Chapter 17 You don't understand

As the hot water of the shower fell on Marie, she felt a lot of things, but if we had to choose one that stood out, it would be the feeling of embarrassment, it was understandable after all, getting to the point where you have to lean on your target for help is for a lack of better words, sad, and that was how Marie alos felt right now, embarrassed and sad.

"How...just how did it came to this?" Marie asked herself, as she looked down and washed her body, thinking how in the world she got here.

"That idiot! I bet he is laughing at me right now!" Marie thought to herself, as she imagined Tatsurou laugh at her, this made her angry.

"Um...Chateunoire-san?" Shirayuki called Marie making her jolt and come back from her thoughts.

"Y-Yes?" Marie asked as she looked at the door that separated the shower and bathtub from the rest of the bathroom proper.

"I got some clothes for you to wear, once you get off the bath..." Shirayuki said with a shy tone to Marie.

"Right, thank you..." After Marie said this, Shirayuki left the bathroom, leaving her alone with her thoughts again.

"Honestly, I should have approached this as auntie Helena told me, and not act of my own accord..." Marie said as she shiged and remembered Helena's words of "observing and analyze" Tatsurou.

"Well it's not too late, let's see what we got so far..." Marie said as she remembered everything that happened today between her and Tatsurou.

"The bad things first...he is the Endbringer, he is dangerous, and he is also a pervert!" Marie said with a angry tone, as she her hand on her chest and recalled what happened in the back alley.

"Now...the good points, when I said I wanted to fight he rejected the idea, he never attacked only dodged, when we got out of the police station he gave something to eat without being asked to do so, and he was nice to that little girl and helped her find her mother, and when I got wet he gave me his jacket to cover me and keep me warm and he let me inside his home to take a shower, despite everything that happened..." Marie said as she used her fingers to count the good points Tatsurou had, and she got embarrassed upon realizing that Tatsurou had more good things than bad ones.

"No way...no way, this doesn't prove anything, like I said, for all I know he could just be acting good and tricking everyone around him!" Marie said as she shook her head and imagined Tatsurou with an evil face.

"Anyways, I will keep my objective as it is, and I'm going to put an end to this..." Marie said as she turned the shower off and started to get out...

Meanwhile, in the living room, Tatsurou was sitting on the couch, looking at the ceiling and sighing...

"Tatsurou-san, here..." Shirayuki said as she got close to Tatsurou and handed him a glass of water.

"Thanks, Shirayuki-san..." Tatsurou said as he grabbed the glass of water.

"Tatsurou-san...who is that girl?" Shirayuki asked with a curious tone, after a while of thinking about how she should ask Tatsurou who Marie was.

"She is a nun, from the Supreme Cross organization and she wants to kill me apparently..." Tatsurou said with a stoic tone as he looked at Shirayuki.

"Ah, I see, I see...wait, WHAT?" Shirayuki said as she looked at Tatsurou with a shocked tone and expression.

"Isn't it a bad idea to bring her here, if she wants to do that?" Shirayuki asked Tatsurou with a panicked tone.

"Don't worry about that, Shirayuki-san, she is a skilled fighter, but there's something off about all this, so just stay calm and let me handle it, ok?" Tatsurou said as he finished drinking his water and handed Shirayuki his glass.

"Alright, I trust you, so I will let you handle it, but if you need my help don't hesitate to ask!" Shirayuki said with a determined tone and expression as she grabbed Tatsurou's glass, this made him look at her impressed for a bit.

"I'm done with the bath..." Marie said with a shy tone and blushing, as she entered the living room, wearing the clothes Shirayuki gave her.

"You didn't have anything else, I could wear?" Marie asked with a embarrassed tone, as she looked at the clothes she was wearing.

"Sorry, it's what my mother wears when she around the house, and since your more or less the same height, I thought it would be a good choice, but you can just wait for your clothes to dry..." Tatsurou said as he looked at Marie she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and despite not being anything too special, she looked good in it, somewhat sexy if you will, prompting Tatsurou to look a bit away as he blushed.

