As if the nod and following her here was not enough of a sign of agreement, Lilly wrote her a small note, explaining that she would be delighted to. She wasn't sure why this girl was making her feel better, maybe it had something to do with how she spoke or how her behavior coincided with a certain memory she had of before she came to Spica. Perhaps it was simply because this was the first person she had actually taken the time to 'speak' with since the incident that made her so cold.

That in itself was a bad habit, in which she closed off the world and became a hollow shell of a person when she was depressed. It was very easy to tell when something was amiss in her mind, because it was advertised in the way she seemed robotic and unresponsive toward anything and everyone. Though this time, it seemed, she was able to break free of this fairly quickly. A feat which even surprised her.

As they approached the room, she almost gasped. She would have, if her physical response wouldn't have been to immediately cough violently after. This was her room! That meant that this girl, whom she just met... Would be taking her bed. Suddenly, her bad memories flooded back. It was a chore to not give in to the lingering depression she felt, but she forced herself to stay positive. This was a new girl, and a new potential friend. There were no ties with the past here.

She began to write, and that ever present sound of pen and paper shuffling found itself in the air. The sound would be completely synonymous with Lilly herself. With a slight tint of mixed emotions in her eyes, which would be the only way she expressed herself, she handed Chibiru this note.

"What an odd circumstance. I live in this very same room."

The girl's eyes widened at the note as she let herself in, she bit her lip and handed back the note when they were both inside. "I was just transferred to this room," she said in her quiet way, putting her book down on the desk on her side of the dorm, "I'm sorry if it's an intrusion..but," her voice dropped to almost a whisper, (it did this when she felt uneasy) "I'm kinda happy." She offered a half smile, though she looked at the ground. She removed her dirty boots and socks and then barefooted walked to the huge pile of giant stuffed animals.

Moving aside an especially huge panda wearing a red bandana revealed a small white door. It had a pink magnet shaped like a cat stuck to it bearing the note "Love you, from Dad". Ignoring it, Chibiru opened the door and then reached into the freezer box to pull out two white packets. Standing up, she closed the door and replaced the bear, and held out one packet to Lilly.

Inside was a pink, strawberry icecream treat on a popsicle stick. She smiled and sat down. She had noticed the few boxes marked "Kokoro" in her closet, but wasn't one to remove things that weren't hers. She figured the girl by that name would be her roommate, and she would simply ask her to move her things. But since this was her roommate, it was obvious that Kokoro was the missing girl she had heard about on campus. Judging by Lilly's eyes, Chibiru wasn't going to bring up the boxes or the mysterious "Kokoro" in the slightest, though she did feel guilty now putting her things in there beside the lost girl's belongings.

Inside she felt the urge to be kicking her feet as she sat on the bed and smiling, but instead she sat still, a modest smile, and quiet as usual. "These are my favorite," she peeped, "my dad brings them when he visits, you can't get these in the cafeteria." She watched sheepishly to see if Lilly shared her taste for the treats, if so their friendship might be sparked by more than a horse and fateful circumstance.

As Lilly followed into the room, she quickly took note of a few things that were different than before. Fewer boxes, for one, and for another, the air lacked that familiar scent she knew. It was almost as if the former occupant had just vanished completely, and her belongings were disappearing slowly. There was of course, one remnant of their time together. Lilly had put up a cork board and left notes for her previous partner on them. The last one she had posted read "You can come to me with anything."

As such, she left it alone for now. The room on her own side was cluttered with a number of objects that would reveal more of who she is. One such item was the fencing foil, still within its protective sheath, leaned against the far wall of the room. It was specially made for her, by an old friend back in her home town. It had a decorative lily on the crossguard, and the pommel formed roots, which then rejoined at the strike point of the pommel to form another lily. It was a treasure.

