herself coffee. She was waiting for her cappuccino when a pair of arms slipped around her waist, and Gin rest his chin on her shoulder.

“What are you getting this time, Ran-chan?”

Her ever changing choice of coffee was a running joke with him. Rangiku laughed.

“A caramel, hazelnut cappuccino. I have your stats for you.”

“Thanks, love.”

They found a pair of chairs in a quiet corner, and Rangiku turned the statistics over to Gin. He tucked them into a folder before reaching for her hand again.

“Ne, Ran-chan, are you busy this weekend?”

She frowned slightly. “I’ll have papers to grade, but other than that, no. Why?”

Gin played with her fingers. “I wanted to see if you were interested in dinner and movie.”

More Advice

Gin strode from his office with a smile. “I'm done.”

Mashiro, his assistant, looked at him skeptically. “You're sure?”

“Yep.”

“You're done polishing?”

“Yes.”

“You're done tweaking?

“I'm done tweaking. I'm done polishing. Done. Take it to Rangiku.”

She turned to take the speech away.

“Wait.” Gin took one last look at it then nodded. “Yes, I'm done. Really.”

Mashiro headed towards Rangiku’s office with the speech. Toushiro’s office door opened, spewing out two of the junior communications staff. Toushiro was giving final instructions.

“Wait and hope that the statement comes out of the U.N. by the end of the week.”

The one man nodded. “It's the least we can do.”

“No, actually the U.N. is already doing the least they can do,” Toushiro corrected

“Right.” The man shot Gin a smile. “Hey, Gin, what's up?”

“Just stretching my legs.”

Toushiro glanced his direction. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“How's it going?” he asked.

“I'm finished.”

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. “You're talking about the Hilton head draft?”

Gin nodded. “I used pretty tough language: 'political cover,' 'counterproductive.'”

“Good.”

“Now, I'm just stretching my legs.”

“Good.”

He followed Toushiro into his office. “Can I talk to you a second?”

“Yeah.”

“I'll shut the door.”

“Okay.” Toushiro had started to look wary.

Gin shut the door before sitting down on Toushiro’s couch. “Yesterday, I discovered that I’m sort of accidentally being stalked by a prostitute.”

Toushiro gave him an incredulous look. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“You’re accidentally being stalked by a prostitute?”

“Call girl,” Gin corrected.

“Accidentally?”

“Yes.”

“I don't understand. Did you trip over something?” Toushiro sounded like he thought Gin might be an idiot.

“I didn’t know she was a call girl. She’s the younger sister of one of the guys I knew in university. I didn't find out about it, till yesterday.”

“Who else knows about this?” Toushiro demanded.

“Shunsui.”

“And who else?”

“That's it.”

Toushiro immediately saw the problem. “And you didn’t mention anything to Rangiku? At all?”

Gin sighed. “I thought the problem might go away. It’s not like other staffers haven’t picked up the odd fan turned stalker or two. They typically go away after they realize how boring our lives are.”

“Other people don’t have prostitutes as stalkers.”

“Call girl.”

“Whatever. Rangiku is going to kill you.”

Shunsui chose that moment to walk into the office.

“Let's go.”

Gin raised an eyebrow. “He's free?”

They had been trying to find a spot in Jyuushiro’s schedule to fit a quick meeting in.

“Yes.”

The three of them made their way through the halls towards Jyuushiro’s office.

“Did you know about this?” Toushiro asked Shunsui.

“Know about what?” Shunsui asked.

Toushiro gestured at Gin. “With him.”

“Yes.”

“And you're not concerned?”

Shunsui shrugged. “If we’re lucky, it will be a busy news week, and the problem will go away, and no one will ask Rangiku a question about it. If not, the news cycle will be focused on the fact that the press secretary murdered the deputy communications director.”

“I was going to say--”

“This administration doesn't even need an opposition party, do you know that, we do fine by ourselves,” Toushiro grumbled, cutting him off.

“Gin, just don't do anything stupid okay?” Shunsui instructed.

“Yeah.” Gin wasn’t sure there were more stupid things left for him to do. If Rangiku ever found out about this, she really was going to kill him. At least it would be an interesting way to go.

The Sweet By and By

Rangiku kept a careful hold of her daughters’ hands as the three of them passed through the gate. Once they were in the Seireitei, she didn’t need to worry about Inari and Seiko. While she didn’t visit often, the twins were well known here. In fact, the twins were universally popular despite the mischief they got into, and the girls had hordes of willing minders. Just about everyone spoiled them as well. Whenever Rangiku did visit the Seireitei any more, she brought the twins. She probably wouldn’t get away unscathed if she didn’t.

Both of the girls liked to come which was a good thing. They had their own set of favorite people to visit. Rangiku knew that once she turned them loose, they would make a circuit of nearly every single division before ending up at the Eighth with their Auntie Nanao. Her son was a year younger than them, and the twins tolerated Tatsuyoshi fairly well, and the three of them were typically content to play together. But only after they had made all their stops to visit people. Uncle Jyuushiro was one of their favorites. This could have to do with the amount of candy at his division. And while he wouldn’t admit it out loud, Hitsugaya clearly liked being Uncle Toshiro, and he and Hinamori spoiled the girls almost as badly as Ukitake and Shunsui.

The division buildings were barely in sight before the girls took off. Rangiku smiled and let them go; they would be fine, and she had a few errands of her own to run before she sought out her friends for tea and gossip. And if she wanted to get those done before the twins ran out of energy and started to get whiney, she had better get to work.

Two hours later, Rangiku sat on the porch of the Eighth Division, sipping tea and keeping a watchful eye on the three children playing in the garden. Nanao sat beside her with a rather smug smile on her face. Not that Rangiku blamed her. Nanao had been the one to win the pot on Ukitake and Unohana. It had taken centuries for those two to actually get engaged. Nanao was now a very rich woman.