"I-Its okay, I can't be too picky here, in this kind of situation..." Marie said as she looked away from both Tatsurou and Shirayuki, as it was a bit embarrassing for her to be seen like that, especially by a boy, as she only had contact with the girls from her school and the only man that Marie had ever had contact with was her father, it was a rather complicated situation for her, and after a long silence between them all.

"W-Well, how about we eat something?" Shirayuki said as she placed her hands togheter, breaking the silence.

"It's almost dinner time and I got the food ready, so why don't we dig in?" Shirayuki said as she looked at Tatsurou and Marie.

"Why not...let's do that!" Tatsurou said as he got up and began walking towards the kitchen to put the dishes on the table and Shirayuki followed behind to prepare the food, leaving Marie standing there looking at them a bit confused, but shortly after, she too followed them, to see if she could help with something...

A bit later as Tatsurou, Shirayuki and Marie finnished eating...

"Once again, your food was really good, Shirayuki-san!" Tatsurou said as he got up and began picking up the plates, to place them in the sink.

"It's nothing that special..." Shirayuki said while she blushed a bit.

"I...have to agree with him, it was really good!" Marie said as she looked a bit away from Shirayuki.

"Well, after eating something like this, I'm getting tired, I really don't feel like washing the dishes, I'll do it tomorrow, and go straight to bed..." Tatsurou said as he stretched, and after placing the last plate on the sink, he began to walk outside of the kitchen and towards his room.

"Wait, you're going to go to bed already?" Marie asked with a surprised tone and expression, as she saw Tatsurou go away.

"A lot happened today and I'm bit tired so I will jump to the bed, you can stay if you want Chateunoire-san, I don't mind..." Tatsurou said as he yawned.

"Wait, is he seriously going to bed and leaving me alone with this girl..." Marie thought as she looked at Shirayuki, then back at Tatsurou.

But in all honesty, the reason Tatsurou did this, was because he was Marie's target, and she didn't look like the type of girl that would use someone that was close to him to get to him, that was what Tatsurou thought and in a way he was right Marie wasn't that type of person no matter how hard she tried.

Then when Tatsurou was finally gone, Shirayuki got close to Marie and pulled on her t-shirt, something that made Marie look at her.

"Follow me..." Shirayuki said as she smile to Marie and held a wooden board with two cups with tea and some biscuits on it, Shirayuki then went in the direction of her room and Marie followed her in silence, and when they got to the room, Shirayuki entered it and placed the wooden board on the table, next to the bed.

"Don't be shy...Chateunoire-san? Come inside!" Shirayuki said with an inviting tone to Marie that was still standing close to the door.

"You can call me by my first name no honorifics need and it's easier..." Marie said as she got close to the bed as she saw that Shirayuki struggled a bit trying to say her family name.

"Ok then, Marie!" Shirayuki said as she smiled and signaled Marie with her hand to take a seat, and as they both took a seat on the bed, there was a small silence between them, that was broken by Marie.

"So...Shirayuki, is it? Are you, Kurokami Tatsurou's sister?" Marie asked with a curious tone as Shirayuki handed her one of the cups with tea.

"No, I'm not Tatsurou's sister..." Shirayuki answered Marie's question as she grabbed her cup and took a sip.

"Then...are you his girlfriend?" Marie asked a bit curious, but upon hearing this Shirayuki spit out, what she had just had drank like a geyser.

"N-No, we're just friends..." Shirayuki said as she blushed and looked a bit away from Marie.

"Ah! I see...sorry, if I misunderstood..." Marie said in an apologetic tone as she rubbed her cheek.

"It's ok, Marie!" Shirayuki said as she caught her breath a bit.

"Shirayuki, can I ask what's your opinion, on Kurokami Tatsurou?" Marie asked with a serious expression to Shirayuki that made her blush when she heard it.

"What, I think about him? Well, I, um, I think that Tatsurou is a really nice person, although he looks a bit rough, he is someone that helps others without being asked to, he knows exactly what to say when the time comes, you can count on him if you ever need anything and..." As Shirayuki said this she smiled and remembered everything Tatsurou had done for her, this made Marie look at Shirayuki for a while in silence.

"I see, you're a bit too obvious, Shirayuki..." Marie said as she sighed a bit, this made Shirayuki blush again.

