Review please! And questions are more than welcome. :D

Rating for language, sexual themes and violence in later chapters.

All characters belong to their respective owners, and we'd like to keep them, thanks.

Stretching expansively, Keiran sleepily observed his new bedroom for the first time since he had arrived last night. He had always lived in Prontera, so the grey stone architecture wasn't new for him. The stained glass windows on the other hand, were. There were two of them in this room, both spread from the high ceiling right to the floor and depicted some important biblical scenes which Keiran figured he was bound to learn about on the road to becoming a Crusader.

The room was rectangle in shape, with two single beds against one of the short sides, and a large chest of drawers in one of the far corners, with a wardrobe next to it, the door of which was open, revealing two simple brown tunics and a pile of leather guards. These, Keiran suspected, must be our new swordsmen outfits.

He dragged himself out of bed reluctantly, and glancing at his sleeping roommate, headed over to investigate.

They were indeed the swordie clothes, and as Keiran held them up, something silvery caught his eye. He glanced down into the bottom of the wardrobe where a small silver crucifix was laying.

"Hm..." he scooped it up and examined it thoughtfully, pulling his own crucifix out from his novice tunic. Upon comparing them, he discovered... not much. They were basically the same - just simple silver crosses on simple silver chains.

"Oh well. Just means I have a spare..."

A noise behind him made him turn. His roommate was stirring, muttering something into his pillow.

Keiran raised an eyebrow at him before turning his attention back to his new clothes. And then decided he might as well put them on. Which he did, muttering all the while that brown really wasn't his colour.

Just as he was fastening his new crucifix around his neck, there were muffled footsteps behind him.

"Morning!" Keiran said cheerfully. Once he got out of bed in the morning he usually became energetic quite quickly. After all, once up, what's the point in wandering around half asleep? You might break something, or someone.

"Mm..." his roommate murmured, rubbing the sleep from his eyes tiredly as he dragged his feet across the floor.

Keiran observed him thoughtfully. He had bright blue hair with bright blue eyes to match. They seemed rather familiar to Keiran and he wondered why, and he couldn't help but feel he knew this guy from somewhere else... But at the same time could swear he'd never met him.

He blinked sleepily, "do I have something on my face?"

"No? No. Sorry." Keiran raked a hand through his chin length hair, pushing one side back while the other swung forward to hang in front of his emerald eyes. And then it hit him - "Wait a second... aren't you Darius? The guildmaster's son?"

Darius blinked, "yeah I am. And you are?"

Keiran was startled to see that when Darius said this, he showed no signs of pride, arrogance, or anything else along those lines. If anything, he seemed slightly sad. Maybe he didn't want to be known as 'the guildmaster's son' Keiran thought, making a mental note not to talk about the guildmaster too much.

"Keiran. Keiran le Lievre to be precise."

At that moment there was a loud banging at the door, causing both boys to jump.

"WAKE UP WAKE UP!! EVERYONE UP!! BREAKFAST IN TEN MINUTES!!" someone bellowed before clanking on to the next room and repeating himself. A couple of seconds later there was even more noise as something that sounded awfully like a heavily armoured Paladin banging pots and pans together ran up and down the corridor screaming things like 'TOAST!! GET YA TOAST!!' and 'CEREEEEEEEAL!!!!!'

Keiran and Darius exchanged a look that said something like 'I hope they don't do this every morning'. Or perhaps 'are these people sane?'

"Mind if I go now?" Keiran asked, rather loudly to make himself heard over the racket outside.

Darius shook his head, "I have to get changed anyway."

"That's what I thought. I'll save you a seat."

Slipping out into the hallway, he looked both ways for rampaging crusaders, and upon seeing them down the other end of the hall, terrorizing some poor swordsman who had stepped out at the wrong time, headed in the opposite direction, which was okay because that was the way he was supposed to be going.

The headquarters for the Guild of Crusaders was a castle. A very large one. Complete with moat and drawbridge (which was permanently down).

