The Initialization : Phase 011

Zen turned to to the other side of the bed for the umpteenth time.

The current hour is 4:13 am, just thirty minutes before Fiona would barge in to wake him up. No matter how much he wanted to sleep, his restless mind just wouldn't seem to cooperate with him. He turned back again to his original position in hopes that the sandman would finally whisk his magic sands on his dead tired orbs.

Damn, it was the fault of Fiona's and that damn post concerning the term 'Tincan' he read in the internet which made him so restless.

Why did she choose that moment earlier to tell him that the person he was about to meet is a legendary old coot?

He didn't know anything about the reign of the previous king and all but to be one of the great as–something general, this Lou Fei guy seemed to be a hero class character in Noiz.

No wonder she made him pay 5 Helts just to meet the geezer. Zen was sure other people would pay hundred of Helts just to talk to the guy!

"Man i can't seem to calm down." The teen muttered to himself as he gave up on the notion of sleep and sat down on the bed. Trying to sleep at this moment seems like a pointless endeavor since he would have to wake up thirty minutes later anyhow.

So in the end, Zen opted to just go out to the terrace of his temporal quarters. He might as well catch the first rays of sunlight for the day. It was free vitamin C after al—wait does digital sunlight have minerals anyhow?

Anyway, just after he opened the room towards the veranda, the black haired teen nearly tripped onto something along the way.

He was about to go back inside when he finally noticed the thing which made him almost fell to the ground.

It was a leg.

Zen turned his gaze from the foot of the said leg up towards it's waist then to a tattered rag cloak which is rolled tightly to a body then finally his eyes stopped at the head of a lady with a silver hair.

'!!!—'

A woman.

"H-Hey are you alive?" Zen asked in a rather subdued fashion as he poked the sleeping girl in her forehead with his index finger a couple of times. She was rather hot—and no, not in that kind of "hot" expression but more on the literal sense.

She was burning up.

Now that he got more closer view of her face, the male teen could easily see the early symptoms of an escalating fever. Puffed cheeks, ragged breaths and she's sweating profusely even though it was cold outside. Yup she definitely afflicted with a cold parameter.

Zen tried shaking the girl more profusely at her shoulders but to no avail, she only curled up more as a response.

The teen sighed.

—Now what to do?

He still only have twenty minutes before the start of his morning shift. He could move the girl inside his room but he need to know her username to log her into the entry list that would grant her access to his quarters.

He then finally noticed the hovering name above the girl's head.

Zen instinctively drew back little as he narrowed his eyes on the girls username.

Red.

Her name's in red tint.

So she's a Player Killer? Somehow things seems to had taken a bad turn with that revelation. Zen couldn't afford to blow out his cover even at the expense of a silver haired stranger. If he were to pick between his safety and some random sick lady on his veranda, he would instantly pick the former no questions asked. It was her own damn fault for getting sick anyway not his.

The black haired drifter was about to stand up but a single piece of item had rooted him in place rendering him unable to move.

A fox mask.

Zen recalled the earlier conversations he overheard at the pub concerning the other 'rabbit's features. As if going through a mental checklist of facts, the teen double checked the girls look to ascertain if she really is the other newbie stuck in the same situation as him.

Silver hair?–check,

A fox mask?–check,

Crazy hot elf beauty?–well no shit there sergeant obvious.

What irony.

Did she somehow knew him hiding in this room? Is this the work of Fate or something? Zen had alot of questions but now that he confirmed that she is a victim of the same situation as him, leaving her out to die in cold seems to have become alot harder for the male teen.

After a minute or two of pondering, Zen exhaled as he knelt down, put his arms at her back and knee then carefully lifted the sick elf upwards. He remembered that she had no access to his room so before walking back inside, the teen posed his head upwards as he tried to identify her username.

"3..S..I..7..3" Zen narrowed his tired eyes.

What a complicated name.

How do you even pronounce it in the first place? Is it a code or perhaps she just randomly hit the keyboard when she was asked to name her avatar. Maybe she was drunk when she was setting up her account.

A pair or blue eyes greeted Zen as he brought his head back to it's initial posture.

azure meets black for a couple of seconds.

Neither of those two dared to move as if transfixed at their places. After a minute or two Zen finally couldn't take it anymore and broke the silence.

"Uhh..Gùten Mòrgen?"

Slash!

Zen barely evaded the attack the moment he noticed the girl grabbed the long sword at her waist and drew it with a lightning speed.

"W-where...am..i.." The sickly female elf asked while panting heavily. Even with her condition, she was holding her weapon firmly in a defense stance as if she was a cornered animal.

'Oh she's a Japanese.' Zen thought motionlessly as he eyed the girl. She has such an exotic look that he opted for a foreign greeting as an ice breaker. Now look where it got him...

Now she's trying to break him.

"Well you're in my room—though technically it's not mine and really owned by the owner of this inn."

The elf lady momentarily knitted her brows as if she remembered a thing. She then inhaled alot of air and without warning she suddenly dashed towards him with her katana poised in a piercing form. It emitted a faint purple glow making Zen go instantly into combat mode.

"Whoa whoa hey! i have no intention of attacking you Missy." The surprised teen blurted as he dodged her strike. With the girl's cold and probably fatigued status her attacks were easily evaded by the male teen but it seems that no matter how much he tried to reasoned with her, it all just fell into deaf ears as the sick girl continues her barrage of sloppy sword strikes.

"Just—"

Strike!

"Listen for a—"

Strike!

