That's My Cadet (LEVI X OC)

Strange Encounters

Third Person Perspective

"Eren hold still!" Hanji was chasing a shirtless Eren around her lab with a pair of tweezers and a small knife. Eren, once again, freaked out from her physically cutting him apart.

"Hanji this is a lot for one day, don't you think?" He dodged her lunge and ran out of the lab. Running down the halls of the scout house, Eren watched all the members stop their cleaning to watch him and Hanji in confusion. Little did they know, on the other side of the turn, Ichika was hunched over scrubbing the floors. Once the ruckus got closer, she dropped her sponge into the rusted bucket and stood, looking in the direction of where it was coming from.

She walked closer to the hallway intersection to see the shirtless Eren running full speed, not being able to slow down with the tiny obstacle in front of him. He ran into her, causing her to fall down and tip over the bucket, her hair and buttoned shirt absorbing the dirty soap water.

"Oh, Eren~!" He heard Hanji call out from the other hallway. Eren quickly grabbed Ichika off of the ground and took them into the closest unlocked room. He shut it and pushed her against the door, holding his finger up to his lips, gesturing for her to stay quiet. Once the footsteps of a crazy Hanji got further and further away, Eren closed his eyes, letting out a sigh.

"You know, an apology would be nice." Ichika gave him a half-smile, seeing Eren's face so close to hers and his topless body pushed upon hers. She quickly grew uncomfortable. "And you can let go of me now." He removed his hand that found its way around her waist.

"Sorry, Hayashi." He let her go and stepped away from her, leaving about a meter of space between themselves. Eren looked at the tiny girl in front of him, looking at her shirt and instantly blushing.

"Are you okay? Your face is all red. Do you have a fever? Can titans even get sick?" She mumbled the last question to herself and looked at him with worry. Once their gazes met, he instantly looked away, giving Ichika a view of what's behind Eren.

"Captain Levi, I-" Ichika spoke but Levi raised his hand, cutting her off. Eren stared at him wide-eyed as he watched the squad leader stand from his desk, looking at them with his usual look.

"Save it brat. Eren, why aren't you with Hanji?" He asked rhetorically "Go back to your experiments."

"Yes, captain." He saluted and rushed out of the room. Ichika stood in his office, watching him stare at her. His eyes slowly skimmed down to her chest, seeing her white shirt was now see-through. His eyes adverted to the side, looking away from her. He grabbed the cloak that was hanging on the back of his chair and approached her, not looking at her.

"Captain?" He wrapped his cloak around her shoulders and she froze. His cold fingers lightly swiped her neck in the process, giving her a chill.

"A woman should not walk around like that. Please go back to your quarters and get a clean shirt." Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head, she felt her shirt getting wetter when she ran with Eren but thought nothing of it. Was that why he looked so flustered? She thought.

"My apologies Captain, I will clean the mess in the hall and return your cloak, cleaned." She saluted him and rushed out the door, bumping into someone in the process.

"Hey shortcake! Have you seen a titan boy running around?" Hanji looked at her, her eyes beaming "Is that the captain's cloak?" She almost squealed.

"Eren just ran through this hallway, actually. Hence the big mess." She pointed at her slightly damp hair and a very wet t-shirt underneath the cloak.

"Thanks, shortcake." Before she ran, she leaned in and whispered into Ichika's ear "He might be stubborn, but he does have a heart, I promise you." Hanji pulled back smiling and ran down the hallway. Ichika stood there confused but shook off what Hanji just said. She looked down at the floor to see the water all over the floor. She sighed and speed-walked to her room. She carefully placed Levi's cape on her bed frame, quickly taking off her wet shirt. A chill hit her when she did so and immediately grabbed a towel to jump in the shower. After a quick and cold shower, she changed back into her uniform with a new shirt, rushing out of the room as she finished buttoning the top of her shirt. She turned the corner to see the bucket in the hallway gone, along with the water. This was my section of the quarters, who cleaned it?

"Hi! You're probably wondering who cleaned all this up." Ichika looked behind her to see Petra standing behind her with a big smile. "Captain Levi wouldn't want this mess when he leaves his office, so I cleaned it while you were gone! I saw the collision with Eren, are you okay?" Ichika knew Petra had an obvious thing for Captain Levi, probably why she cleaned the hallway, for him.

"Oh, well thank you Petra, I appreciate it." Ichika gave her a heartfelt smile.

"Well, our sections are done, let's go get something to eat from the dining hall." Petra grabbed Ichika's arm and practically dragged her into the dining hall. As squadmates, they got along fairly well. Petra reminded Ichika of herself before the scouts. Kind, heart-felt, caring about everyone around her. Petra was probably around the same age she was, but Ichika felt like her older sister.

Once they arrived at the dining hall, the quietness soon turned into sounds of laughter and loud conversation. Ichika smiled, noticing that a certain blondie wouldn't be showing up anytime soon. Petra pulled her to the rest of the squad, sitting at a table by a window.

"Hayashi, it's nice to see you finally coming to eat dinner with us!" Eld nudged her as she took a seat next to him.

"Well, maybe I'll start sitting there more often." She gave the table a motherly smile, glad she was around people closer to her age. As much as she loved being around the teens, she needed to feel less like a mom right now, especially without her child near her at all.

Ichika put her head on her hand and thought about Sakura. It'd been a few weeks since she saw her. She grabbed a small strand of her hair and laughed to herself, having the sound be drowned out with everyone else's conversations. She thought about how as a baby Sakura would pull on her pieces of hair. She remembered sitting in the training camp cabin next to the window teaching her daughter how to braid once she was old enough. She remembered the first time she got to hold her. Ichika frowned thinking about Reiner, she hated taking her daughter's father away from his child; she didn't want Sakura to be abandoned like her mother.

"Hayashi, what are you thinking about?" Petra pulled her out of her thoughts, smiling out her, face filled with curiosity.

"Just thinking of someone back home."

"Wow, what a lucky man," Eld said, slightly laughing.

"I miss her so much." She smiled with watery eyes, thinking back to her beautiful child.

"Ichika, you like girls?" Eren almost shouted at her, questioning everything that's happened. The table went silent, only for it to be broken by Ichika's laughter.

"Eren!" Petra smacks him on the back of the head lightly "You made her uncomfortable."

"No, no. It's okay heh," She wiped the tears from her eyes that came out from laughing. "She's my-" She cut herself off. She didn't want to tell them it's her daughter. "niece."

"Kaiyo's kid?" Eren's eyes were begging for answers.

"Something like that," She gave the table a smile and continued thinking of the moments she had with her daughter. Kaiyo always helped take care of Sakura, having no reason for a male figure to be in her life. But, for 5 years she's been living in solitary. Not meeting any kids, being around her mother and uncle every day. Maybe Sakura was growing tired of her mother, having been with her for her whole life. Ichika began to consider actually going back to Reiner, through all her hatred.