The Unwitting Guardian Ch. 11

"Do you really think I'm so unfaithful that I compare you to other women all the time?" Ryna asked. Before she could answer he kept going, "Alright, so maybe I do sometimes, but I always think that you are better. Always," Sensara looked at him again, and was about to say something when he smiled.

"Alright, so except for that one time its always," he teased. She couldn't help but laugh, and she slapped at his chest.

"Asshole, that isn't what you say in the middle of a deep and loving moment," she said, pretending to look hurt.

"Was that what this was? I thought it was me calming you down so I could get laid at some point in the near future," he said, laughing.

"Well, with that attitude, it will be a long time before I let you even look at it," she said, sitting up and turning to face him.

"Damn, thats a bummer, now all I have are those secret pictures I took of you when you were asleep," Ryna said in a serious tone. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "It just occured to me that I could make serious bucks with those,"

"You better not, or I'll get your ass kicked so far off campus, they'll start a TV show about how you get back. And do you really have pictures of me sleeping?" she asked in a lighter tone.

"Possibly. I plan to add pictures of you in a bikini to the collection as well. Then, when you're all old and wrinkly, I'm going to turn it into an album so that we can look back and reminisce about the good old days." Ryna stated with a grin.

"You, sir, are a special kind of pervert," Sensara said matter-of-factly. She leaned in so that she was next to his ear and whispered, "What does that make me for falling in love with a perv?"

"Who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" Ryna whispered back.

"Jerk," she whispered into his ear. She slowly pulled back until their foreheads were touching, their eyes locked together.

"Well, I don't think we should be getting all hot and heavy here in the open. We should wait till we are at the beach!" Ryna exclaimed, standing up.

"Ryna, you suck you know that?" Sensara announced, inwardly agreeing that where they were would not be the best place for what she had intended.

"Sometimes, my upper head has just a little more control than my lower one," Ryna said with a smile.

"Sometimes I wish that upper head would shut up and let me play with the lower one," Sensara sighed.

"Well you know, it doesn't always work the way we want," Ryna sighed.

"So, what are you doing in class for the rest of the day?" Sensara asked.

"Nothing, Gramps gave us the day off. I mean, we were fried after a whole week of afterschool sessions," Ryna explained, yawning right on cue.

"He gave you a day off? Lucky," Sensara said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He's grading our tests so that he can announce them on the school's intercom tomorrow. I don't think I would call that lucky," Ryna replied.

"I suppose you're right," Sensara said. She held her hand out so that he could help her up, "You must be really tired, maybe you should just go to sleep then?"

"I was on my way to do just that until Laura caught me," Ryna said, grabbing her hand and lifting her onto her feet.

"I'll see you tonight then," she said, straightening her skirt.

"I'll probably be asleep when you get back to the dorm room, but yeah," Ryna replied. She put her hands on his cheeks and stood up on her tip-toes to give him a quick kiss before she left.

"I didn't even eat anything, damn you author," Ryna mumbled to himself before he went back to his dorm room. He collapsed onto the bed and was passed out in mere seconds.

___________________________________________________________________

When Sensara came home that evening, he was still in the same spot. She tried to wake him several times to no avail, and eventually just gave up and fixed herself something to eat.

"If he gets hungry, he'll wake up and make something for himself," she muttered to herself. She ate it quickly and got ready for bed, then decided that she could use her time to read a book. Pulling a book that she had bought with the intention to read, but never actually gotten around to, out of the small bookcase in the room. As she made herself comfortable in bed, she looked at Ryna sprawled out at the base of the bed.

"That can't be too comfortable," she thought. She bent over and hooked her arms under his shoulders then pulled him toward her until his head rested in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair, absentmindedly twirling it while she read. A little while later, she heard his breath quicken and he shifted a little in her lap.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," she teased, putting aside her book.

"This is quite comfortable, I should sleep like this more often," he replied.

"I'm glad you like my lap-pillow, but your head is kinda heavy. I think it's cutting off my circulation in my legs," she said. Reluctantly, Ryna rolled off of her. He sat up next to her, and leaned over as she picked her book back up.

"What is the book about?" Ryna asked, eyes skimming over a few paragraphs. It was clearly a romance novel, but that was all he could glean from his quick glance at the page.

