Hello Readers~ This is Eliz and I hope you enjoy our story. Lynn and I stayed up quite late working on it ^^
Disclaimer: We do not own the manga/anime D. Grey-man or any of it's characters.
Akumu woke up to the bright, midday sun and jumped out of the tree she'd been sleeping in. Looking up she could see the sky, blue as ever, and feel the wind blowing past her, clean and crisp. "I've gotta get walking." she said stretching her arms and heading into the nearby town.
The town was bustling with people, customers, musicians, travelers, shop owners, it felt as though the town had a vitality almost all it's own. She had been searching around town all day, offering her hand at all the shops and booths, sadly her luck seemed dry. Either the owners didn't need help or they didn't want any, but she was getting nowhere in her search. Still, she took pride in her abilities and hoped that maybe there would be something for her to do. About an hour later, she seemed to have tried every place in the town and walked over to a nearby alley to take a break.
Taking a seat on an old wooden crate, she felt herself relax back. She'd been walking around all day,She found her eyes becoming heavy the longer she sat and soon began drifting into the dream whelm.
Footsteps, hard and heavy on the ground, she woke from her slumber. Pulling herself to her feet she scrambled behind one of the many crates. As the footsteps became louder and closer she could feel fear welling up inside her chest. Then nothing, she waited a few moments, the fear escalating, and peaked over one of the crates. Growing weary she stared intensely into the dark depths of the ally.
Suddenly, she felt a shock spread throughout her body as someone grabbed her from behind. She screamed, pulling away and falling face first into one of the crates.
Looking up to get a view of her attacker she felt a grin spread across her face. "Tiki!" she shouted, realizing that footsteps, belonged not to some creature of the night but to her friend.. Before her stood a group of close friends: Tyki, Clark, and Momo. The three males looked at her, large grins plastered across their faces and soon broke into laughter.
She soon realized that she was still lying in a pile of broken wood from her fall not too long ago and felt a blush spread across her cheeks. She knew that they were laughing at her.
Beginning to unbury herself from the pile of broken wood, she saw a hand reaching to help her. Taking the others nimble fingers, she felt herself being pulled swiftly out of the destroyed box into the arms of a tanned male. Pulling away quickly she felt herself blush and mutter a small "Thank you" toward the other.
Pulling herself back together, she looked at the other two males and grimaced. "You two, have no consideration for a lady" she said, hitting them with a small paper fan.
"Owww, why didn't you hit Tyki?" Clark complained, rubbing his head.
Akumu crossed her arms. "Because, Tyki does give consideration to a lady".
"I'm honored" Tyki replied, before taking another drag from his cigarette, "That you actually think I consider you a lady".
She felt herself blushing again as the boys burst into laughter.
"Aww, looks like she likes you Tyki." Momo said nudging Tyki. "If you play your cards right you might be able to make her your girlfriend.".
Tyki blushed and chuckled a bit. "You really think so?" He half joked as his friends continued to laugh.
Akuma felt herself redden even more and hit Tyki this time, instead of his friends.
"Tyki, why are you so..." she paused, feeling the anger boil more "Just..."
A sudden growl fills the alley way and she felt her angry quickly dissipate into embarrassment again. Her eyes widen and she moved her hands to cover her stomach.
Tyki stood up and walked over to her, placing a strong hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll find you something to eat".
Clark quickly joined the other two, interrupting their small, intimate moment. "Come on, if we go now we might be able to get some of the good stuff."
"Yeah, Akumu isn't the only one hungry." Momo added, "If I don't get some grub in me soon, I might just eat my own foot." he joked, placing a hand on Clanks shoulder.
Taking a hold of Akumu's arm so they could start going, Tyki noticed that she had bandages wrapped around her arms. "Hey, what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She said, pulling her arm away.
Balling his hands into fists he let out a deep sigh.
"Come on, you guys are so slow." Momo yelled back to the lagging couple.
Tyki watched the female run toward the other two, feeling a little worried creep into the corners of his mind. He shook it off though, "I need to stay strong" he told himself, "and if Akumu says she doesn't want to talk, I won't push her."
Heading back into the group he joined in with the laughter and continued looking for food.
After scavenging the back alleys and low security shops, the crew managed to assemble a assortment of collected food, such as, but not limited to- A block of cheese, a half eaten fish, two bottles of unopened beer, something that seems to resemble mashed potatoes, and, a small collection of half eaten cans of vegetables and fruits.
Digging into the meal the earlier problems and embarrassments were easily forgotten to the joys of a full stomach.
When all that was left was empty cans and beer bottles. The two males, Momo and Clark, now found themselves slightly intoxicated by the small amount of alcohol they had consumed. Clark has his hand resting on the others upper thigh, while Momo seemed to muttering curse words as he blushed profusely at the others touch.
Tyki decided to ignore the two drunks as the situation progressed and turned his attention to his counterpart, who seemed to be packing up, "Where you going? The day's still young."
"I'm sorry" she began, "but I have to leave now, I've still got to earn some money today." she finished, sticking out her tongue while running into the crowded city.
After making her way through the crowd into the market area she stopped and scanned for potential employers.
Noticing a black smith not too far off, she began toward the small open hut. The closer she got however, the more she felt as though she was being followed, when she was but fifteen feet from the booth the swiftly turned on her heels and stopped, "Tyki, please stop following me, I can take care of myself".
"I know" he began, "But, I'm..." he trailed off.
