Blue Pegasus: Trouble Brewing

The guild hall of Blue Pegasus was oddly quiet today as the peach-haired girl in the pink hoodie wandered down the hallway towards the side with the boy’s dorm. Why was she asked to go get Hector? Couldn’t they have come to him to get her so she could stay out of the dorm? She sighed as she walked, her large sword bouncing on her back slightly. Of course not. She’d been the one reading quietly in the main hall while everyone else talked and had fun, so she had been an easy target. Especially since she couldn’t say no.

The young Sasaki girl had closed her eyes slightly when she sighed. she was walking in a slightly unenergetic slump as she walked into the wing with the boy’s dorm. She was more or less used to the people of Blue Pegasus, and they were used to her enough to know she wasn’t very good with people. It had only taken a couple of weeks after winning the tournament for them to realize they were practically traumatizing her with praise.  She straightened up pretty quickly though when a guy waved at her, welcoming her to the boys’ dorm. Her face turned red and she thanked him before she thought better of herself and hurried off more quickly to Hector’s room.

Stopping, she took a deep breath. He was the one man who didn’t scare her. Most of the time. Everyone did sometimes, and that included her sister, Calico. After a long moment, she knocked on the door, muttering to herself quietly. “Hi Mister Hector,” she said as she spun and turned away from the door, crossing her arms and looking serious as she planned out her words. “Master Jora wants us to do important things… no no… Hi Hector person… no…” Why was she even rehearsing saying hello? She wasn’t sure, but she was pretty bad at words, especially when something was important. She didn’t want to mess it up and have him decide it wasn’t important. She’d braved the dorm halls, after all!

Hector was sitting at his desk reading a book and relaxing.  He had just gotten back from a small job, again picking up a package and taking it somewhere else.  Not the most glamorous of adventures.  It’s probably time I start taking on some more serious jobs.  I wonder whatever happened with that thug that tried to steal that armor.  Master Jora still had no leads as far as he knew.  Oh well, he thought to himself taking a drink of his tea, I’m sure she’ll let me know something as soon as she does.  

Hector was just about to go down and check out the mission board to see what had become available when there was a soft knock at the door.  Who could that be?  He opened his door to see Kayoko with her back to him muttering something about Jora and himself.  “Uhh, hi there Kayoko.  Who are you talking to?, he said with a smile, "Come on in, sounds like you have something on your mind.”  Hector hadn't seen much of Kayoko since their time on the island for the guild tournament.  Wonder what she's been up to.

Hector stood to the side allowing Kayoko inside before shutting the door behind her.  “Sorry about the mess”, he said even though besides his desk his room was spotless.  Sirocco flew over from her perch by the window to land on Kayoko’s shoulder.  “Hello Kayoko", she said happily, "how have you been?”  Hector motioned for Kayoko to sit at his desk chair, “You said something about Jora.  Sounds important, what’s up?”  He asked as he sat on his bed opposite Kayoko.

Kayoko jumped with a rather big start when Hector opened the door while she was muttering to herself.  She chuckled an embarrassed chuckle, hand behind her head and rosy cheeked. “I um… hello, Mr. Hector,” she responded, now about a foot further back than she had been after her startled leap. “I um... I was talking to me…” she told him as her face grew redder. Now he would think she was crazy. Maybe she was. Siracco wasted no time landing on her shoulder with a cheerful greeting as well, and Kayoko grinned. Siracco was just plain adorable in her eyes. “Hello, Miss Siracco,” she responded, waving at her shoulder since she couldn’t do her usual bow with her sitting like that.