The Paladins, being the highest ranking below the guildmaster himself, got the largest rooms higher up in the castle, on the fourth floor, with the best views of the city. Although, they weren't content with this and continuously complained that it takes too long to walk down the stairs every morning in full armour. The smarter ones pointed out that you didn't actually need to wear the armour all the time, which shut the not-so-intelligent ones up.

The guildmaster, of course, had the biggest room of all on the fifth floor, and he didn't complain, since he had chosen it in the first place. Also on this floor were the master's second in command (although they had smaller rooms). They consisted of one high level male Paladin and one high level female Paladin.

On the third floor were the Crusaders. They had shared dorms just like the swordsmen did, but they got the extra bonus of bigger rooms with bigger beds. Also the different genders weren't separated so much, allowing some mingling. The male Crusaders thought this was totally awesome, and the women quickly got into the habit of bolting the doors at night.

Next floor down were the swordsmen. The girls at the west end, and the boys at the east, separated by the bathrooms and the wide stone staircase spiralling up and down. Each swordsman or woman had to share their dorm with one other swordie. This wasn't usually found to be a problem, and if it was, the guildmaster was quite willing to change the recruits around so they could be with a friend rather than an enemy. After all, he didn't want his little swordies fighting and going around being miserable, did he just?

The first floor was where the indoor classrooms were. These were used for things like Bible studies, research, and for the teaching of any skills that didn't involve waving swords around and just generally being rowdy. This story also contained what could be called a library. It was a large room that someone had gone and dumped a load of couches and books in. And someone else had had to organize it so it was actually possible to find anything. The offices of important guild members were on this floor too.

On the ground floor were things like the eating hall, cloak rooms, the meeting rooms (although most of the time they just held the meetings in the eating hall), and the chapel. The Crusader's chapel was a small thing, since they didn't usually use it. On Sunday mornings they all trekked down to Prontera's main church for the service.

The whole building was in a U shape, surrounding an expansive courtyard where the more active lessons were held. A little way off were the stables where the peco pecos lived, and beyond that was fields. Lots of wide open fields where the new swordsmen could train freely in their spare time.

Anyway.

As Keiran strolled down the white stone stairs, his hand trailing along the banister, he considered his future. These days it was possible to choose your own job, rather than have your parents choose it based on what they did and he was happy with his decision to become a Crusader. It seemed like the only suitable option for someone who was as pious (most of the time) as he but enjoyed fighting just as much as serving God. So why not learn how to fight at the same time as still upholding his religion?

He had considered becoming a Priest, but the prospect of not being able to fight back if under attack turned him off the idea almost at once. The only other Holy job available was to become a Monk. They were the brother class of the Priests, but instead of just standing around healing people, they actually got into the action, using their fists as their main weapon. This idea appealed to Keiran, until he saw a male Champion at church one day, when he was severely put off by the monk's puffy robe.

Oh well, Keiran thought to himself, at least this way I get to use swords. He glanced up as a Paladin clanked past waving a rather soggy looking piece of toast in the air, and frowned. Not looking forward to all that armour though. Indeed, it did look very heavy, and very awkward, but the long silver cape trailing along on the ground behind him was AWESOME. This particular Paladin had evil ears poking out from his deep brown hair, and was wearing a dark purple deviruchi hat on his head. An interesting headgear combination, Keiran thought to himself, but effective no less.

The Paladin seemed to notice that someone was staring at him and glanced over his very, very broad shoulder, enhanced greatly by the huge metal plates. "If you don't hurry up all the toast will be gone!" he said cheerfully, waving his sorry excuse for toast in Keiran's face, before galloping off down the stairs.

Keiran stood frozen in place. "What's with the toast?" he wondered aloud.

Chuckling, a Crusader clapped him on the back, almost sending him rolling down the stairs. "Oops sorry. You'll get used to it after a while. It's a Paladin thing. They're all obsessed with toast."

"Right..."