"What?" she asked harshly, "Wanted to tell me my skirt had a speck of dirt on it?"
He looked taken aback, "What do you mean?"
"Or, that I have a hair out of place, or that I have some mud on my shoes?" As she continued her voice grew darker and louder, and they became closer and closer, drawing a small crowd around them. "I know that I may not be free from scars or dirt or care, but I can take of myself Tyki!" she yelled at the other, finally reaching the other, tears streaming down her face, her fists beating against the others broad chest. "Why do you have to protect me like this?"
Pulling the others bandaged arm away from his chest, stopping the blows he whispered, "Because, I don't want you to get hurt, I don't know what happened, but I don't want it to happen again."
She looked up into his eyes, her dirty face, now streaked clean from the tears.
"This stubbornness might be the end of you one day." Tyki replied wiping away the soft wetness, smearing dirt across her face.
She still stood still, her arm in the others hand. "You to don't have to talk but could you at least show me." he pleaded softly.
Lowering her eyes to rest on her bandages she nodded ever so slightly to give the other her okay.
He tightened his grip on her wrist, moving his free hand to the end of the bandages, unwrapping them slowly, gently, as not to cause the other any pain.
As the last of the bandages were removed they revealed a simple black tattoo across the females pale skin.
"I don't see what is wrong with them." He said, examining the others arms, "Your tattoos are still there and nothing seems to be wrong with your arms."
"Look again." Akumu sighed unable to look into Tyki's eyes. Looking down once again to examine her arm, he noticed that the tattoos were moving around in a swirling motion. His eyes widen.
"When did this start happening?" Tyki asked looking down to her. She averted her eyes.
"A little after you left on your last secret job." She said, turning her head to look at him, Akumu began to pull her arm away.
"Well I'm gonna go, I need money" she said turning her back to the male. The crowd that had once been small seemed to have become the entire town and began to part for her to get through.
Feeling disgruntled after being left alone in the middle of a crowd, when he was just trying to protect his...his...friend? Was she really just a friend, then why did he care so much for her. Sure, he worried about Clark and Momo's safety, but...for her...he was afraid for her safety, worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat. Why her?
He wondered all of this while wandering the town to find his other friends, not really navigating, but letting his feet guide him to his destination.
He found himself in front of a ringing phone inside of the local train station. Picking up the black receiver he begins a conversation so secret, not even the author knows what is said. After finishing this super secret conversation, Tyki hangs the polished receiver back in it's place.
Headed back to their usually meet up spot he finds Momo and Clank sitting on a park bench together, Clark asleep on Momo's lap.
Getting close to the snoozing couple he tapped the two a few times to see if they were awake, they were not. Making sure he was positioned just right he punched Momo in the shoulder, causing them both to fall down
"What the hell was that for?" Momo shouted up at Tyki.
"Hey, I've got another secret job so I gotta go. Tell Akumu that I won't be back for a few days."
The boys looked a bit ruffled,"What? You have to leave again? You literally just got back today."
"Yeah, I know" he replied sadly, "But someone has to make sure we don't starve." A small smile plays on his lips, "Make sure that Akumu doesn't get into any trouble, otherwise", he said raising a fist, "You know what'll happen."
Finally making her way to the booth she looks at the elderly blacksmith, "Sir" she began, getting the man's attention, "I really need a job, if you could let me work for just one night, I would be so greatful to you."
The elderly man sized her a moment before placing a wrinkled yet strong hand onto his white beard. "Young lady, after watching that there display between you and your boyfriend I'd rather not put you in harms way, and I'm sorry to say dear, that a blacksmiths shop is quite a dangerous place to work.
She felt her face redden in anger and embarrassment, "He's not my boyfriend and I can take care of myself, I don't need Tyki to protect me all the time".
"Dear me, I'm sorry miss. I assumed you were a bit young to be married, but I'm sorry to have made the mistake. I wish you two many children in the future" he replied to her happily.
She felt her face grew even redder as the man made the situation worse. She decided that it would be best to leave before it escalated to something even more embarrassing then husband and wife...if that's even possible.
Heading back out of town she felt herself beginning to cool down from her conversations with Tyki and the elderly man.
She walked without paying much attention to her surroundings, focused completely on her thoughts. she soon found herself on the cold hard ground.
Looking up she once again saw a hand reaching out to help. This one however, a strange, foreign color, grey. Slowly reaching to the others hand she felt herself being quickly pulled to her feet as the other grasped her hesitant hand.
"Tyki." she whispered, finding herself in the arms of a now rather frighteningly handsome friend. "Wha...what!?" She exclaimed pulling herself away from the man. She felt an odd sense of fear tingle inside of her, it was obviously Tyki...but...it couldn't be him. He just looked so...different.
Turning herself away from the confusion she began to run into the forest but was soon stopped by a strong hand grasping her arm.
"Tyki, please. Let go, you're hurting me." Akumu yelped as he tried to pull her close.
"I'm...hurting you?" He asked slowly, in disbelief.
"Yes." She pleaded, "Please, let go."
Letting go of the smaller's arm, he watched as she dashed away into the forest. "Hurting her", he said to himself, "But...I'm supposed to keep her safe."
Managing to make her way into the forest she stopped to catch her breath. As her breathing calmed she looked down at where the other had grabbed her to see a fresh bruise forming, "Tyki", she said to herself, "was that really you?"
She felt the warm drops of rain begin to hit the bruise on her arm and watched as the water collected and drizzled down the sides. "Why am I crying?"