Kayoko sat down on the seat, looking around the room. She hadn’t intended to come inside. Being in a boy’s room was weird, and she was one of the most inexperienced girls in existence when it came to the other gender. She barely had experience with other girls save for her sister, after all - much less the more intimidating opposite sex. She didn’t say anything, but her face was obviously wondering where this mess was. “Oh!” she finally responded when Hector asked what was up. “Um, I don’t know. Master Jora said… something… about needing to talk to you… and that I should come too,” she told him, her hands between her knees in her lap as she sat there awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry.  I thought you needed to talk to me.”  Hector said feeling awkward after just inviting Kayoko into his room, “Well, shall we go see what Master Jora needs?”  He asked standing back up from his bed.  “Nice seeing you again Kayoko, stop by again sometime” Sirocco said to Kayoko before flying back to her perch at the window.  Hector followed Kayoko out of his room and made their way towards Master Jora’s office.  “So she didn’t say what this was about?”  Hector asked as they left the dorms.  I wonder if she has a lead on that guy that attacked Mr. Rhodes or not.

They arrived at Jora’s office and Hector knocked on the door, “Come on in” came the reply from the other side of the door.  The two of them entered to see Jora seated at her desk surrounded by stacks of papers and forms.  “Have a seat", she said, “Kayoko I’m sure you are quite puzzled why I asked you here.  Hector, I don’t know if you remember Mr. Rhodes or not“ she said looking at each of them in turn.  “He was the man that was attacked for his set of armor you brought me.”  “I remember him Master Jora, did you find a lead on the man that attacked him?”  Hector asked taking his seat next to Kayoko, genuinely intrigued by the prospect of this mission.

“Oh! Um… it’s okay… I do like talking to both of you…” Kayoko answered Hector when he, too, apologized for having her get comfortable if the two of them were just going to have to go to Master Jora’s room anyway. “And um… okay…” she nodded, standing up again and smoothing out her shorts habitually. “See you soon I hope,” she waved to Sirocco as she followed Hector out of the room. He asked if Master Jora had told Kayoko what the visit was about, and the shy girl only shrugged semi-sheepishly.

The pair finally arrived, with Master Jora inviting the pair in, greeting the two of them and telling them to sit. Kayoko sat obediently, being a strange combination intimidated and admiring of the guild master. As she sat, she did her best not to fidget nervously as her orange eyes fixated on Jora. Jora, meanwhile, told Kayoko she probably didn’t know why she was here. Kayoko shook her head nervously. “No, Master Jora,” she admitted as the woman turned to address Hector, stating something about a man Hector had met before.

“Yes,” Jora nodded to Hector when he asked her about leads. “And I’d like you to take Kayoko here with you to investigate the lead. She’s been saying she wants to help around the guild more, and I know you two are friends. Plus… you shouldn’t do potentially dangerous things alone.”

D-dangerous? Kayoko gulped, her body language seeming to become even more nervous. She was brave, but more out of necessity than any actual feeling. She was actually quite easy to scare. “W-where are we going, master Jora?” she asked, rubbing the blue tattoo on her hand.

“You two will be off to Onibus,” she told the pair. “There’s a woman there who claims to know who the man you described was, but she wants to talk to you in person. Are you feeling up to it, Hector and Kayoko?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am,” Kayoko nodded nervously. What was she getting drawn into? At least she would be helping her new family… right?

Hector listened to what Jora had to say.  I agree no one should take this on alone, but I wonder why she’s bringing Kayoko into this.  Not that I’m complaining, I trust Kayoko to do her best, but like she said this sounds like it could be dangerous.  “We can handle it” Hector answered smiling reassuringly at Kayoko.  “Onibus?”  Hector said questionably “Where is that at?”  

“It isn’t too far from Magnolia” Jora replied, “Once you reach Onibus look for the Wayward Inn.  The woman you are looking for is Ms. Kathlyn Trambell, she owns the inn.”  Jora looked between the two of them, “Any questions?  If not I urge you two to head out as soon as possible so we can get down to the bottom of this.”  

Hector couldn’t think of any questions for Jora, he had been waiting to deal with this for a while now but now that is was time to act he felt slightly overwhelmed.  So Onibus is near Magnolia, that makes sense, and we are looking for the owner of this Wayward Inn.  “I am good to go” he said looking to Kayoko.  He didn’t want to rush her however he was eager to get started, “What about you Kayoko, are you ready to head out?”