Resting against the foot of her bed was a small personal book cake, of about five shelves. Along each was a category of books. One was horror. Another was noted as mystery. The third was manga. The fourth, romance. And the fifth had one book on it. A thin, hard cover of a rugged, earthy orange color. The spine of this book had a crest of a lily on it, as well as the name of the publishing company. And he own name, under the words "Eden and I." This was another treasure.

Though she ignored her own belongings at the moment and took in the new atmosphere. It was actually rather amusing. All of those animals gave such a cutesy, childish vibe to the girl she was here with, as opposed to her serious looking side of the room. It was a contrast that she had caught herself smiling at. Physically smiling, a feature of her face that she thought long dead. She happily accepted the treat, and with it hanging from her mouth began to write a note.

"Your secret is safe with me. Thank you for sharing this with me."

((A lesson in sword structure: The crossguard of a foil is the large round piece that protects the hand. The pommel is the very bottom of the handle, usually also called the cap or rear.))

She smiled back, returning the note, her smile was cut short only by a self-conscious laugh. The treat broke, as her luck would have it, and the morsel fell right toward her dress. In her rush to catch it, it bounced off her hand and right onto the floor. Before it could melt and cause a mess, she quickly snatched it up and into the waste basket-which happened to be on Lilly's side of the room, right beside a rather wonderfully organized book case.
With ice cream in one and and on the other, she didn't dare touch. Actually she sat back and focused on finishing the treat as her eyes studied each row. Horror was not a interest of Chibi's actually it gave her nightmares and frightened her, unless the villain in the book was an intelligent killer rather than a crazy perverted sadist-though stories like that sometimes almost seemed comical. Intelligent killers, however were usually in...mystery, she noted as she saw the next row. Mysteries were one of the few stories where she tolerated a scary moment without trouble. Ghost stories, however frightening, interested her if they didn't end with people disappearing or getting hurt.

The manga caught her eye as she licked at the last lump of icecream, she did love manga and she recognized a few titles. The romance row may have made her gaze linger the longest so far, these didn't look like your average smut books, but true romances, love stories. Chibi's mind wandered imagining Tsuyo turning into one of those handsome men on the covers and whisking her away. She blinked a few times and looked again, finishing the treat. There, an orange volume with Lilly's name sat alone on the bottom shelf. Absent mindedly, Chibi reached toward it, but she stopped herself and looked at her hand, then with guilt, sat back and threw away the popsicle.

She stood, examined her dress to make sure it was clean of icecream, and went to her bag on her desk to grab a small packet containing a moist towelette. She cleaned her hands, and took out a second one to hand to Lilly. "Sorry," she said, barely audible. "What's your book about?" she asked, then immediately wished she hadn't, fearful that it was a tender subject. She noticed the sword, she had always wanted to fence, but had always been so awkward, clumsy and weak that instead she was better at horseback riding. She let her gaze stay on the sword, consciously giving Lilly the opportunity to talk about the sword instead of the book if she so chose.

Her eyes followed the girls, and before she even said anything, Lilly knew she had spotted her work. Both the blade and the book, equally precious to her. It seemed as though she would ask about them, but she did not at the time. She was busy cleaning up her mess, which in reality, was fairly small, but nonetheless, it was very nice of her to do so. After wiping her hands, Lilly began to write again. This time, with a smile, that once lost expression she seemed to be doing again. It was rare for her to express anything other than her eyes.

"It tells a tale of unrequited love," the note began. "This took place between a maiden named Eden, and her adopted baby sister. It began when the baby sister's house was burned down, at the age of six. Her mother sacrificed herself to save the poor girl, and as it turned out, her father was the one who committed the crime. The girl herself was trapped inside the building for several minutes, causing permanent damage to her lungs."

There was a little hint of sorrow in those words. It didn't matter if they were written, one could feel the emotion in them.