"Its a romance about an ancient kingdom. Every year, the king has a tournament to find the strongest fighter in the land. The winner also gets to dine with the royal family, as well as receiving a fantastic prize. The princess just turned 18, and she is supposed to marry this duke, but the main character plans to win the tournament and abduct her when he dines with the royal family," Sensara explained.

"Sounds complicated. I suppose there is going to be something in there where the princess falls in love with the main character?" Ryna asked.

"Probably. It's really well written though, you should read it sometime," Sensara said, already knowing the answer.

"Even as hopelessly romantic as I am, I don't think I'll end up reading your book," Ryna said.

"Why is that?" Sensara asked, momentarily looking away from the book at Ryna.

"Because if I read it, you might expect me to do all those heroic and romantic things. Like, abducting you? Gramps would hunt me down faster than Liam Neeson in Taken. And I don't even wanna think about what he'd do to me after he caught me," Ryna shuddered.

"Who's Liam Neeson?" Sensara asked.

"Um, wrong universe, sorry," Ryna said smiling.

"Okay, well, yeah I suppose Grandfather would kill you if you did that, but like, I would NOT expect you to do those things," Sensara replied.

"So you say, but I know that deep down, you will long for me to abduct you. But as long as your grandfather runs the galaxy's finest military school, I'm just not man enough to bust outta here with you," Ryna said, "Plus, with you being the Student Body President, you would put all sorts of official punishments and shit on me. Just not a great idea all-around,"

"Wimp," she goaded.

"Yep," he replied, smiling. He yawned, "Well, I'm tired still, can you turn off the lights?"

"You're no fun," she sighed. She put her book down and turned the bedside lamp off. She settled in against his chest, and dozed off within minutes.

_________________________________________________________________

The next morning the atmosphere in the class was tense as they waited for Iures to enter the classroom. It felt like hours had passed by the time the door slid open and he walked in. His face gave away nothing about how they had done, if anything it looked on the more serious side, rather than the face of someone who was going to the beach.

"Alright class, I'm not going to make you wait any longer to hear your grades," Iures said, pulling a stack of papers out of his bag.

"Are you going to tell us before you announce them to the school?" someone asked.

"Nope, there is a microphone that's installed into the podium that I'm going to activate... now," Iures said, pressing a button. There was a small crackle as the speakers in the room came to life. Ryna figured that all over the campus speakers would be coming online, everyone would be waiting to find out how their class had done.

"Hello Vanguard Academy, this is your headmaster speaking. As many of you know, a test was just taken by my First Year class that will determine whether or not you, as a school, get to go on the Altacun Beach Trip. I will read out their grades in the order they were handed in to me.

Tsuta Hanae- Pass

Alec Carrick- Pass

Petev Arciard- Pass

John Wyke- Pass

Tobias Lula- Pass

Tylo and Milo Asteer- Pass

Gale Vanlaere- Pass

Juras Lairn- Pass

Ulgo- Pass

Raas- Pass

And finally, with an astounding perfect score, Ryna Harcourt- Pass," As soon as he read out Ryna's name, the entire class rushed the podium. Before Iures could press the button to close the feed, Ryna spoke into the mike.

"Boys," he paused for a second, tearing up a little, "Boys we have done it. We fought hard for that goal, that dream! Here we are now, victorious. There is only one thing left to say,"

Ryna nodded to the other guys gathered around the podium, "OPERATION BIKINI PARADISE IS A SUCCESS!!" they shouted in unison. Throughout the building, there was a moment of silence as their words sunk in. Sensara's head was buried in her hands, her face flushed bright crimson.

"That idiot-" was all she could manage to mutter before a wave of excitement hit the boys of the school as they realized that they were going to the beach. There was a collective sigh from the girls of the school, several of them shaking their heads and laughing. Class 1-X was arguably the most excited, and they raised Iures over their heads and carried him through the hall, cheering and celebrating as they went.

Later in the day, after the excitement had died down, an indignant Sensara found Ryna still celebrating with his class. She had purposefully chose to avoid him during the lunch period, but the combination of her anger and something else she just couldn't put a finger on had pulled her to his classroom. She stood at the doorway, glaring daggers at the back of his head. Almost immediately he felt her eyes boring into the back of his head. He turned away from his jubilant classmates sheepishly, wincing as he caught her gaze. Without a word, she held out her hand and curled her finger back, beckoning him toward her.