"But seriously though, if you don't hurry, you really won't get any." He continued on his merry way, humming thoughtfully.

Waking from his daze, Keiran dashed after the blonde haired Crusader, "are all Crusaders and Paladins so friendly?"

Grinning widely, the Crusader shrugged, "You think we're friendly?" he looked thoughtful for a moment, before grinning again. "I guess we are, aren't we? There's a few that aren't. Like... the people who didn't really want to be here in the first place. But yeah, mostly we're a pretty sociable group."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right, heading towards the source of an awful lot of noise.

"My name's Grobyc, by the way."

At Keiran's startled expression, Grobyc just smiled wider, "yeah. Odd, huh? Just call me Groby or something. Most people do." He held out a massive gloved hand which Keiran took gingerly.

Just as he had expected, Grobyc had a very firm handshake, as is fitting for a Crusader.

"I'm Keiran," he said, not sure if his name was actually required or not.

"Pleasure to meet you Keiran!" he boomed over the roar of the eating hall, "I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other. I'm supposed to be helping with spear mastery this year I think." He itched his ear thoughtfully, "You interested in spears?"

Keiran shrugged, "don't know yet."

Grinning, Groby pushed open the double doors into the hall, and was instantly greeted with many cries of "GROBY!! OVER HERE!!" and was whisked away by a female Crusader with long blue hair.

Keiran hovered by the door uncertainly, taking in the proceedings. The room smelt strongly of toast, and lo and behold, there it was; giant mountains of the toasted golden bread piled at even intervals all along the three long parallel tables.

Finally he spotted a few of his fellow swordsmen and headed over to them, ducking occasionally to avoid flying toast. They were sitting down one end of the furthest away table, all looking very startled by the amount of noise and mess the rest of the guild was making.

Sliding into the gap between a swordswoman with a very long black plait and a silver haired swordsman who was buttering a bit of toast nervously, he stared around the room in wonder. It was huge. But he supposed it would have to be to make room for all these broad shouldered men and the only slightly less broad shouldered ladies. There were shields and swords hung all over the walls and suits of armour along the edges of the room.

"Did you know that Crusader?" said the boy with the toast, passing a plate to him.

Keiran accepted it gratefully, helping himself to a couple of slices of the oh-so-popular toast, "no, not really. He just started talking to me."

"Hm. They seem to be like that." the boy said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "These things are really a pain."

Pausing in the act of buttering his toast, Keiran looked at him properly. The boy was scrawny, looked half-asleep, and kept dropping his knife. But Keiran wasn't one to judge people so fast, and decided that hey! he had to start making friends sometime, so why not start now?

"How come you wear them then?"

"Father made me get them. My eyesight's not so great and he didn't think it'd be a good idea for me to be waving swords around if I'm half-blind," he sighed, staring down at his plate, "I suppose he's right, though, as usual."

Keiran took pity on him, "hey hey! Come on, dude. They're not so bad. And they're like, in fashion at the moment aren't they?"

The swordsman blinked at him, "they are?"

"Yeah! And hey, if it makes you feel any better, I'm supposed to have glasses too."

"You don't wear them?"

"Naah. I don't really need them."

"I'm confused." The swordsman frowned.

"Hm... my left eye doesn't work as well as it should and so I'm supposed to have glasses for reading and shit but I tend to end up breaking them and stuff so I gave up."

"Oh."

They sat in relative silence for a bit, munching on their toast.

Keiran kept glancing at the door, remembering what he had said to Darius. The table's filling up fast... he thought to himself, if he doesn't hurry he's not gonna fit.

But then there he was, standing in the doorway, scanning the tables. Just as Keiran was about to start shouting at him, Darius spotted him and quickly made his way around the tables.

"Um. D'you think you could shuffle over a little...- wait. What's your name anyway?" Keiran asked the boy.

"Huh? Oh. Of course." He did so, "I'm Arthur."

"I'm Keiran. And thanks."

Arthur returned to his toast, hardly even looking up as Darius slid in between Keiran and the girl.

