Suzaku swung his bag up higher over his shoulder and stepped down the gangplank. Once he set his feet on the dock, he dropped his things and took a deep breath. He was glad to be home, especially after such a difficult assignment. Hopefully, now that Fairburn was proven guilty, Suzaku would be up against no competition for the position of Fleet Admiral when his father retired.

Within the next several months, the only news Suzaku was hoping to get was good. He'd had enough excitement for this year, already. He opened his eyes after relishing the feeling grew dull.

Seagulls called out overhead, circling the marketplace. It wasn't as loud or busy as it usually was. He could only wonder why. It certainly wasn't a holiday or a day of observance. His stomach rumbled. He was craving a big bowl of Longportian Fish Chowder, something to get his stomach full and to nip the chill out of his bones.

Suzaku picked his bags back up and started walking up the dock.

"Wait! Lieutenant!" A voice called out. He turned around. Amelia Rose ran down the gangplank, a soft parcel tucked under her arms. Her short hair bounced up and down around her jaw as she ran. Suzaku sighed and set his bags down, matching her extended arm. He looked curiously as the parcel before looking up at her. She tucked her brown hair behind her ear.

"What is this?" He asked, looking the package over. It was wrapped neatly in a dish towel that she must have stolen from the mess before being delicately secured with string. She shied away from his gaze, and he remembered to soften his features. He was told he always had a hard look on his face. There was always a determined slant to his eyes, and a bit of distance. Maybe years of trying to be less feminine in his facial features had thrown him fast and hard into the deep end of masculinity.

"It's—well, I borrowed it from you."

Suzaku met her words with confusion. She flinched. "I don't need it anymore because I guess, we'll I'm sure that Dirty Jim is dead."

"I see," Suzaku said, his words trailing off in a whisper as he accepted the package. He crouched down and stored it away in his bags. They were his bindings. A spare to the one he wore currently to make his chest appear flat. It helped with his body image. It had been hard coming to terms with the parts of his body that didn't match who he actually was. About six years ago when puberty introduced breasts to his once flat chest, his mother was quick to sew him a solution to his problem. He was lucky. Not all boys with his problems had a mother like that. Sometimes he felt terrible about being the lucky one, and so he was quick to share his good fortune when the opportunity arose. However, with Amelia Rose, he might have felt a bit cheated when he realized that she wasn't actually like him. Dirty Jim was just a character she was playing. And it hurt him because he wasn't playing a character. This was his goddamn life. Suffice to say, he wasn't very fond of this girl.

That's not to say that he was always lucky. For example, the Durantan navy wasn't meant for anyone with the body of a female. Good thing they didn't know.

"Thank you for returning it," he said. He was ready to walk away but she opened her mouth again. The annoyance was obvious to anyone but her, it seemed.

"Well, it is the least I could do. That was a very kind offering."

"Yes, it was."

Amelia Rose laughed shortly. "I must have embarrassed myself back then, but you know, I think I understand now. I think I understand what you're going through."

Suzaku scoffed hard and threw his bag onto his shoulder. "You understand? That's fantastic." He stepped backward. "Best you can do is shut those lips of yours. Because nobody understands. Nobody could understand. How do you think I became a military officer?"

"Be-"

"It's not because anyone understood. Let's leave it like that." Nobody knew. Or at least not many people.

Amelia Rose nodded, but her eyes looked watery. "I am a very sheltered girl. I am still learning things. And I mean no disrespect, but I'm sorry I don't know how to talk to you because I don't—well, I guess I don't fully understand, but I want to."

Suzaku swallowed hard, trying to keep his own eyes from getting watery. He overreacted. He was too quick to get insulted. It's never really fair to pass judgment on someone who has no education, right? But imagine being fully educated and still lacking any decency about the matter. People are afraid of things they don't understand, but Amelia Rose wasn't scared. She just seemed curious. That was kind of refreshing because he wanted to talk about it. Just unedited, just let somebody know what it felt like to feel like Zeus was playing those damn parlor games his mother and him played when he was small, where all the animal parts were cut up and then you rearranged them to create the perfect monster. Yes, yes, an ant with the body of a monkey and the head of a giraffe. Very funny, Zeus, you creative son of a bitch. Hilarious.

Suzaku sighed. "I'm not the person to teach you. That's uh...well that's not my job." And just like that, Suzaku walked away. Because he could be like that, real hot and cold and all over the place, and there wasn't really an exciting or fun bone in his body. Order. Order. He liked that. He kept his things separate from everyone else's, and he wasn't about to go pissing around with emotions as Amelia Rose did. She was a proper explosive, and he was, to put it bluntly, a bit of damp rag. But when you put it like that, then it sounds like fate, doesn't it?