"Damn second yo–"

Strike!

"Are sick, you can't fight—"

Kick to the groin!

You have been dealt a serious critical blow!

"Mothafuckingshitassofhell!!" Zen rapidly cussed as he fell to the ground invertedly with his hands on his neither regions. With his pain coefficient configured to maximum settings the low blow felt as painful as it was in the real life—possibly even more.

The low blow doesn't have much force but it still made his life points drop down to 1 points.

"W–What do..you plan on...doing to me..." The aquamarine eyed elf said in between her ragged breaths. Her piercing gaze still has fire within them even if her body looks on the verge of collapsing any moment now. She walked towards where he lies down and aimed her long sword at his head. The downed teen could almost feel the tip of the blade in his forehead.

"Speak." The girl ordered in a deathly serious voice.

"You know it would totally rock for me if you're wearing a skirt right now instead of those rag jeans since i would totally see your undies at this position." Zen teased without much tact as he lopsidedly smirked when the elf girl drew back a little with a blush on her face.

"What were you doing when i woke up." She dryly asked again with a narrowed eyes, as her early embarrassment disappeared at her face.

"I just thought of putting you inside my room since your cold would worsen if you keep sleeping outside." Zen stated as he looked at her in an upside down position.

"Lies! i knew what you want!" She blurted out in a fit of anger despite her condition. She thrust her sword downwards but Zen easily evaded it by turning his head side wards.

"All you filthy men are the same. You just want to indulge yourself in your sick perverted fantasies."

"Well, i do kind of like to put you in my bed so yeah..." Zen dark humorously teased subconsciously.

Damn mouth with a mind of it's own, don't complicate the situation even more!

Zen thought as the glare of the female elf just intensified ten folds after hearing his failed attempt of humor..

Hey, I was just being honest!

He really wanted her in his bed but not in the perverted sense of forcing her to do the horizontal mambo mind you. Where will she rest anyway if not for his bed? Oh right...his room had two double deckers on each side so technically, she had four beds to choose from.

Damn him and his hormones.

The male teen should've said that she had four beds to choose from instead of telling her to be in his bed. Perhaps then the elf would not glare at him as if she's looking at a garbage if he said so in the first place.

Zen now wants to face palm himself. Seriously, his semi automatic teasing behavior will be the death of him one day.

"I will..never trust a m-man even if it kills me..." The azure eyed girl stated with much venom. Her eyes were swaying as if she's forcing herself to stay conscious but losing badly to the lull of sleep.

Seems like he had awoken her inner man hater with his tactless teasing. With a sigh

Zen tried to finally stand up from his lying position but then the silver haired elf launched another attack. With her severely weakened, the male teen had easily avoided it by a side step.

From the looks of things it seems anything he would say to the girl would only pass on deaf ears. Well he reap what he sow, with him teasing her like that it's no wonder she wouldn't believe anything he says.

Plus It's not like he had a strong sense of virtue.

Zen wouldn't help anyone he sees freezing in cold but there's just something about this silver haired girl that invokes his premadorial sense of chivalry.

Perhaps it's because of their same fate and circumstances.

Perhaps it's because she choose his place to catch a cold instead of some other terrace.

Perhaps it's all just because his libido's running wild and secreting hormones all over his body.

Whatever the case are, something is telling him that he just couldn't leave this girl out to die.

As her sword landed on the ground and dematerialized, Zen took grab of her shoulders and pulled her close to himself as he squat down a little so that they could see eye to eye.

Black to blue.

Azure meets Onyx for the second time and with a serious yet strangely sincere demeanor which surprised even the elf, Zen with a burning intensity in his eyes solemnly pledged,

"I Aizen Ryumanagi would hereby promise to never harm you in any way or form that is intentional. I will not partake on any vile acts without your consent that would degrade your femininity nor your grace. My sole aim is to aid you in your sickness and nothing else. You have every right to be suspicious of me and my pledge but in honor of my name that is given to me at birth, i will uphold this oath up until the last of my breath."

Confused blue meets honest black.

Zen had done many horrendous things in the past that he was ashamed of. He can lie with a straight face. He can swindle anyone without feeling guilty. He can dispose a person without remorse. However, breaking his oaths was never on those things. It's one of the few things he value in life.

The authenticity of his pledges.

Once he pledged an oath under his name, he would abide and uphold it til the end of his days.

Only three times had Zen made such kinds of oaths and so far he never once broken any of them.

Tears started to form onto the female elf's eye. Zen had never find the reason why she started to tear up at that moment but it seems that the girl had finally succumb to the tiredness she was holding at bay.

She collapsed in his shoulders as Zen balanced her body in his arms. Her mask that she was holding fell to the ground but it dematerialized before the teen could picked it up.

She was light as a feather. Is she even eating properly? And what's with this cloak, it's moss ridden and full of holes. Does she even have money to buy things? What's with the mask anyway, Is she insecure of her face?

Damn, his mind was acting weird. It was thinking of her without actually knowing he was thinking of her. It's semantics, just as equally confusing like this gi—

'Okay this is really getting ridiculous.' Mentally chided by Zen as he skillfully opened the door by the use of his foot. He just finished granting her partial access to his abode.

"Zen-kun Good mornin! Lovely day were havin' ain't we?"

A figure of a blond girl smiling suspiciously with folded arms beneath her bosoms greeted Zen when he entered the Employees Quarters.

The male teen smiled crookedly as he was given a scrutinizing stare from the daughter of the inn.