"Toast?" Keiran gestured at the pile which was half the size it had been.

"Don't mind if I do." Darius delicately took a piece and began to eat it, dry.

Deciding it would be best not to comment, Keiran searched around his head for something else to talk about, of which there was nothing, and then began searching the room for a conversation topic.

His eyes passed over a group of Paladins, one of which was the one with the deviruchi hat. Keiran blinked. But... wasn't he... over there before? He glanced back at the spot where he had sworn he had seen the Paladin only a second before, and sure enough, he was still sitting there, joking with his friends.

Startled, Keiran looked back at the other Paladin. And he was still there. There are two of them?

"Er... Darius?"

His roommate looked at him, and then in the direction Keiran was staring at. "Oh. I guess you'd like me to explain?"

"Yeah... that'd be nice. Are they brothers? Twins maybe?"

"No no. Nothing like that." Darius observed the two identical Paladins as he chewed his toast. "They're not even slightly related. The one over there" he nodded towards the one in the group of Paladins, "is Sir Kuronosu. He's second in command of the guild."

"And the other one?"

"He's called Killjoy. He always copies Sir Kuro, always has done. I think he quite likes the attention people give him since they all think he's Sir Kuro." He smiled slightly.

"How do you tell them apart?" Keiran was completely baffled, he couldn't see any differences between them at all.

"Well... for one, Killjoy has a lot of Crusader friends rather than Paladins, that's how I can tell now. And for another thing, Sir Kuro's rosary is a lot bigger and more elaborate."

"Ah. I see. Thanks."

"Not a problem."

"Do you know everyone in the guild?"

"Hm? No. Mostly I just know the Paladins since they were always around when Father brought me to look around and things."

Once again, Keiran noticed that Darius seemed almost bitter when talking about his father and chose not to reply. Instead, he gazed at the roof, wondering what time lessons would begin. He was eager to get started, after all this time as a novice, not learning anything interesting, he wanted to actually find out how to fight properly, not just hitting people over the head with bits of wood.

Very slowly, people started to drift out of the hall to begin their days work of whatever it was that Crusaders did. Keeping the peace or something. Keiran looked around the hall. They hadn't kept the peace in here very well. There was toast all over the floor, and one of the suits of armour even had several pieces of toast stuck on the end of his lance.

Keiran grinned to himself, noting it into his mental notebook where he kept his ideas for practical jokes, which was one of his favourite hobbies. That and... he glanced at the swordswomen down the row. Hm... Probably a little early to start flirting with them yet... he thought slyly, scanning their faces.

One particularly attractive girl with shoulder-length sandy-blonde hair looked up at him from across the other side of the table when his gaze fell on her. Haha oh well. He winked at her. And most unexpectedly, she winked back. He raised his eyebrows, and she grinned. He waggled them and she burst into fits of helpless laughter.

Understandably, her friends thought she had gone mad and stared at her. Keiran quickly looked back at his toast, grinning. Yeah. I rock.

"Hello my small friends!!" exclaimed someone right behind him, causing all three boys to jump. Well, Keiran would have jumped if the Crusader didn't have his hands on his shoulders.

"Oops sorry!" Grobyc trilled, clearly not sorry at all.

"Hi Groby." Keiran said while the rest of the swordsmen stared at the beaming Crusader in armour that made him look twice the size he actually was.

"I, Grobyc," he announced proudly "have been instructed, to show you, to your first lesson!"

No one moved.

"...So! UP UP UP!! Can't be keeping Sir Kuro waiting all day now can we? Hmm?"

The swordsmen slowly got to their feet and followed the bubbly Crusader to the second floor, where he gave them a guided tour of each of the rooms, allowing them about two seconds to look around before ushering them off to the next one.

Finally Grobyc steered them into a room in which a Paladin was standing, staring out the window with a bored look on his face.

"SIIIIR!" Groby trilled.