"She found herself waking up three days after, in a hospital. The nurses all told her she had a condition called Vocal Cord paralysis, and would only be able to speak with very financially demanding surgery. Another girl in the same room overheard this, and befriended the poor girl. Her name was Eden. Eden requested that her family take the orphaned girl in, to which after several months of legal disputes, was finally allowed. The poor orphan then had to testify against her father, without a word."

As more and more of the story was told, it became painfully obvious of whom this orphan girl really was.

"The orphan began to realize that she would forever be frail and weak due to the lung damages, and took sword in hand to strengthen her stamina. This became one of her two passions. The other being writing. Along her years, she was given a yellow ribbon by her beloved Eden. She has never taken it off. I dare not spoil an ending,however, so if you care to hear more, you will have to read it."

With a relieved look after writing so much so quickly, Lilly handed the notebook to Chibiru. her yellow ribbon daintily hung from her wrist as she did so.

She took the notebook timidly and read, as she did, her expression fell and a knot grew in her throat. She felt herself brething a little harder in the way one does before they begin to cry, but she fought it off. Remaining silent to stop the wave of emotion she noticed and realized the purpose of the ribbon. She bit her lip and gave the notebook back slowly. She swallowed, "Thats so...sad." she said. Then hoped Lilly wouldn't be offended at how touched she was by the story. She took a breath and blinked away the moisture in her eyes before they could be more anything more than just that.
 
Chewing her lip now she moved back to the shelf, "May I?" she asked reaching for the book once more with clean hands. She then took the book gently as if it would fall apart as the slightest breeze. She almost sat beside Lilly on her bed, but instead sat across from her on her own. She regarded the treasure with awe and scooted back to lean against the wall. This action caused a fine statue on her headboard to fall into her lap. She gasped, and gently set the book down to use both hands and pick it up. The dainty statue was a styalized gray stallion, rearing up, his mane and tail whipping triumphantly in the wind. She carefully sat it back on the headboard.
 
There was one last box, beside the bed, in front of her own book shelf. It was open and there on top was a blanket, and from the way it was folded one could see only the distinct gray and white of Tsuyo's snout, almost perfectly rendered on the fabric. If nothing else in the world, she loved that horse. The bookshelf, however, was filled with classics, western poetry, manga, and endless western fantasy novels. Lord of the Rings, sat proudly at the top shelf beside titles like Dragon Champion, The Black Gryphon, and Blood and Chocolate. The last title being as close to horror as one would find in her collection.
 
After having returned the statue to it's place, she picked up the small tome once more. "Eden and I" it read. Chibiru felt nervous, then she shot up, clutching the book. "I would be honored to read this," she bowed and froze in her akward way, standing there bent at the waste and waiting

The inside cover of the book held another treasure, one which she kept there as a reminder. It was a photograph are Christmas Eve of the previous year, right before she switched out of public school and decided to come to Spica. The photograph was of two girls, and it was not in color. Both girls looked identical, almost in an eerie sense, and even had similar facial expressions. The key difference was that, although she was at her happiest in this picture, the girl on the right did not smile. It was certain which of the two was Lilly.

(( The picture ))

The two girls were a few years apart in age, and normally never looked anything like each other. Eden had blond hair, and usually wore it in a single ponytail. However, that Christmas Eve they had received matching outfits from their aunt, and immediately decided to take that one day to look like identical twins. The differences of their appearances, though few and far between, almost disappeared completely that day.. It was astonishing more than surprising, how similar the two could look if they truly tried.

This was about much more than just dressing alike, though, as this was the first day a member of the extended family had truly given her something. That day was the first day she felt accepted by more than the parents and sister she knew.

All of this, however, simply could not be expressed in one photograph. The person looking on to it would see this as a cute little picture between the two. The true meaning of an event could never be immortalized in a photograph. That is why she wrote this all down, and stored it deep away inside the one notebook she never brought out. The notebook that she kept on her person at all times. A small, black notebook, easily fitting into her pocket, with which she took down her most personal thoughts.

