Darkness
That was all I could see. I felt warm blood drip from my fingers, but I knew that it wasn't my own. The smell of death was think and nauseating around me. There was a shuffling noise to my left. At least I assume that it was my left. The black was too absolute to tell anything. The blood from my hand dripped into the unknown darkness below.
I woke up with a snap, the smell of death seemed to linger although the dream had ended. This was the fourth time that I had that nightmare, and it still left me feeling like I was about to be sick. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8:00. I let out a shaky sigh and untangled myself from the covers. I walked over to my mirror and examined the scar that cut across my cheek. It went from under my chin to behind my ear, cutting jaggedly across part of my lips in the process. Nobody knew about it, since I covered it with a scarf everyday. I shuddered, thinking about the day I got it. Before I could dwell on it anymore, there was a knock at my door. I quickly wrapped my black scarf around my face, making sure that there was a slight gap and I could use to eat.
"Come in," I called, making sure my scar wasn't visible.
"Are you OK, Kuro?" Lenalee asked, opening my door and taking a small step inside my room.
"Ya, why?" I replied, combing my messy hair with my fingers.
"I heard you screaming late last night," she stated, obviously concerned.
'Damn' I thought. 'I must have been screaming during the nightmare.'
"Oh sorry, I just saw I huge spider last night and it creeped me out." I lied, smiling embarrassed. She sweat dropped.
"Oh, ok," It was obvious that she didn't believe me but she didn't press for details. "Want to go get some breakfast?" she asked cheerfully.
I looked down at my sweatpants and tank top and wondered if I should change. I decided not to and just change into my exorcist uniform when I got back from breakfast.
"Sure" I responded. We both walked out of my room and started down the stairs to the mess hall.
"So... I heard that Kanda's back from his mission," Lenalee said playfully. Kanda and I have been friends since we were kids and Lenalee thinks that we're in love, which we aren't. At least I don't think so….
"So? Your point?" I replied, pretending not to care. Lenalee didn't say anything after that and we walked the rest of the way in silence.
When we got to the mess hall, we saw everyone crammed on one side of the room. At first we were confused, but then we saw an extremely pissed-off Kanda sitting on the other side. We both sweat dropped.
"What do you think happened on his mission?" I whispered quietly to her.
"I don't know but it couldn't have been good."
Kanda must have heard us because snapped his head in our direction and glared hard. We both jumped a foot in the air at the steely look he was giving us. Lenalee pushed me towards him and I stumbled to keep my balance. I turned and glared hard at her, but she just laughed and waved back. I sighed and walked over to his table, ignoring his annoyance.
"You ok?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.
"I don't want to talk about it," he hissed angrily, while stabbing his omelet with his fork. I let out a short, slight laugh.
"So I take it that you failed your mission," I joked. He snapped his head toward me and glared his slate gray eyes, harsh and cold.
"I did not fail it, I never have and I never will!" he snapped .He slammed his fist down on the table so hard, he nearly knocked over his orange juice. I smirked under my scarf.
"Then tell me, or that's all that I'll believe, and tell everyone that the Great Kanda failed a mission." I threatened jokingly. That comment earned another harsh glare.
"So what is it?" I pressed.
"He's just jealous," Lavi said suddenly, coming up behind us and taking a seat across from us. The blood lust coming from Kanda was enough to scare even the Millennium Earl, but Lavi just took a bite of Kanda's omelet and stole some of his hash browns.
"What's he jealous of?" I asked, wondering why Lavi wasn't running away right now.
"He stole my kill," Kanda hissed, glaring at Lavi with such anger that I was surprised Lavi wasn't dead right now. I tried not to laugh.
"So that's why you're like this?" I asked playfully. "Wow, that's just sad." Kanda turned his glare on me, but it wasn't as intense as the one he gave Lavi. Before I could contemplate this more, Lenalee came over with her tray of food.
"Hi Lavi, Kanda," she greeted, taking a seat next to Lavi. Lavi whispered something to her and she giggled at whatever he said. Kanda and I looked at each other, confused, which only made them laugh more. I decided to ignore it, so I stole some of Kanda's bacon and adjusted my scarf so I could eat through the gap. I took a bite of the crunchy bacon and noticed that Lenalee and Lavi left.