The Paladin turned around to face them. It was the one who had told Keiran to hurry to breakfast, and his rosary was big and fancy, so that made him Kuronosu?

He was very tall and the way he carried himself told Keiran that he was proud, but not so much as to make him hard to be around. Everything about him radiated kindness and protection, from the top of his cute grinning deviruchi hat to the ragged end of his magnificent cape. Since Keiran wasn't really that way inclined, he wasn't going to go telling everyone about it, but Kuronosu was also a good-looking man, and judging from the giggles some of the girls were giving, he was very good-looking.

"Hi there! Come on in!" he said cheerfully and the swordsmen filed in, followed by Grobyc who shut the door after them.

"Groby, you are so late that it's just not funny," he scolded, grinning.

"I'm sorry Sir! I was showing them around the floor."

"Oh. Oh okay then." He turned back to the assembled students. "Welcome! To the Guild of Crusaders! I'm Kuronosu, or Sir Kuro to you until you've become Crusaders, and I will be your main teacher for a while. I'm 26 years old, and second in command here in the guild. I was born in Amatsu and my hobbies include riding, playing poker, eating toast, and sleeping." He removed his hat and ran a hand through his sleek brown hair, "this is also the first time I've actually been in charge of noobs by myself, so please forgive me if I stuff up."

Keiran noticed that he was still holding a piece of toast in one hand.

"Hmm... I suppose I should tell you about the guild itself." He replaced his hat thoughtfully, "the guild of Crusaders is one of the most respected guilds out of all that exist today. We take pride in our strength, both attack and defence, and we're not scared to help people, whatever class they may be. Protecting people is what we live for, hence why we have been given the gift of healing and why we learn skills that sacrifice our own lives for the greater good, such as Grand Cross, which inflicts heavy damage upon multiple enemies as well as causing damage to ourselves."

The swordsmen all stared at him, some in wonder, some in shock, some in appreciation and some in adoration.

"Aside from that, the majority of us are good-natured people, so feel free to talk to anyone you wish for help or just to chat. Most people are more than willing to help out with whatever may be bugging you, be it class related or otherwise. I know I, for one, and Groby over there too, are glad to help out. And also, my fake twin, Killjoy, is too. He looks just like me" he added in response to the puzzled looks.

"How about you all have a seat? We could be here for a while." He waited patiently for his students to sort out what desks they were going to sit at and for the scraping of chairs on the floor to stop. "Right, how many of you are there?"

This was a rhetorical question, since as soon as he said it he started counting heads. "Fourteen. Nice, eight guys and six girls. Okay where was I?" he perched on the edge of his desk at the front of the room. "Ah yes. As most of you should know, we are a religious guild. God granted us our gifts, and therefore we must thank him by living our lives for him. Or... if you are so inclined, just going to church every Sunday and uttering a little prayer every now and again." He scowled slightly at the happy looks some of the students were giving each other, "But this is not the preferred way of going about it. So please, at least for the first few weeks, try to behave piously?

"Nothing you will learn as a swordsman will be Holy skills. They are learnt about when you become Crusaders, which, depending on your level of skill and understanding, could be anything between a year and three years. Or then again, you could choose to remain a swordie for the rest of your life. ...I'm very surprised you're all just sitting there so quietly. I expected some whispering at least. Oh well! I'm not complaining. Keep it up! The more you listen instead of chatting, the more you learn, and the faster you become a Crusader, yes?"

Everyone nodded automatically.

"Okay. Did everyone get your new outfits?" Kuronosu pulled a list out from under a pile of paper. "Ahem. Boys should have a tunic, pants, shoulder cloth thing (I still don't know what that is), forearm and shin guards, gloves, and really weird shoes. All got that?" Without waiting for an answer he moved on, "and girls should have a dress, 4 miles of petticoat, forearm and shin guards, gloves, chest guard, odd shoes and oh, one of those cloak things. And both genders should have a silver crucifix." He looked up from his list. "If you're missing anything, speak now or forever hold your peace."

