Who knew?

5/12/o6 fri. TGIF!

She was a girl that had become very familiar towards him.

"Ranger-san! Ohayo!"

Then a streak of crimson would spread across tanned cheeks.

He remembered that even back then, when they had first met, the sight of the young girl blushing made him smile.

Soon though, he became worried when 'Ranger-san' had turned into 'Arca'.

"Arca-kun, do you want to sit with me for breakfast?"

He was worried that she was getting too attached, too fast. He was a wanderer, he wasn't supposed to make any friends. But she had wanted him to stay so badly that she refused payment for his stay, or for his food. Certainly his large appetite had put a dent in their wallet, but she was a stubborn one.

Still, that simple refusal to accept his payment only added to his paranoia. In fact, he had been endangering her life by just staying there. There were many nights that Arca lay awake in bed, planning on how he would gather his things and jump out of the bedroom window – never to look back. But...

"Why did you leave? Did I do something wrong...?"

It was almost as though he could hear her voice clearly, as though she were right next to him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost picture salty rivulets dribbling down her face and falling off her chin. And though he didn't know why, he would be damned if she cried because of him.

Later, he would realize that he stayed at the Riki Tiki Tavy not because she asked him to – yes, that was why in the first place, but that had changed. He stayed, because when he tried to think of how he would pack his stuff up and thank her for her extreme kindness and hospitality, then turn on his heel and walk out of the front doors, the thought actually pained him. It pained him to the point where he would have to get up and look in a mirror, just to confirm that yes – his eyes were in fact, a deep blue – almost black with a powerful sadness, one that he had only experienced with Seika's death.

Odd, that him leaving one pleasant acquaintance left him with the same weight of sorrow that his lover's death caused.

Arca thought it was frightening that this teenage girl was invading his thoughts more and more every day. He had promised to be loyal to Seika's memory, but this girl... She was causing strong emotions to arise, ones that he thought died along with Seika. But they would grow far beyond the feelings and emotions he possessed for the dragon woman. There was a time when he thought that his soul mate had been the ferocious dragon. But then /she/ entered his life, and that thought suddenly seemed awkward.

Arca soon found himself thinking of Seika less and less, as he spent more and more time with this pretty little waitress.

His eyes seemed to glow a bright amber whenever she was around, or even when he was just thinking of her. And then there were times when he would catch himself gazing at her with blood red eyes. Sometimes, he felt ashamed for feeling such a way about her. Other times, it felt right...

He was falling in love with her, and it was a most wondrous feeling...

...and also one that gave him horrible nightmares that he would often wake up in the middle of the night from, cold sweat coating his skin.

He would dream of the bounty hunters killing her in order to get to him. He would dream of how she would tire of his company and kick him out. He would dream of her getting together with some hot, young man that would be able to stay at the tavern forever. And then he would dream of her dying by his own hand, just like Seika had.

It was these thoughts that his love for her had brought on, and it scared him. To love somebody this much, when they could be taken away from you so easily... It was truly frightening.

What also scared him was the fact that if he really wished it so, he could be gone from her life within an instant. He could forget her, eventually. He could leave out of those doors so easily, it was almost too easy. To disentangle himself from this fear of loving her, from the joy of loving her, was something half of him wanted to do. The other half, however, doubted he could erase the memory of a bright white sash tying up blue black locks. That he would never be able to go on without the scent of blueberries and cream walking by him every now and then. And of course, he'd never be able to forget the way her lilac eyes light up in embarrassment before a ruby red blush filtered across her face. These were things he'd never be able to forget.

And so he chose not leave, after all.

He stayed, for Phoenix Satome.

Owari!