Lilly nodded, and wrote more. The easiest way to identify what kind of mood Lilly was in, was to watch how she wrote. At this point, it was soft and gentle. She was happy.

"I am not so shy as to not allow myself to share any information with you that you like. Please, if you've a question, do not hesitate to ask."

The notebook presented again, Chibiru smiled and straightened herself. The opened the volume to see the photo. It helped to drive home the fact taht this was a true story, and honestly...it made Chibiru think of ghosts. She felt a chill run down her spine and closed it again.
 
"E..Eden's not...dead..is she?" She asked, peeking up at the other girl, embarrassed to ask. She moved back to sit on her own bed and looked at the book again, gently looking at each page. She resisted the weird urge to smell the book-how she loved the scent of a new book-but it was the obvious note that this book was not new, and that sniffing books was weird, that prevented her. So she put the book beside the Tsuyo figure and looked at the sword and shyly began again.
 
"I always wanted to fence, but I'm too...well, look at me." She shrugged her meek shoulders and smiled. She did look rather frail, and pale in this light. She was tiny for her age, "I'm clumsy, I always forget things, and I tend to be lacking common sense. Then there's my heart, medical problems...it's why I got Tsuyo, it was supposed to be therapudic." She pressed her lips tightly together and looked at the ground sighing. Swimming was allowed, but something like fencing just seemed too hard for someone like her."it's really pretty though...your sword I mean." she smiled shyly again and chewed her bottom lip

She smiled and shook her head, as if to say that this girl had the wrong idea. Eden was very much alive, and quite healthy. In fact she was the last person Lilly saw before she got on the plane to come here. A slight hinto of flashback lit her features and she spaced out, only enough to remember the day she left for Spica. As she did so, her eyes drifted to the sword at her bedside, and her eyes widened.

"Come on, you'll be late!" A voice sweet as cake called out from the terminal gate. The blond girl was holding a large bag over her shoulder, and it was slightly heavier than it should have been. Then, there was a stop. Eden stood motionless as she saw her sister approach. She smiled and handed Lilly the bag.

"Open it!" Said Eden with a tone of joy. As Lilly did, she saw a beautiful decorative foil.

"Your friend said to use this right? You should bring it with you. If there's a fencing team at this fancy private school, you'll outshine everyone!" She smiled and handed Lilly the blade.

"Look, I know things between us got weird. I'm sorry I can't be there for you the way you want me to... But I know you'll find a nice girl. Please, don't linger on me. We're sisters, after all. Even if we aren't blood related... You'll always be my sister."

As Lilly remembered all of this, she wrote it down. And she then heard Chibiru say she wished to fence. This made her visibly smile. She added the information as a response to this part as well.

"Eden is fine. She and I... Needless to say we may not have had the best farewell, but it was without saying as well, it was pleasant. And do not forget, I am willing to teach you."

"Oh..I don't know, I'd mess up a lot and you'd probably get annoyed..."her reflex to turn down the offer was automatic, "plus I don't have a sword." Never mind that there were extra swords in the gym over at Spica, Chibiru's insecurity was causing her to cling to any reason to save her the embarrassment of doing badly at something she knew nothing about. In all reality she would gladly learn...as long as there was no one around. Chibiru was ever shy.

Awkwardly she moved to the open box in front of her bookshelf. She pulled out the blanket and unfolded it. Sure enough it was a striking print of Tsuyo in mid gallop, but there was one difference, This version of the silvery Arabian horse had magnificent wings, as if he was about to leap off the blanket and into the sky. She smiled at it and spread it out on her bed, then pulled out and old, ratty looking, grey pony stuffed animal and nestled it in beside her pillow. It now looked more like an obsession she had with the horse rather than just a love. Next was a stack of notebooks, each with titles and horses scrawled on the covers, and a few with wolves or cats. She scooted the box aside to put her work away, one notebook fell on the ground, open to a few sketches among what appeared to be a story.