The girl Keiran had winked at put her hand up.

"Er... Yes? Wait. What's your name, first?"

"Saphira, Sir. And Sir, I think I'm missing several miles of petticoat."

Kuronosu stared at her, and when she started grinning he roared with laughter.

Keiran decided he liked this girl very much as he looked over at her. She was grinning at him. She had chosen to sit with him, Darius and Arthur, at their group of four desks, rather than sitting with her female friends.

Once their master had finished, he wiped a tear from his eye and smiled admirably at Saphira, "I can tell you're going to make a very fine Paladin, little lady."

Saphira glowed with pride.

"Ahem." Sir Kuro said, clearing his throat. "As I was saying... Wait. What was I saying? Oh. About the clothes. Um. Oh! If you're wondering about weapons and stuff, don't fret. You'll be issued those at your first outdoor lesson. Unfortunately, for now you only get wooden swords but when you go on field trips you'll get real ones. Any questions?" he looked around the intently listening heads.

"Um Sir?" said the girl with the plait.

"Yeeees?"

"Do we get time off?"

"Name?"

"Natalie, Sir."

"Yes you do get time off. The timetable for the week days goes something like this-"

"Hang on a sec, Kuro. Give them some paper or something so they can note it down." Grobyc interrupted.

Kuro looked at him, and nodded. "As usual, you're right. I think I need you to help me with this job, Groby. Too much work for just little old me."

He then started handing out sheets of paper and pens that he'd pulled out of the desk. "Okay. Everyone got some? Right. Getting up time is between 7 and 11. No one is allowed up before then and if you're later than that you don't get breakfast. Breakfast starts at 9 and toast is all gone by 10.30 usually. Your first lesson is usually an inside one, depending on the weather, starts at 11.30 and goes until 12.30. Lunch is at 1. That ends at whatever time you want it to but you need to be done by your next lesson, an outdoor one, at 2.30. Depending on what you're learning and how well it's going, this lesson could be anything from half to three hours long. Hey, don't look like that, time flies when you're having fun. After that lesson is done, you're free to do whatever you wish. We can organize parties and go out hunting in the fields or you can study in the library.

"Also during this time you will have to carry out your chores. Yes chores. We all do them so don't think we're just using you. They're not hard, really. Mostly it will be things like... tidying your dorms, which is to be done everyday, helping in the kitchens, cleaning up the eating hall, that sort of thing. Nothing too hard, right? Oh. About the dorm thing, if you fail to keep your room clean, you and your roommate will have to clean out the stables. You have been warned.

"When you're not doing chores though, you're free freeeee freeeeeee~ you can wander around town, sleep, read, talk, play games... whatever. Dinner's at 7. So everyone needs to be back by then, got it? If you're not, you're in serious trouble. Not only will you miss out on food, but you'll spend the next day cleaning and polishing. After dinner you're free again. But you're not allowed out of the castle unless you have a decent excuse. Supper's at 9, or before then if you wish for an early night. After that you're all to be in your dorms. Light's out at 11, no excuses.

"Any questions?" he stretched and yawned.

Darius stuck his hand up.

"Ah... Darius?"

"What about weekends?"

"Well on Saturday, your day will be mostly like during the week, only we have dinner at 6 so we can throw parties. And light's out is at 12. And Sunday... breakfast must be done by 10 and then we head over to the church for the 11 o'clock service. Lunch is at 2 and the rest of the day you have off. But in this time people may choose to take extra lessons. For example if you were particularly interested in single handed sword mastery, you could get a lesson on it."

Keiran looked around at everyone, they all were listening carefully still, pens poised above the paper. He, personally, was thrilled with the timetable. Back at home, he had never had any sort of freedom, he had been forced to do all the housework, look after his younger brother and he wasn't even allowed to go into town by himself (not that that had stopped him). But now all that would change. He grinned.