“I-I’m ready,” Kayoko nodded quietly to Hector. “I um… I should just get packed and say goodbye to Calico,” she decided. A trip with her friend and his delightful pet could be fun. She was nervous, but excited. She’d already survived a week with him on an island before, and they’d had some fun bonding since then. “I’ll um… I’ll meet you in the main hall,” she told him, running off to her room as she waved goodbye to a grinning Jora.

Kayoko ran to her room, not really caring that people were looking at her for running. She didn’t want Hector to wait, and she had some goodbyes to say. The girl dug through her things, finding a t-shirt, an actual jacket, and some jeans since it was starting to cool down. She had no idea how long they’d be gone, so she was going to take a few spare things. Lastly, she grabbed her hairbrush and her oversized sword.

By the time she’d said goodbyes and packed, it was nearly half an hour later. “Sorry!” she told Hector with a squeak as she met him at the door. “I’m ready. I brought stuff I thought I might need…” she told him. She had some food she’d brought too.

Hector said his goodbyes to Jora as well and followed Kayoko out.  He went to his own dorm to get ready.  “Hey there Sirocco, you up for an adventure?  Jora has a lead for us on that thug that attacked Mr. Rhodes”, Hector said as he began packing a duffel bag once he was back in his room.  Sirocco looked at him for a moment from her perch, “Is Kayoko going?”  Hector was deciding what all to pack and only half heard what Sirocco said, “What?  Oh, yeah.  Kayoko is coming with me.”  Sirocco shook out her feathers, “Sure, count me in.  I had fun adventuring with Kayoko last time.”    What so you don't enjoy traveling with me?

Hector ignored the jibe and focused again on packing.  We shouldn’t have to worry too much about bringing everything, if we find we need something we should be able to find it in Magnolia.  Hector ending up packing a variety of clothes and food.  He also made sure to bring chocolate, seeing as Kayoko likes it so much.

Hector did a final sweep over his room, but nothing jumped out at him as important to take with him.  He headed down to the main hall to meet Kayoko with Sirocco perched on his shoulder.  He didn’t see Kayoko there yet so he set his bag down and thought about their upcoming mission.  It wasn’t long before Kayoko entered the main hall.  “Ready to head out?”  Hector asked, looking forward to starting this mission.

Kayoko was ready to head out. She wasn’t ready to head into danger, but she was more than prepared when it came to packing. Calico hadn’t been happy she was ordered to go alone with Hector, but Kayoko was honestly a bit excited to get to spend a bit of time alone with him and Sirocco. She trusted them enough not to be so nervous alone with a boy at this point. He and Elrowan were probably the only ones, despite the few that had tried to flirt with the girl. “I’m ready,” she nodded, looking at him curiously with her orange eyes. She didn’t know the details of what was going on, and was relying entirely on Hector - especially since she was bad at asking things when she was nervous.

“You’re coming too, Sirocco?” she asked, figuring it was probably a yes. She gave Sirocco a grin as she turned around to walk away, though she waited for Hector to catch up and even get slightly ahead of her when they started walking. “Are we going to the train station? What’s going on?” she finally asked as her curiosity got the better of her. That was the problem with making friends and getting used to people – she got just a bit more bold, which was unusual for her.

Sirocco perked up at seeing Kayoko and replied with a happy tweet of, “Yes, it should be exciting.”  Hector followed Kayoko out of the guild hall and down toward Shirotsume.  “Yes, we will be able to just take the train from here to Onibus.  From there I’m hoping we can find this Ms. Trambell or the inn Master Jora mentioned.”  Hector replied to Kayoko’s question.  I hope it’s that straightforward at least.
 
Hector made his way into Shirotsume down the narrow, twisty streets toward the train station.  They still had quite a time before the next train, not very many came to this tiny, little mountain town.  Hector got his ticket, took a seat and pulled out his trail mix bag.  “Would you like some?” he offered to Kayoko before taking some himself.  They had some time to kill and with all the commotion of this mission Hector really hadn’t had the chance to see how Kayoko was doing.  “So how have you been Kayoko?  Haven’t had the chance to talk to you much since our adventure on the island.”  