"A-Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, that whatever you do, you should try to understand Tatsurou first, before doing anything too reckless..." Shirayuki said with a calm tone as she looked at Marie.

"I will try to do that..." Marie said as she looked away from Shirayuki thinking that in a way, she told her just now the same thing Helena did.

"Honestly...could it be that he is a good person after all?" Marie thought as she rubbed her chin a bit, but her thoughts were interrupted.

"So, Marie, judging by your name, you're from France, right?" Shirayuki asked with a curious tone as her ahoge wiggled a bit around.

"Yes, I am..." Marie answered with a confused tone and expression.

"I always wanted to go there! Can you tell me more about it and things to visit?" Shirayuki asked in an excited tone, to Marie, this made her go from a confused expression to a happy one as she began to talk about the country that she called her home to Shirayuki...

After some long hours of talking from France to trivial stuff, Shirayuki fell asleep, Marie looked at her and smiled as she got up from the bed and covered Shirayuki with the blanket.

"I'm sorry, Shirayuki..." Marie said with a sad tone and expression, as she went from Shirayuki's room to Tatsurou's and as she stood in front of his door.

"Come, Vivianne..." Marie called for her weapon silently and after it materialized in her hand, she slowly opened the door, and as she did that, she poked her head inside, and she saw that Tatsurou was lying on the bed sleeping on his side.

That was when she entered the room and slowly approached the bed...

"This is it now, I'm sorry, Kurokami Tatsurou, you did a lot of good things, but that doesn't change who you are!" Marie thought this as she pointed her rapier at Tatsurou, but as time passed, she kept pointing but not taking action, as she began trembling.

"W-Whats wrong with me? Just do it, Marie" Marie said to herself as she grabbed her arm to make it stop trembling.

"Don't rush it, take your time..." Tatsurou said without moving, as he opened her eyes, something that made Marie jolt a bit.

"You were awake?" Marie asked a bit scared.

"Well, I was kind of expecting something like this, so I just rested my eyes for a bit..." Tatsurou said as he got up and got into a sitting position, on the side of his bed.

"Your unbelievable..." Marie said to Tatsurou in an impressed and angry tone as she looked at him.

"Right back at you, trying to kill the person, that's helping you..." Tatsurou said with a stoic tone, as he scratched his head.

"Y-Your my target, it's your fault for letting me inside your place!" Marie said with a angry tone as she pointed at Tatsurou.

"Listen, Chateunoire-san, I can't believe for a second that you're going to kill me..." Tatsurou said as he looked at the now confused Marie.

"If you really wanted to kill me, you would already have done it, instead of telling me that you're going to do it, when people do the same thing you're doing right now they never killed or will kill, but people that in the other hand take action instead of saying that they're going to kill, are the real danger..." Tatsurou said as he looked at Marie that clenched her fist.

"You don't know me, Kurokami Tatsurou! You can't judge me like that!" Marie said with an angry tone to Tatsurou, that made him get up from his bed.

"Then how can you judge me, without knowing me either?" As Tatsurou said this Marie felt as if the ground beneath her vanished.

"Y-You don't understand, if I can't do this now...how am I supposed to avenge..." Marie said this under her breath, as she teared up and clenched her fist even harder.

"Wait, what do you mean...?" As Tatsurou was about to ask Marie what she was trying to say.

"Just forget it! And leave me alone!" Marie said this with an angry tone as she left Tatsurou's room and closed the door with force, leaving him standing there confused and surprised.

"I don't get it honestly, I will just leave her be for now..." Tatsurou said as he lied on his bed again, with his hands behind his head, thinking about what happened and what Marie meant...

Meanwhile, Marie went to the living room and took a seat on the couch...

"Mom..." Marie said as she looked at the pictures of Tatsurou and Hime that made her remember the time she spent with her mother, but the reminiscing about the good times, was cut short as a magic circle, appeared in her hand.

"A call circle?" Marie said as she looked at the magic circle that was commonly known as a call circle, and as the name implies, it was a type of magic that allowed to make calls, the perfect substitute if you forgot your phone, and as Marie looked at it, she saw a silver cross on it, that made her smile.

"Auntie Helena..." Marie said as she smiled and prepared to answer the call...