Kuronosu pulled a pocket watch out of somewhere in his armour and peered at it. "The time, for those who're wondering, is currently five to 12. Bugger. I was hoping this would've taken up more time than it has." He replaced the watch and sat down heavily in his chair. "So, any suggestions?"

The class remained silent, gazing at him or the walls, windows, ceiling, or any other interesting focus points.

"O-kay. I'll take that as a no."

"Sir? Can I ask a question?" Keiran said, somewhat cautiously.

"Go ahead."

"Is that the same piece of toast you were holding this morning?"

Kuronosu blinked, looking at the object in question, "why, yes it is. Does it bother you?"

"... Not really. I was just wondering why you have it."

"Believe it or not, it's actually an equip. Although you're supposed to wear it in your mouth. But I've discovered that this tends to make it soggy... Does that answer your question?"

"Yessir."

"What's your name?"

"Keiran, sir."

"Alright. ... Hm. I think I can allow you guys to talk and stuff now. Socialize. It's a very important skill for Paladins. Get to know each other. ... Carry on." He got to his feet and wandered over to talk to Grobyc.

The class stayed silent for a moment before bursting into discussion about how they were going to spend their free time and how long it'd take them to become a Crusader.

Keiran just sat there and thought about his future.

____________

Smothering a yawn, Keiran helped himself to a piece of chicken from the middle serving plate. It was already 7pm and Keiran wondered where the day had gone. He's already learnt so much, and it was only his first day. The lesson today had been about basic attack and defense and he had been surprised to see that there was more to it than what he had thought. Sir Kuronosu had carefully gone over everything they needed to know, explaining why they needed to learn this and demonstrating each technique carefully with Grobyc, who seemed to like hanging around them. He had then split them into pairs to practice, and spent most of the afternoon laughing and correcting attack stances and their hold on their newly acquired swords.

The lesson had taken them up to 5pm, much to the surprise of everyone. Kuro had just laughed and said 'told you so!'.

They hadn't been required for any jobs today so they divided into the already forming groups of friends and headed off to do whatever they wanted.

Keiran's group consisted of Darius, Arthur, and Arthur's roommate who Keiran believed was called Kiba. Kiba, if that's what his name was, had messy dark silver-grey hair, ice blue eyes and a tendency to blush for no reason. He seemed to be a very nervous sort of person, but when Keiran had been paired up with him during the lesson, Kiba had been confident and strong, gaining several compliments from Sir Kuro.

When he had been paired up with Arthur, however, it was hard not to scream at him to 'STOP DROPPING THE ******* SWORD!' which he did often. But Keiran was patient, and gave him as much advice as possible, which the poor boy had eaten up gratefully, until Grobyc noticed he was struggling and came over to help out. Keiran had then been paired up with Darius, who had smiled wearily and positioned himself in a perfect attack stance.

Even Kuronosu had stopped what he was doing to watch them as they duelled. They blocked each others blows perfectly, even though they were attacking at twice the speed they should have been. No one was winning, and no one was losing. Eventually they had to be broken up by Kuronosu, who was totally gob-smacked, showering them both in compliments and suggestions of private lessons that they could take.

Grabbing a handful of chips from a passing plate, Keiran grinned at the memory. It was good to have a friend so equal to his own strength. And one who didn't care if he won or lost at that. Sitting back in his chair, he sighed deeply, if only he talked more...

After the lesson, Keiran and his new friends had decided to have a look around town, and the entire time, Darius had hardly said anything, leaving Arthur and Keiran to discuss their future plans. Kiba had joined in when Keiran had mentioned practical jokes, as it seemed that they shared a common hobby. Perhaps the nervousness was just because he was worried about his first day?

They had arrived back at ten to seven, and had been whisked away to help in the kitchens, carrying out plates and such. It was likely that Arthur would never be asked again, since he successfully managed to break all of the plates he was carrying when he tripped over nothing and dropped them on the floor.

