Lion Sin of Pride (Ban x OC)

In the Name of Honor

Leo sheathed Megil and stood with her hands on her hips, her chest heaving as she took in deep breaths of air. She wiped a hand across her forehead, removing the strands of blue hair that had stuck to her skin with sweat, and raised an eyebrow at Ban. "I don't think we've fought that hard for a while, Foxy. It's good to be back at it."

He stretched his arms out behind his back, cracking his spine as he stretched and gave her a cocky grin. "What're you going on about, L? I haven't even broken a sweat yet!"

She lunged toward him, burying a fist in his stomach. It hardly made an impact, which she expected, and he jumped away from her, laughing as he glanced over at King, who lounged on the palace steps, watching them as Diane chattered at him about something.

"Yo, King. You're always a lazy bastard, but you're really laying it on thick today. Wanna spar against me? L's too tired." He shot her a haughty look and dodged away from her again as she took out her rapier and swung halfheartedly at him.

"Shut up, Ban. Nobody else wants to spar against you because you cheat." King called back in a bored tone, inspecting his fingernails as he did so.

Ban retorted something back in return, but Leo had stopped paying attention to their argument. She sheathed her rapier once more and was about to head over to the well in the courtyard to take a drink of water, when a few of the palace guards walked between her and Ban. They glanced over at her and she heard one of them snicker to the other, "Damn, she's fine. If she weren't one of the king's special guests, I'd have her in the hay already."
"Special guest. I bet she's a special guest. I'd like to know what the king does with her as a specific special guest after hours." The other guard answered, throwing another leering look her way.

Leo did her best to ignore them as they walked past her. This kind of talk wasn't new to her. She'd heard plenty of it in the taverns she had worked in over the years, and even in the ranks of the Holy Knights when she still served the Order.

Suddenly, Ban appeared in front of the guards, towering over them and stopping them in their tracks. His eyes burned with anger as he grabbed one of them by the breastplate and lifted him into the air, the guard's feet dangling a few inches off the ground. The other guard stared at him in terror as he got into the lifted guard's face and growled, "What did you just say about her?"

"N...n...nothing, Sir!" The guard stuttered, his comrade remaining in stunned silence.

Ban jerked the guard upward again, causing him to cough and gulp for air, his face turning red. "Don't lie to me. I'll snap you in half like a twig, you insolent, disgusting, little bastard." Ban's voice was dangerously low.

Leo shoved in between the two of them, forcing Ban to release his hold on the guard, who stumbled backward, rubbing his throat. She turned to Ban, putting her hands on her hips. "What the hell are you doing, Ban? Leave them alone."

He looked at her in surprise. "What am I doing? They started this with their stupid comments...."

She gave him a glare, silencing him, and then without looking at them, said over her shoulder to the two men, "I suggest you get out of here before he really does kill you. I can only keep him under control for so long."

The two guards hurried past them and disappeared inside of the castle.

When they were gone, Leo raised an eyebrow at him and said, the anger dropping from her voice slightly, "Why did you do that? I didn't care what they were saying about me, so why did you?"

He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "Don't get all mushy on me, L. I just think a lady should have her honor, even if she is a rough, terrifying, blademaster like you."

She grinned at him, deciding not to pester him anymore. He looked uncomfortable enough as it was. "Well, I would say thank you for caring, but if you just did it for the sake of honor, than I don't owe you anything in return."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it." He grunted in return and pushed past her, walking toward where King and Diane were sitting.

She stood still for a moment, thinking over what had just happened. She couldn't help but smile just a bit as she remembered the slight blush that had entered Ban's cheeks when she had called him out on defending her. She bit her lip, lost in thought, until Diane called for her from across the courtyard.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, she jogged across the courtyard to join the others.