Bets, Bees and Butterflies
Notes: Usual disclaimers apply, not for profit, for fun - (and personal torture)
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The last level two is but a pulverulent dream, falling like snow. Lavi's chest heaves, breathing heavily. Surprisingly none of his attacks bring any of the outlying buildings down, not even the one they are standing on the roof of. This is rare for him.
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"You're lucky I'm tired because if I was fully awake I would have already shoved you off this roof." Yuu says, breathing as hard as Lavi.
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They are on the coast. The ocean is perhaps five miles away from where they are. They, being Kanda Yuu and Lavi, Bookman Junior - exorcists extraordinaire of the Black Order. As Lavi likes to proclaim (only for Yuu's benefit of course). They are on an Innocence retrieving mission, and there are a couple of finders somewhere, hopefully still alive. Only then can they report the mission as a success.
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Earlier that morning they spend half a day travelling down from the Order's new headquarters, on the train. Lavi with excitement mounting, because they were heading towards the sea, and he likes being on trains. Yuu is mean - he is not, not truly. Just more serious about the work they do than his companion. Lavi is actually as serious as Yuu, but he does not want that to be common knowledge. Yuu also cannot afford time to be thrilled and one excited person around him is plenty for all to go round. Additionally Kanda Yuu is not really that keen on large bodies of water.
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After three hours on the train, when they arrive at their destination it is lunchtime. Lavi heads to the nearest chippy to buy a large portion of haddock and chips, with a generous drizzle of malted vinegar wrapped up in newspaper. Yuu wrinkles his nose at it. The fish is battered, and the chips look terribly greasy to him.
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"C'mon Yuu, I got a large portion so we can share." Lavi tries to cajole his friend into eating something. "You know this is quintessential English cuisine."
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Yuu wrinkles his nose further, but he is a mite hungry, so he has some chips and breaks off a piece of the fish. The food surprises him by actually tasting quite good. Except that he tries to shut his brain off to the fact that it probably is not the healthiest food around. With lunch out of the way, Yuu is anxious to get on with their task. The faster they can go home, back to their base of operations.
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Lavi finds a suitable place to set up their golems to call the finders they have been instructed to meet up with. After receiving directions to their point of contact, they make their way. It seems to be a walkable distance. The finders tell them if they follow the coastline, for two and half miles, take a right at the signposted stile and walk along the brook found there for another three they will find them. Thus it is no hardship to find them at all.
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The finders inform them the innocence is set in the outstretched palm of a stone carved cherub in a pavilion in the middle of a garden. Landscaped by Capability Brown no less. It imbues the small statue with some kind of eerie garden fairy light. It gives the surrounding area a haunting air. The owners of the mansion the garden is in, just want it off their grounds because it is downright spooky, and no one will go near the place.
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The owners informed the Order that the house will be vacant at the time so as to expedite the 'pest control' with minimal public interference. Which Komui reads as, so that they do not get a bad reputation as a place with 'strange phenomena' - thus leading to ostracisation by their friends. Lavi is tickled by them playing the role of vermin hunters. Yuu thinks it is undignified, until Junior kindly reminds the swordsman (ensuring he is a safe distance away first) that since killing Akuma is their duty, they are 'vermin hunters' really. All he gets in return is a snort, and a "Tch!" but he is too far away to run the redhead through with Mugen and the feeling passes.
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In most cases like these, the retrieval of Innocence is the easy part of the task, the vermin killing less so. Of course once the Innocence is obtained, the Akuma appear. Lavi, being the Bookman he is - can appreciate the trouble that has gone into making the garden the beauteous scene it is. He is therefore loathe to cause a shambles due to their demon killing.
Yuu is reluctant to be as delicate as Junior is because he just wants to be done with it and go home. He cedes to Lavi because there are only four level ones and two level twos. Easy as pie. Each of the two's are flanked on either side by the level ones. The exorcists decide that each of them will take one set on. Lavi cannot resist and turns their mission into a bet. Whoever is done last, will have to fetch and carry for the other - for a week.
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Oh-ho! Kanda Yu is winning this because the idea at a chance that the redhead will be his slave for a week, sits quite well with him indeed. (Of course Lavi also does not have any intention of letting Yuu win).