And now, here they were, slouching in their seats, totally exhausted, but very happy. All of the swordsmen looked tired, as several Crusaders pointed out to Kuronosu, suggesting that perhaps he shouldn't make them work so hard. He had flatly told them that the only way the swordies would get stronger is if they were worked until they were too tired to move. This way it also toughened them up for missions were they would have to fight till they were exhausted.

"Hey Keiran?"

He looked up from where he had been carefully applying a fine layer of salt to his chips, "mm?"

The girl blushed slightly, "could you please pass the potatoes?"

"Er... sure" he looked around, and upon spotting them, handed the bowl over, "here you go."

"Thank you."

"Any time." Keiran gazed at her for a short while longer, wondering if all of these girls were bashful, or if they just hadn't had much experience talking to guys. Or perhaps they all think I'm really ugly. Or really hot, he thought slyly, returning to his chicken and chips.

The rest of the evening passed by as quickly as the day had, and before they knew it, they were herded off to bed by a pair of sleepy Crusaders.

"And you had better not be too loud!" said the male Crusader, "some of us actually like to get a good nights sleep!"

"... Nwa, the floors are made of stone." His female friend pointed out, literally.

"So!?"

"So I don't think you're going to able to hear them anyway."

"... Shut up!" he pouted and clanked off up the stairs, his white ponytail swinging merrily along behind.

"... Do excuse him; he's just a sore loser." The female Crusader smiled at Keiran and the rest of the swordsmen who had stuck around to see what was happening.

"I HEARD THAT!"

"Oops~ My bad. Next time I'll remember to whisper," she waved at her friend who was scowling at her from three metres overhead. "Right. Off to bed with you! And don't forget to brush your teeth!"

With that she was gone.

The swordswomen all looked at each other, and as one dashed down the hall to their dorms. Keiran suspected this had something to do with them wanting the best spot in front of the mirror, or something.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, there was a chorus of slamming doors and all six girls rushed back down the corridor.

"Um. We might want to move," he said carefully, looking up at the sign above the door they were standing next to.

Just in time, they scooted out of the path of six fast-moving swordswomen, armed with various toilet bags and skirts wide enough to block the whole doorway and then some.

With much pushing, screaming, swearing and hair pulling, the girls fought their way into their beloved bathroom, slamming the door violently behind them.

"... Well," muttered Kiba, "remind me never to get on the wrong side of a girl, ever."

There was a murmur of bewildered agreement from everyone else as they stared at the closed door. This then opened, slowly.

"Heh," said Saphira, "there's actually enough sinks and mirrors for all of us in here..."

Keiran opened his mouth to point out that she didn't actually need to tell them that, but she had already gone.

He shrugged instead, following the rest of the guys to their dorms.

Darius left at once, toothbrush clutched in one hand, his pyjamas tucked safely under his arm, leaving Keiran feeling rather unwanted as he sorted through his limited belongings, excavating his toothbrush from where it had got wrapped up in his pyjama shirt.

He changed quickly and left the room just as the other boys were coming back.

"Looks like you get it all to yourself." One of them smirked. He had blonde hair tied back in a loose ponytail, and Keiran had no idea what his name was, but was sure he'd find out soon enough.

He grinned in reply and headed down the hall.

The bathroom was very large, and very white. Someone had taken the time to tile it instead of just leaving the stone showing. There were showers, toilets, sinks, and even a large cubicle which Keiran suspected contained a bath.

He turned to the mirror, peering at himself while he lathered up his flannel.

Although his blue-black hair contrasted somewhat with his narrow green eyes, the effect was quite pleasant. He considered himself to be good-looking, and from the way girls had treated him in the past, they thought so too. Not that he cared; after all, you should be happy with the way God made you.

Keiran smiled at himself before washing his face and carrying on with other things that you are expected to do in a bathroom, instead of just standing around being vain.

When he went back to his bedroom, Darius had drawn the curtains and was in bed, the covers pulled high over his shoulders, and judging by his deep breathing, he was already sleeping soundly.

"Good night." Keiran muttered, crawling into bed and falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *