Debt
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Chapter 3
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Everyone in the walls hoped it would be forever good day with the sun shining bright and with its warmth to start the day. Yet this particular day seemed humid and gloomy with the gray clouds floating high above the earth; threatening to pour any liquid compound it had been holding up down to the earth. Fierce as ever, a thunder struck one of the gigantic trees within the walls. It marked as the start for the Recon Corps to continue their expedition. This time was to try out a new formation Erwin Smith, the commander thought of just in a night; the night before. The expedition was announced suddenly and the whole soldiers braced themselves, trying to kill down their fears.

It had been two months since the court scene. And Mikasa had returned to her usual self. However, in return, humanity's strongest soldier named Corporal Lance Rivaille was not satisfied with such outcome. Well....considering he was as prideful as a unicorn-if there was one.

It's been two months... Rivaille thought as he sped his horse towards the outside of the wall; loyally followed by soldiers behind. Tch... Rivaille grunted. He looked forward and narrowed his eyes at the sight of several titans. The supporting groups would deal with the titans though, letting the center groups through.

"Corporal!"

Tch...

"Corporal Rivaille!" It was Eren. Mikasa's adopted brother. Adopted... The word seemed to echo within Rivaille's mind. He growled inwardly. He felt a bit... annoyed? The Shit is this stupid feelings.I took Eren's responsibility and It's my job. But- tch... shit. He pondered, not paying attention to the one calling as he was already occupied by the mission and his own turmoil. He finally decided to stop pondering his selfish thoughts. He glanced back.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Uhm. Sir, I haven't received any explanation about this plan..." Eren said his piece and earned Rivaille's ignorance as the corporal seemed to look back forward without giving any reply. Rivaille 'tried' not to think about that one woman he had a kind of hatred? No-dislike? Neither. He just didn't want to think about her. It made him uncertain of himself.

"Sir, do you know where is Mikasa's location? What about Armin?" Eren did it. He kicked the unicorn right on the ass. Rivaille glared menacingly at Eren who couldn't guess what the problem was.

"Shut your traps and think on your own." The prideful Rivaille Unicorn neighed growled; turning his gaze back to the way. Damn. He just had to think about her at the worst timing ever. Recalling the smug face that woman had had before she left the court irked him very much. He frowned. He was not satisfied; not at all.

"Sir! Two titans at sight! 6 meter and 7-!" Eren alerted although Rivaille had killed the titans before he finished his words. Rivaille returned back to his horse soon enough. Then, he placed his blades into the containers and replaced with new ones as the used ones were blunt already.

"Sir! The attack just now! It reminds me of Mikasa. I heard her blades were blunted in one attack as well!" Eren triggered turmoil within Rivaille. He HAD to think about HER.

Rivaille sped off, separating himself from his squad. "I'll patrol. You, Eavy. Lead the squad."

That shitty brat makes this feeling worse. Damn. I need my revenge as well. Ackerman... where is she? Rivaille sped towards the squad in sight. He spotted Armin and Sasha. Thinking if he should ask them or not, Rivaille found himself annoyed at the fact that they were close to Mikasa. He frowned again. What was it? It wasn't anger, it wasn't particularly annoyance, it was not a liking, and it was not a normal feeling he usually felt.

"Where is Ackerman?" Rivaille decided to ask after all.

"Eh? Ah-sir she's at the rear-" Armin tried to answer yet was cut by Rivaille's sudden pull on the rein; slowing down. "I suppose sir, you are aware that this mission is to test whether it is possible to change from defensive formation to offensive formation. That's why the skilled soldiers were placed behind." Armin somehow shouted and after that, Rivaille turned his horse around to march towards the rear.

"What's with corporal, Armin?" Sasha asked, taking out a small piece of bread from under her jacket and swallowed it. Armin sighed.

Shit. I forgot the purpose of this mission. I should have known where that woman is. Rivaille thought; annoyed at his own rarely forgetful self. It was all thanks to the shitty brat Eren for reminding him of Mikasa. Woman of Provocation.