"Eh? Where did those two go" I asked Kanda, who was sipping his orange juice, annoyed.
"Who knows. At least it's finally quiet." he stated.
"True, even the other finders and exorcists are quiet." I looked around and noticed that they all left to.
"Wait where did they go!" I exclaimed surprised. Kanda scoffed.
"How should I know?" was his reply. We sat like in the silence for awhile, with me stealing his food. At first, it was awkward but it soon became comfortable and nice to hang out with him without anyone saying that we liked each other.
"Kuro, I have to tell you something," he said, after around 5 minutes of silence.
"Ya what is it?" I replied. My heartbeat sped up, but I didn't know why.
"I-" Before he could finish what he was going to say, Komui popped up.
"Kuro, Kanda I have a mission for you." Komui said, serious for once in his life. I heard Kanda sigh, with a mix of extreme annoyance and a touch of what sounded like disappointment.
"What is it?" Kanda asked, giving Komui a dirty look.
"Come to my office, and I'll explain it there." He led the two of us to his office. Komui sat at his desk and took out a piece of paper.
"So what's the mission?" I asked, leaning against a wall, wondering what Kanda was going to tell me before he was interrupted.
"I want you two to find out something for me," Komui said vaguely.
"Which would be…?" Kanda demanded, starting to get annoyed. Komui slammed his hands on his desk.
"FIND OUT IF MY LENALEE IS DATING THAT BASTARD LAVI!" Komui shouted into Kanda's face, droplets of spit flying everywhere. Kanda jumped back, a vein pulsing on his head.
"THAT'S WHY YOU CALLED US IN HERE?" Kanda shouted back "WHAT KIND OF MISSION IS THAT?" Kanda grabbed Komui's head and bashed on his desk.
"IT'S IMPORTANT! WHAT IF THEY ARE DATING?" Komui said his head still in Kanda's hand. I sweat dropped, just watching it all. They kept on arguing, so I just slipped out of the room, as I was getting a headache from Kanda's yelling. 'I wonder what he wanted to tell me...' I thought to myself. I saw Lenalee walking this way with a tray with coffee cups. So I walked over to her.
"I wouldn't go in Komui's office if I were you," I advised, crossing my arms behind my head.
"Why not?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Well, for two reasons. Reason Un: Komui and Kanda are fighting yet again. Reason Deux: he thinks that you and Lavi are dating." I explained. She sweat dropped.
"Not that again." She sighed, slightly annoyed. "He's so over protective." I laughed.
"I know, right?"
"Well, someone has to give him his coffee," Lenalee said, looking down at his bunny coffee mug.
"I'll come with you then," I told her. She smiled.
"Thanks." We both walked into Komui's office. Before we even walked in, we heard the screaming.
"TAKE THAT YOU SOBA LOVING OCTOPUS!" we heard Komui scream at Kanda. There was a huge crash as Komui threw something at Kanda.
"THROWING PAPERWEIGHTS WON'T DO ANYTHING!" Kanda screamed back. Lenalee and I exchanged nervous looks as walked in. As soon as we took a step inside the office, Komui grabbed onto Lenalee's leg.
"WAAHHH! LENALEEEE! KANDA'S GONNA KILL ME!" We both sweat dropped. I looked over at Kanda who just sighed, extremely annoyed. He glanced at me and I saw something else in his eyes that wasn't annoyance or even anger. I couldn't put my finger on what it was though. Komui's whining broke me out of my thoughts.
"LENALEE! DON'T DATE THAT BASTARD LAVI!" Komui was still clutching her leg and Lenalee was trying to tell him that she wasn't but he wasn't listening. I sighed and kicked him off of her leg. He crashed into a wall, causing even more paperwork to scatter.
"WHHAA! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" he screamed, pointing at me. He had a bloody nose and Lenalee sweat dropped again. I merely shrugged.
"You were annoying me." was all that I said. Lenalee looked over at Kanda and giggled. I tilted my head in confusion so I looked over at Kanda and noticed that he was looking at me. As soon as he saw me look at him a faint blush colored his cheeks and he looked away quickly. That made Lenalee giggle even more. Komui's nose stopped bleeding and he looked at Kanda and me, and pushed up his glasses.