One sketch depicted the winged Tsuyosi flying toward a castle in the clouds bearing a maiden on his back, and on the opposite page, a handsome prince with silvery hair held close a girl who looked a bit like Chibiru. Hot with blush and as red as the notebook's cover she snatched it up and put it away. So it seemed this girl had an unhealthy love for her horse, but it wouldn't take much to snap her out of a fantasy and give her someone real to love..someone human.

So, this girl was very much associated with her animal companion? It was not exactly the strangest thing Lilly had ever seen, though she did have to think of one stranger before she could properly say so. Still, she would not judge this girl for what she loved. This would be an offensive gesture to not only the girl, but to her own moral standing. It did, however, strike her as cute when the girl began to show signs of being embarrassed of her work. So it would seem that Lilly would be playing the role of forward in this.

A few steps toward the girl, and she pat her on the head, smiling. There were few ways to annoy Lilly, to which she would tell the girl soon. She would love to teach someone new how to duel. If this girl was truly interested, she could teach her under any circumstance. Dueling, after all, was the poker of swordsmanship; the skill lies more in how you analyze your opponent than your own physical structure.

She began to write, now sitting next to the girl as if to attempt and break the barrier of shyness that shrouded her. From this angle, Chibiru could watch Lilly write. It was fluent, constant, and precise. When done, she simply moved her writing hand out of the way so Chibiru could see.

"You need not worry of the details. I am not one who is easily annoyed, and I have patience to spare for a few private lessons. However, if I were to teach you, I forbid use of just any old weapon. A duelist, fencer, any term you choose to use to describe them, is not one for brute force. The art of fencing relies solely on how one reads the other, similar to dancing. As such, the blade that one is comfortable with allows them to succeed much more often. With this, if you do truly wish to learn, I will send a letter to the one who created my own. My friend Kendall's brother Dayton."

The girl went from blushing to gazing at the girl, eyes shining. "I'd love that! Really? You'd really do that? My very own sword? Really?" Her words tumbled out at just below speaking volume, she bent down in a bow on the floor, "thank you, thank you!" she sat up and grabbed the girl's hand, "I promise I'll be the best student you've ever had!" she then realized how laregly her words now contradicted her earlier ones, "You don't have to spend all that time on me, you really dont, but I would love to learn."
A silence passed between them for a brief moment and Chibiru looked down at Lilly's hand as it was squished between hers. It was warm as it had been outside,she realized how pretty her nails looked, clean and round, as for her own, there was dirt under them, "Oh! Sorry!" she said, letting go of Lilly's hand and putting her hands in her lap, hiding her fingernails in fists. Biting her lip, she smiled. Did this mean they were friends?

What a silly girl, to be reacting so strongly to her offer. Still, it warmed her heart to see such fire about anything, especially a passion she herself shared. Indeed, this girl would be interesting to talk to, and as it would appear, Lilly may end up protecting her quite a lot. The way she acted was purely defensive, with none in the slightest of a dominant side of her yet to be seen. She stood and approached the cork board she had hung above her desk, and tacked a sticky note to it.

"Apprenticeship: Chibiru." It read.

She then made her way over toward her own bed once more, sitting next to her wall close to the sword. From under her bed next to it came a small cloth, a bottle of something, and the box which held these items plus a rock-like object. She set the tip of the blade against the bottom of this box, which from the various dents in it one could tel she did often, and dabbed a drop or two of the liquid from the bottle on the cloth. She then picked the handle up, and from the crossguard to the blade tip wiped all over it, making it shine.

The next step, which she took the rock object for, was slightly strange. In a manner similar to starting a fire, she slid the rock along the sides of the blade, sharpening the already fine edge. When this was complete, she polished it again, and returned the items to their resting place under her bed, the sword leaning against the wall once more.

She smiled and began to write again, this time slightly faster than usual, as it was less information which took less time.

"That kind of spirit is what will allow you to succeed."