Reaching the rear part of the formation, Rivaille scanned each person he met. Yet he couldn't seem to spot Mikasa. Red scarf....red scarf... Rivaille told himself to take notice of the red thing. Yet his mind always telling him that the red scarf wasn't from him. He recalled, when he tried to peel the scarf away to mark Mikasa, she refused strongly. Damn. It irked him so much he wanted to snatch the scarf and threw it away once he spotted her. Whoever it was that gave her the scarf, he felt he needed to unleash at least one punch. Shit...

Far from the location, Eren who had received some brief explanation, suddenly elephant sneezed. He jolted a bit from his horse.

Mikasa who had been working well with her squad still had some worry as all people knew; she was oddly attached to Eren. Old habit and feelings are such a difficult combination to separate. Besides, her little frown was pretty much visible on her face. She sighed. Will Eren be alright? I couldn't tell him about this mission because of the sudden call.

"Hey Mikasa, I know you're worrying about Eren but I think you should worry about yourself. You sneezed a lot just now. Maybe you caught a cold." Ymir commented, riding her horse next to Mikasa's. Then she felt a frightening aura coming out from Mikasa. Ymir shivered a little. It was not usual for Mikasa to be so annoyed just because someone cared for her. And it seemed that the aura wasn't emitted towards Ymir.

"Ymir. Step aside." Mikasa warned as she drew her blades; glaring straight.

"M-mikasa...?" Ymir did as was told but still couldn't understand what this red-scarfed girl meant. Until... she looked at the same direction as her. At that point nobody dared to spout even word.

Within less than 2 minutes, Mikasa's blades clashed with someone else's which seemed to belong to Corporal Rivaille. They glowered at each other. Only in term of 'glaring' and 'glowering' did they share the similarity. They were repelled by each other's blades and Rivaille's horse had to decrease their proximity; running a meter away from Mikasa's horse.

"Why are you here?" Mikasa asked; truly annoyed.

"To throw that scarf away" Rivaille replied although it wasn't what he attempted.

"you are not throwing it." Mikasa warned in emphasized tone; preparing her stance.

"Rejection." Rivaille tackled back in boring tone. He made up his stance as well. Hence, they fought again. The others were very terrified to see their swords clashing but none of them could summon enough bravery to ask them to stop. What would they do if human fought against human?

"Green smoke! We're going forward! There's plenty of titans coming towards us!" one of the soldier reported. What a bad timing... Mikasa thought. She changed her stance, urging her horse to run forward. Rivaille followed from behind.

Her form is... Perhaps this was the very first time Rivaille had ever scrutinized a girl to his liking fought. No matter how many times he had watched Mikasa's fight against titan. He had never been so... stunned before. Her silky black hair waved as she pierced the wind, her small frame which held power, her arms which would probably look very energy-packed and of course, her perfectly defined curves. Not to mention her ass-shit.

"Corporal! Wake up!" a shout wrenched Rivaille back to his senses when he realized a ten meter titan was already reaching him. He was too engrossed in his thought that it was too late for him to dodge or to fly. He was in the titan's grasp-only for a few seconds until Mikasa came, spinning in full speed to cut down the wrist of the titan while Ymir defeated the titan by its nape.

Her technique... Rivaille couldn't blink. The moment he did, he realized her was in Mikasa's arms; still flying. His eyes wide with disbelief. He, who was known as humanity's strongest, was actually....saved by a woman, a cadet and a rival of his. He was irritated. He was fuming with raging flames in his heart. He glared upwards at Mikasa.

"tch"

"You owe me one, shortie." Mikasa glanced at him with her usual expression with a bit of variation. Her lips quirked into a small smirk.

"I won't. soon. After I take this-" Rivaille pulled her scarf, earning her surprise and angry face. Then, Chu! He kissed her by her lips.

"-this lips." He finished his words.

"..." Mikasa fell speechless. Her cheeks burned red. And she dropped Rivaille on the ground while she returned to her horse safely.

Bitch! Rivaille managed to adjust his position this time, enabled him to fly near a titan which was about to be killed by one of the soldiers; and he took it on his own, killing someone else's prey.