Normally, Ryna would have been overjoyed to see his beautiful girlfriend, but the combination of the look in her eyes and the decidedly unhappy posture made him decide that this was going to be a less than pleasant conversation. The other gang members around him must have arrived at the same conclusion, as they all became silent at the same time. Ryna turned and slowly made his way to the door. He thought that maybe if he could get her away from whatever was on her mind, he could make it through the conversation unscathed. Hopefully.

"Hey sweetheart-"

"Save it,"

"Uh oh, that's not good,"

"I can't believe you,"

"Um, what?" Ryna asked, rather confused. He had known she would be mad at him for the "announcement" but usually a quick apology and a kiss could cool her temper. But she hadn't let him even start on the quick apology."She must be reaaally pissed this time..."

"I don't even know what I expected," she began, her weight shifted on one leg, arms crossed across her chest. She continued, "but you've really done it this time! How do you think it feels to hear my boyfriend yell out something as perverted as Bikini Paradise to the whole school? Or the looks the other girls gave me afterwards? I bet half of them think you're cheating on me or that the guy I'm dating has all sorts of weird fetishes or some other stupid shit like that!"

"Well-"

"Well?! That's all you have to say?" Sensara asked incredulously, ignoring that she had interrupted him. "I need some space, just leave me alone for a while," she said in a resigned tone. Ryna was rather taken aback, and sat there dumbly, not having an answer for the first time in his life. She stormed off down the hall, and just watched as she turned up the stairs toward the roof when he finally seemed to come to his senses.

"What the hell just happened?" Ryna muttered, shaking his head slightly. He turned to face the class again, and was greeted by faces as shocked or even more shocked than his own.

"Boss, I think Lady Sensara is really mad this time," one, Tsuta, said.

"No shit Sherlock, but what could have made her that mad?" another, Gale, asked.

"Boss, it doesn't matter why she's mad, you need to go after her!" Juras exclaimed, pointing to the door.

"Yeah, if you give her time to stew, she'll only get madder at you. And she'll be mad that you didn't come to find her too. Double trouble boss," Tobias said sullenly, hinting at personal experience with the problem.

"Double trouble left to boil and bubble turns to toil and rubble Boss," Tylo and Milo said together in an oddly creepy tone. Regardless, Ryna got the point.

"Alright alright, I get it, I'm going already," Ryna said, freezing time even as the last word left his lips. Despite having literally all the time he could ever want or need, he still hurried up the stairs he had seen her turn into. Bounding up the stairs, barely even paying attention to the stairs as he flew up toward the roof.

His foot caught on a step and he fell face-first.

"Good thing no one else could see that," he mumbled as he picked himself up. A brief inspection of his face and arms revealed that nothing was broken, or even scratched, but a small trickle of blood began to fall from his nose.

"So close to unscathed," he chastised mentally. He wiped the blood off onto his sleeve.

Why do you insist on walking on the ground? Carl's booming voice asked.

"That's a good question, given that I can walk on air," Ryna remarked. He stepped about a foot up above the stairs, then resumed his rapid pace toward the roof, where he hoped to find Sensara. No longer constrained by hazards like tripping and whatnot, he travelled much more quickly. In moments he had scaled the remaining 100 feet to the door, and threw it open...

Nothing. He didn't see anyone on the roof in front of him.

"Shit, where the hell did she go-" Ryna cursed. Then he remembered. He climbed his way through the air to the top of the roof over the stairs themselves. As he came over the edge, he saw Sensara lying there, motionlessly staring right at him. He panicked for a second before he realized that he hadn't resumed time yet.

He sat down next to her, trying to organize his thoughts, trying to think of something to say. No one had ever cared enough about him before to be mad at him, and he had no idea what to do now that someone was. He decided that being honest with her and apologizing were probably his best options.

Taking a moment to admire her beauty. The tears halted midway through their slides down her face were shining slightly from the setting sun, and her slightly parted lips seemed to be in the middle of forming a word. Suddenly an idea hit Ryna. His curiosity getting the better of him, he moved away from her so that she couldn't see him without making an uncomfortable motion to look directly behind her, and let time resume.

"-don't understand how he does this to me every time he does something dumb. *sniffle* I never used to be so uptight about everything! Hell, I would have laughed if someone had yelled that for the whole world to hear before. But now..." she trailed off, breathing deeply. She seemed to be willing herself not to tear up again. After a minute or so, she continued, still oblivious to her eavesdropper. "Every time he touches another girl, or talks about something perverted, I just feel this huge weight in my chest, or I start thinking bad things about her, whoever she is. And then I feel bad about it, like I'M the one at fault here. It's all that stupid idiot's fault for making me feel this way!" she exclaimed.

She paused for a few more seconds, then mumbled, "I hate you Ryna."

"That's rough," Ryna said without even thinking. Instantly he regretted saying anything, because Sensara whirled to her feet, her fist shooting out toward his face. It was all he could manage just to rock back enough so that the blow passed within a centimeter of the bridge of his nose.

"Damn, even when she's upset she still has ridiculous reflexes. That was a close one," Ryna thought, feeling the tip of his nose to make sure it was still there. Sensara recognized him quickly, but instead of dropping to her knees and checking to make sure he was okay, she held herself in a ready position to strike again. Not the reaction he would have expected.

"Why the hell are you here? I told you to leave me alone," she hissed, not even bothering to hide her anger.

"Because I love you. Of course I'm not gonna let you stomp off alone when you're upset-" she gave him a look that would have scared the equivalent of an elephant, "I mean extremely angry,"

"Did you really think I'm going to forgive you just because you said you love me? Go away." she said, relaxing her muscles a little bit. Now at least Ryna didn't have to worry about her attacking him.

"I don't really want to. I'll be totally honest with you, I don't really understand why you're so mad at me. But I'm gonna try and make it up to you," Ryna said, stepping toward her slowly. She tensed up a little, but relaxed again quickly.

"Don't you dare think this is gonna be a 'make her cum, then its all good again' thing. I'm really angry at you," she said, her voice wavering. She took a small, uncertain step backwards, her foot mere inches from the ledge.

"Sensara, don't take another step back," Ryna warned, stepping forward quickly to close the distance between them.

"Don't order me around like some toy! I'll step wherever I damn well please," Sensara said, her fire reignited. She picked her foot up and stepped backwards. Her foot found nothing to hold onto though, and she started flailing her arms wildly in an attempt to regain her balance. Ryna lunged forward, grabbing her arm just as she began to fall. He pulled her back onto the roof and into his arms.

"I told you not to step back didn't I?" Ryna asked, concern in his voice.

"Shut up, I hate you, let me go dumbass," Sensara exclaimed. She was blushing fiercely, but she didn't hold back in attempting to push him away from her.

"Nope, not gonna happen," Ryna said, tightening his arms around her. He took her shoves and punches without a complaint, waiting for her to tire herself out or just give up. After a couple dozen jabs into his stomach and ribs, Sensara finally realized that he wasn't letting go, and started to settle down.

"All better now?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"A little," she choked out. Tears were fighting their way back up to her eyes.

"Good, cuz I don't think I can take another beating like that one," Ryna said, loosening his grip on her enough so that she could raise her face to look at his.

"I'm sorry," was all she could get out before the tears began rolling down her cheeks again. She buried her head into his chest.

"Shhh, it's alright now Sen, it's my fault. Don't cry," Ryna soothed. She calmed down quickly then looked back up at him.

"Sen?" she asked.

"I needed something short to call you. I think its cute," Ryna said defensively.

"I guess it's okay," she said, blushing again, "and you're damn right its your fault."

"I know, I'm sorry," Ryna said, still looking into her eyes. The pupils shifted color slightly, darkening to the deep purple that meant she was reading his emotions. He decided to ignore it.

"Just to recap for you, you went and played on an all girls team for the preseason soccer tournament, you locked my up in our room for a while, you went off and fought 3rd years with no regard for your own safety, and now you have championed the Bikini Paradise crap. Give me one reason I shouldn't just dump you right now." she demanded. Her tone and demeanor didn't back up her harsh words though, and Ryna breathed an internal sigh of relief.