“So is there any other news?”

Nanao laughed. “You mean besides Unohana and Ukitake finally getting around to making their relationship official? Not much. You already know that Hinamori and Hitsugaya’s new lieutenant switched positions. Hinamori’s settled in pretty well at the Tenth, though it took nearly two weeks for her and Hitsugaya to figure out how to manage their personal life and their work life, but they seem to be doing fine. Have you heard anything from Urahara or Yoruichi lately?”

Rangiku shook her head. “You mean did Kisuke once again send pictures of Koneko? I swear if that girl moves, the man has to photograph it.”

“It’s probably a good thing that Tatsuyoshi wasn’t a girl,” Nanao sighed. “I’d hate to think what Shunsui’s reaction to his first child being a girl would be. The poor thing probably

Wouldn’t be able to date until she was at least two hundred years old.”

“First child? You want to share something, Nanao?”

“No, I’m not pregnant.” Nanao smiled. “I would like another child but not until Yoshi is older.”

They chatted for another hour or so before Rangiku decided that she better head home before her girls fell asleep on her. She ended up carrying both girls anyway. Gin was there to meet her on the other side though, and he immediately took Seiko. One child each was much more manageable. Then he wrapped his free arms around her waist and kissed her.

“Welcome home, Ran-chan.”

Of Boxes and Ninja

Hinata Uzumaki sighed as she made her way through Konoha’s streets. She was hampered in this effort by her children. Nozomi, the youngest right now, was no trouble as she was asleep, but Minato, Kosuke, and Jiraiya were easily distracted by things they saw. Kosuke, at least, tended to stay close. Her boys, however, had a tendency to get into trouble. Hinata blamed their father. She wouldn’t normally have taken all four of the children with her to do the shopping, but there was a school holiday today, and she unfortunately couldn’t put off the shopping any longer.

So when the messenger from the hospital showed up minutes later, Hinata was very much not pleased. Sadly, once he had imparted his message, she knew she had to go. Sakura had asked for her specifically which meant that it was urgent. The other woman was one of the most talented medic nin that Konoha had, and if she was asking for help, things were serious. However, that didn’t solve the problem of what to do with her children. Hinata was certainly not taking them to the hospital with her. That was a definite recipe for trouble.

“Hinata-sama, I could take care of the children. I was just about to head home.” A young woman stepped towards her, and a blond toddler peered up at Hinata from behind her mother. “It wouldn’t be any trouble.”

Hinata recognized the woman as Kaminari Inoue. She was a cousin of the Fifth Hokage from the branch of the family that hadn’t become ninja. She was also married to the Anbu’s current quartermaster. Hinata nodded.

“Thank you.” She handed Nozomi to the woman before turning to her children. “Behave for Inoue-san please.”

It was nearly three hours later when Hinata was able to go pick up her children. Sakura had joined her since it was on the other woman’s way home. They found the children happily playing under Inoue’s watchful eye in the garden in back of Inoue’s home. Nozomi was asleep in the woman’s lap while Minato and Kosuke seemed quite entertained by game of tag. Jiraiya was over in a corner of the garden with a large cardboard box. Hinata could see that Inoue’s own child was in the box itself. She and Sakura had arrived just in time to hear Jiraiya announce:

“I am the ninja of the box! There is no other ninja that can surpass me!”

The little blond girl in the box giggled. Jiraiya turned to her.

“You can be the princess of the box,” he announced seriously then kissed her cheek. “Box-hime.”

The three adults smiled at the scene. Hinata turned Inoue.

“Thank you for taking care of them.”

“It was no trouble, Hinata-sama. Tsunade certainly didn’t mind the company.”

Hinata fought the urge to blink over the fact that the blond girl her son was playing with was named Tsunade. Given the tendency of people in the village to name children after heroes or other notable people, it wasn’t that surprising. After all, that was how two of her own children had gotten their names. Still, it felt like an odd coincidence to have a Jiraiya and a Tsunade together.

Hinata and Sakura chatted with Inoue a little more before collecting the children and heading home. All of the children seemed happy enough, and Hinata made a mental to maybe arrange a play date sometime.

Ten Things She Loves

10. Riza loves the fact that he’s always warm. There’s nothing nicer than waking up on a cold morning and being able to warm her feet up. Even if he did complain about it.

9. Riza loves the way he smiles. Roy’s real smile that is, not the smirk that so many people see. There’s only a handful who have seen that real smile, and it still takes her breath away.

8. Riza loves that he cooks for her. Not many would guess the Flame Alchemist is such a talented chef. She never mastered more than the basics of cooking simply because Roy has always seen it as his privilege to fix her meals, both when they lived together and after.

7. Riza loves the fact that he spoils her dog even if it does mean added time in breaking Hayate’s bad habits. She appreciates the fact that the two boys in her life get along so well.

6. Riza loves the sound of his voice, especially when he reads to her. Some of her best memories are of being curled up in bed with him while he read a novel to her on a rainy afternoon.

5. Riza loves the fact that he aides and abets Alphonse when it comes to his quest for a cat. She had no doubt that once Edward recovers his body, Roy’s congratulations gift will be a kitten.

4. Riza loves that he knows when she needs his strength to lean on and when she needs to stand on her own. She’s strong enough to stand on her own most of the time, but she’s always strongest with him.

3. Riza loves the way she feels in his arms. She’s never been the most feminine or pretty of women, and her job doesn’t really do anything to help, but she always feels like she’s something special in his arms.

2. Riza loves that he had never stopped caring. She’s seen too many people lose that ability both in Ishval and afterwards.

1. Riza loves the fact that he had never gone where she could not follow him. Too many people have left her, and she knows that he never will of his own violation.