An Odd Relationship
197 A.C.
Colony L-0 He had been there during the arrival of Miroki Sekkio. In an attempt to try and convince Kara once more to come to Earth he had snuck aboard a shuttle disguised as a mechanic. This had been brilliant plan as there were many mechanics needed to maintain a colony and suits; this would allow him to get by unnoticed if his papers worked. At least, it would have been brilliant had Sekkio not showed up. Sekkio, as far as Donovan was concerned didn’t know the meaning of subtle if it hit her in the face. She had pretty much hijacked the shuttle they were on, and knocked out most of the civilians. It was only his quick wit in telling her that he could get her onto the colony without being shot down that kept a fight from breaking out between them. Despite the rough start, Miroki had been a blessing in disguise. Her presence allowed him to sneak fully onto the colony without being questioned, for that he couldn’t hate her.
Especially seeing the surprise on Kara’s face was well worth it.
“Donovan what are you doing?” she stared at the man before him, before having enough sense to drag him by the front of his shirt into her room.
She shut the door behind her, pressing her back against it as if she expected someone to barge in at any moment. Overall, she hadn’t changed that much since they first met in person. The girl was still short, still had the same hair style, but was probably not as malnourished as before. His eyes roamed her form, noting she was on the pale side, and while she had muscle, she was still quite thin…
“Is that a bruise?” his fingers ghosted over her stomach.
She moved away, bending over so she could get into his face, looking up at him, “Donovan are you listening to me? What if the Prof finds out you’re here?”
He ignored her worries; honestly she worried too much about Selene. Selene needed Kara. Sure, she didn’t look like much, hell, he would have never guessed her to be a future Gundam pilot, but she must have some sort of strength to be the last one standing. Instead of answering her worries, he looked around the room. It was pretty bare with the exception of a bookcase that held all the classics. How boring…
“The med kit is in the bathroom?” he didn’t even bother to wait for her to answer, instead was already rummaging around in her cabinets.
“Yes, but that isn’t necessary!”
“You have a bruise.”
“It’s called training Donovan!”
He poked his head back out of the bathroom to see her with her hands on her hips giving him a dirty look. Donovan smirked, she would never be able to glare at a person with eyes like those he decided as he ducked back in to find the med kit.
“Does your training always amount to bruises?”
“You tell me, you’re the assassin!”
Again he had to smirk, most would have been put off by such a profession. For some reason Kara just took it as matter of fact. Of course he was an assassin! Despite her mild manner demeanor, seeing what she took with stride told him how ******** up her childhood had been. Coming back out with the med kit he then asked.
“Is he any good?”
“Who is any good?”
“Your trainer of course.”
She shrugged, “Selene trusts him enough.”
“Like that’s comforting, now sit down and let me look at that.”
She didn’t move, instead she looked quite annoyed. Not that he could blame her, he had been ignoring her worries for the past ten minutes or so. When it became clear she wasn’t going to budge, he tossed the kit onto the bed and stalked over to her.
“Kara, if you do not get your a** over to the bed, I will put you there myself.”
“I am fine!”
Stubborn girl, he decided right then and there, even though that was probably one of the few qualities that made her a worthy pilot. Instead of arguing with her, he picked up her like a sack of potatoes and carelessly dumped her onto her bed. The bed squeaked with the sudden weight being laid upon it.
“I don’t care,” he told her frankly leaning over her, “Stop saying you’re fine. You’re not, now let me be your friend and look at that.”
At that Kara looked up at him and stared. In the two years they had known each other Donovan had never vocally called her a friend. Despite the secret phone calls, they had become more like associates. Two people who had a mutual agreement that since she saved his life, he would help her. Even though, secretly Kara liked to pretend he was a friend. At least he was more trustworthy than anyone else on the colony. Everyone else, answered to Selene, but Donovan answered to no one.
“What? Can’t I call you a friend or is me being your friend too weird?” he raised a brow.
She blushed realizing she had been staring at him, “No! It’s fine… I’m happy you’re my friend….”
“Then let me look at that injury, since you’re too stubborn to have it checked,” he grunted, “I’m surprised Saki didn’t freak out.”
He didn’t miss the way she looked away from him and paused what he was doing. His finger tips hovered over the discolored skin as he waited to see what the problem was now. As far as Donovan knew, Saki should still be alive. She was nothing more than a caretaker to Kara. The only one as the other caretakers had been dismissed as the other trainees no longer existed.
“Selene sent her away,” Kara replied, “She was displeased in the way Saki was raising me.”
“You mean the way she was making sure you weren’t more ******** up than you all already are?”
“I’m not that bad am I?”
Despite the challenging tone in her voice she didn’t look at him. They both knew the answer to that; Kara took certain things far too easily. She certainly had a high pain tolerance he decided, as she didn’t even flinch as he handled her injuries. The problem though went beyond pain tolerance. Kara, at times took her duty too willingly. She never thought twice about putting herself in harms way, and really at times she didn’t seem to understand how dangerous it really was. She had never been safe before, so she had nothing to gauge her current situation.
“At least you’re not emotionally stunted,” he offered, “Most are at your age. Look at the Operation Meteor pilots, three out of the five them probably couldn’t be left alone in a social situation for more than three minutes without being obliviously out of their element.
“Have you ever met them? The pilots?” she finally looked at him.
It wasn’t surprising she would ask this, they were the first pilots sent down by the colonies. They were probably her role models or something. He snorted to himself, terrible role models really. Except for that Winner fellow, he was probably the most normal one out of them all, except for that little incident where he lost his mind for a while.
“Never, I got caught in the cross fire once, never again.”
“Then why are you here?”
He paused in his work for a moment to think about it. She had a good point after all, he was putting himself right smack into the middle of trouble by coming here. However, he couldn’t imagine it any other way. Hell, he had turned down job offers to come here.
“Putting myself into right into the event isn’t technically getting caught in the cross fire,” he pointed out, “I’m already your best informant.”
“That’s true, Prof really should go to outside sources more, then we’d know more about what is going on…”
At least give the girl credit he thought, she won’t go out and accidently start another war or anything. Selene had never been good at dealing with others, and he hoped she would hand over operations to someone else who was more capable.
“So… Donovan,” Kara looked back at him, forgetting now that really he shouldn’t be there, “How long are you staying?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“I hope it’ll be for a long while, as long as you don’t get caught of course.”
Donovan looked at her, his fingers purposely brushing against her skin as he finished bandaging her up. He wondered how it had come to this, this very strange relationship they found themselves in.
“Then… for as long as you’ll have me.”