They talked for a while, munching on trail mix until the train pulled up.  Hector put up the snack and led the way onto the train.  He found an empty compartment and took his seat next to the window.  “Well, we’re off.  Exciting, isn’t it?”  Hector said with a smile.

It sounded pretty easy, Kayoko supposed. They just had to go investigate something. With luck, she wouldn’t have to fight anything at all… right? “That sounds good,” Kayoko nodded, walking softly behind Hector. Sure they were friends, but Kayoko was still Kayoko, and wasn’t used to walking beside anyone. She took her ticket and followed Hector into the train station’s waiting area, sitting down beside him a bit awkwardly. She was doing a lot better after all this time, and Hector probably noticed this.

The peach-haired girl was looking out for the train when some trail mix was thrust in her direction. She let out a small squeak before taking some of the trail mix in the bag. There were candied chocolates in it! Kayoko quickly picked the chocolates out of her trail mix like she’d not had candy in forever. She didn’t get as much as she wanted most of the time, since she was no longer one of the richest people in Fiore, but she also wasn’t one to complain… on the outside anyway.

“Thank you, Hector,” Kayoko made a conscious decision not to call him ‘Mister’ Hector. She kept munching as she talked, but never with food in her mouth. She was too proper for that. “I’ve been getting to know people in the guild and stuff. Everyone’s very nice, though… I think some of them are flirting with me… so that’s a bit uncomfortable…” She sighed, thinking of that day Calico had told Elrowan he had to marry Kayoko if he wanted to be like family. That had been the worst one.

Eventually, the train arrived, and they went and boarded. Kayoko sat across from Hector this time, staring out the window as it took off. “I suppose it is,” Kayoko nodded with a grin, looking at Hector. “I like the parts of adventures that aren’t dangerous,” she told him with a nervous chuckle.

“If people are making you uncomfortable, tell them.  They should stop or leave you alone.”  Hector paused for a moment before adding, “I hope I don’t make you feel uncomfortable.  I hope you’re OK with going on this mission with me, it’s something I’ve been looking forward to.  Who knows, maybe it will be fun.”  

“Hopefully none of this will be dangerous.”  Hector said looking back at Kayoko.  “We won’t really know until we talk to Ms. Trambell.”  I hope all we need to do is get information to bring back to Master Jora.  Hector thought looking out the window as the train started to pull out of the station.  Hector watched the hills and trees roll by as they left the mountain village.  Hector felt like talking to Kayoko more, but he sucked at small talk and he couldn’t think of anything really to talk about.   Instead he offered some more trail mix and made a vague comment on how pretty the scenery was.  

They pulled into a few stations before arriving at Onibus.  “Well, this is our stop” Hector said standing and stretching before following Kayoko off the train.  At this point it was lunch time and as good as his trail mix was Hector felt like they should get some real food.  “I don’t know about you but I’m hungry.  You want to get some food then we can look around for this Wayward Inn?”

Kayoko didn’t want to be rude, but she never lied. She instead looked away for a moment, before starting to talk. “Every boy makes me a little bit uncomfortable,” she admitted. “I never really… knew any close to my age. Until recently.” Kayoko looked back to him, adding hastily, “It isn’t your fault. You’re very nice,” she insisted, her expression obviously not wanting him to take offense. “You and Elrowan both are very nice. I’m just…” she normally said broken here. Hector knew by now she had self-esteem issues. “different,” she said instead. She let out a sigh.

“I don’t like fighting,” she decided as Hector commented on the mission. “But I don’t like my friends getting hurt either, or myself.” She poked the spot where she’d shown the scar to Hector a little while back. “Fighting is better than good people getting hurt because they won’t.”

Finally, they stopped at Onibus, and Kayoko followed Hector off the train. She’d happily eaten all of the chocolate bits out of his trail mix, but she was also hungry – sweets weren’t good for filling ones’ belly with. Not if they wanted to be able to move without being in pain, at any rate. “Food sounds good,” she nodded, clasping her hands in front of her lap as she looked around the new town curiously.

Continued on http://fairytailrevolution.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=345&hl=