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So they head on out to do their duty. From the outset, Yuu is the one with the advantages because his sword is a more precise and elegant weapon than Lavi's Tettsui. However Lavi is lighter handed these days and can achieve a relative degree of precision without bringing the houses down. Quite unlike the boy who first got his hammer and reveled in swinging the thing left-right-center with impertinence.
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The level ones are no match for Yuu's swordsmanship and are dispatched without so much as a 'by your leave'. That means Lavi has to speed up his game a little, and he does. He manages to get rid of the pesky 'ones' even though Yuu is in the lead already. The remaining level twos are as Bookman Junior expects, Garden-themed. The one Lavi takes on is a large purple and blue metal butterfly with a proboscis that does not look benign at all. In fact they are reminiscent to Junior of those damned cannibalistic golems belonging to Tyki Mikk, the Noah of pleasure. The one that Yuu is facing is a yellowjacket. Stinger and all.
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In spite of the heavy wings the insect Akuma are fast. Dodging their respective stingers and the proboscis - which looks too ready to drink of Lavi is hard work. They manage to take the fight away from the garden. Now the two Exorcists are back to back - a familiar pattern with them - and are nearer the main buildings, which is not a good thing either. 'Minimal damage' is the warning that Komui sends them off with.
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The exorcists note that the roof of the main house is high and flat. The thought occurs to both the fighters simultaneously that taking the fight to higher ground will give them vantage point, rather than being picked off the ground. "Yuu!" without much else of a warning the junior Bookman grabs the swordsman by the waist and uses his hammer to hoist them both up to the roof. Yuu twists away from Lavi landing lightly on his feet, and Lavi chooses a chimney pot to land on. It seems that the high ground strategy is a good idea because the further off the ground the insects are, the more they labour with their flight ability.
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Then Lavi gets a flash of inspiration. He raises his hammer high and calls the seals of Heaven to bring down bolts of blue lightning - a favourite attack of his, but effective, especially against metal objects, which Akuma tend to be - upon both insects. Yuu jumps off the parapet, somersaults through the air finishing off the hornet ironically with his 'Hell's Insects'; as his sword reforms he slices the butterfly crosswise, before landing again perfectly - as always - on his feet.
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Uncharacteristically however, Yuu flops onto the roof, flat on his back.
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"Yuu, are you alright?" Concern flooding Lavi's countenance.
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"Yeah I just need a minute to catch my breath and heal this." Lifting up his arm, Lavi is horrified to see the blood leaking from a penetration (through the coat) in the swordsman's lower right side. "Don't make that face stupid rabbit," Yuu, breathes out. Wincing and gritting his teeth, as the healing takes place. Yuu growls out a bit more, curses some and there is aught Lavi can do but wait it out till his friend heals enough to move.
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"Since we both took out the level two's more or less the same time, does that mean it's a draw?" Lavi queries, looking over at Yuu.
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"You don't need to be kind just because I got hurt. A bet is a bet," Yuu grunts up at him. It is the kind of stupid honourable thing Yuu will do.
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"Ahh Yu-u, it is only for a week after all." Lavi shrugs, that is perfectly fine by him
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"Don't push your luck and you might just survive the week."
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"Ahahaha … maybe I can get you to do my Bookman's logs, what's your penmanship like? Is it anything as beautiful as your swordplay?"
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"You're lucky I'm really tired because if I was fully awake I really would have already shoved you off this roof," the swordsman repeats with emphasis. Yuu's eyes glitter darkly as they look up at him in longanimity.
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Somewhere out in the garden below are two finders, alive, so the mission is a success on all counts.
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FIN
Notes: This is for posting date 15 Sept. If it was your birthday then, Happy Belated Birthday! ^_^
Ok, so I was stuck for ideas ... so I went to dictionary-dot-com which gave me two of the words of the day sometime this week were these two:~
1) pulverulent: covered with dust or powder; consisting of dust or fine powder; crumbling to dust or powder
2) longanimity: patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forbearance.
then I went to this site of Creative Writing Prompts ...and I picked this: ~
"You're lucky I'm tired because if I was fully awake I would have already shoved you off this roof."
So there you have it ... it is 2:20 AM so ... anything glaring (I've read it a few times through and can't see anything but like I said, it's late) - please do point it out to me
Once again, thank you very much everyone ... wow you are all so lovely! - Zan
ps - seriously if anyone wants to throw me a prompt ... please do, I will do my best with it. ^_^
Part 47 of the 49 Days series