"So, are you two finally a couple?" Smack! The sound of Kanda's fist against Komui's face sounded like someone clapped loudly.
"We are not going out, we do not like each other and we never will. Besides, love is a pointless emotion." Kanda's eyes weren't visible under his bangs but his voice was full of malice. Komui was just sitting there, stunned by Kanda's words; he held his cheek which had a dark bruise from where he was hit. Although he wasn't talking to me directly, each word felt like knives in my side. Kanda looked over at me; the look in his eyes was harsh, cold, uncaring and hostile. Nothing like the way he was looking at me before. He must have noticed how hurt I was, because he stormed off. Komui stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.
"He doesn't mean that. I saw how he was looking at you before, don't worry." His bruise was already fading as he said this. I must have looked hurt. Kanda was my closest friend but the way he was looking at me, it made me want to crawl under a rock. Lenalee put the coffee tray on her brother's desk and walked over and hugged me. I shrugged her and Komui off.
"It's fine. It's not like we're dating or anything," I said. Lenalee pressed her lips together.
"Still, he shouldn't be saying stuff like that to you," I just shrugged.
"He'll probably apologize later," I commented. Lenalee still looked upset, but less so now.
"I gotta go change, see ya later," I waved to Komui and Lenalee and walked out of the office. I turned the corner and saw Kanda leaning against the wall, clearly pissed off. I went to turn the other way so I wouldn't make him any madder but he had heard my footsteps.
"Kuro," he called "I'm sorry about what I said before." I could tell that he wasn't just saying that so I turned around to face him and he was right behind me.
"OH MY GOD!" I exclaimed jumping back. "Don't creep up on me like that! But I forgive you, Komui can be annoying." I said.
"Yeah. I can't see how Lenalee can put up with that bastard." he remarked.
"I don't think anyone can," I laughed "Now I gotta go change, see ya." I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm lightly.
"I really am sorry though," I looked him in the eye and I saw that emotion again, but this time I knew what it was. I blushed under my scarf.
"Uhh, I gotta go." He let go of me and I tried not to run to my room. As soon as I got there, I closed my door hard and slid down its cold metal. The emotion I had seen there, flickering in his eyes and trying to express itself was really, it was….love.
My heart was pounding. 'Could he really love me?' I thought silently. 'No No, no, no, no, no. I must have misunderstood it. I decided to stick to that and so I stood up and changed into my uniform. I put on my navy Black Order leggings, halter top and trench coat and changed my black scarf to my navy one and strapped my inactivated innocence onto my arm and walked out of my room. The warning alarm started blaring so I ran into the security room and passed Kanda who was on his way out. I looked back out him and walked into the room.
"What's going on?" I asked, the alarm still blaring.
"Apparently there's an akuma claiming to be modified by Marshall Cross" Komui stated, taking a sip from his pink bunny coffee mug. I took a look at the screen with Lenalee and saw Kanda fighting a odd akuma that resembled a mix between a cow and a eagle. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Kanda fighting. I mentally slapped myself. I couldn't be in love with him, he's practically my brother!
"So is that freak the modified akuma?" I asked. Lenalee nodded. All of a sudden it exploded into bits of small, burnt metal pieces. That was confirmation that that was what it was. Everyone glared at Komui. After a while of searching, he found the letter from Marshal Cross that mentioned that an akuma, and by the description it sounded like the one that just exploded, would be coming. I just sighed and went off to find Kanda, who was clearly pissed off once again. I finally found him in the library, leaning against a wall.
"Hey, I saw what just happened. Are you OK?" I asked, walking over to him. His eyes were closed, a sure sign that he was annoyed.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be OK?" he said, being his old snotty self. I smirked under my scarf.
"Because you just lost a battle." I joked matter-of-factly. Suddenly he had me pinned against the wall, one of his hands against the wall right next to my face, the other at his side. I felt myself get blush deeply under my scarf.
"I did not lose, and I never will." he said through gritted teeth. His face was only a few inches away from mine. I felt my blush deepen as I noticed this. His warm breath tickled my face and smelled like soba, an oddly intoxicating smell. He was about to say something but before he had the chance I heard someone yell from the door to the library…
"HA! I KNEW IT!"