All characters owned by Hoshino Katsura except for Cristiana Siqueira.
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10.
I didn't know how much time we had left, but we had to get out before we were trapped. The Akuma only just evolved into a Level 2 but it'd already figured out one of its abilities. And immediately put it to good use.
9.
"Cristiana! Can you try to disable the bombs?" I turned to her, forgetting about the enemy and focusing on trying to save our lives. Bookman was still unconscious after the blow to the head that he took. My other partner, Cristiana Siqueira, and I had been injured from the ambush in the cave that we were in, trying to find the Innocence and finding none. There was no way we could chase after the Akuma.
8.
"I'll try, but this is pretty delicate stuff. Don't distract me." So I let her work. Her Innocence takes the form of a wicked pair of green-lensed goggles that lets her see into pieces of technology and gives her all the information on it. Strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, you name it and she can figure it out for you. It's a pretty handy thing to have on the battlefield since Akuma are part machinery.
7.
She silently went to work on disabling the curtain of explosives blocking our only exit out of the hole we were in. In the meantime, I had to take care of Bookman and hope for the best. But I knew that if anyone could do it, it would be Cristiana. In the short while I got to know her, I began to realize just how talented she was.
6.
From the day I met her, I always thought of her as a strong-willed, free-spirited girl.
I met her in a small village in Brazil where I was sent by the order of Branch Chief Komui Lee. Apparently, the village was being plagued by strange shadows and that an orphaned girl with strange glasses claimed that they were all made from machinery and that a ghost always hovered nearby, crying for help. They called her mad. We called her an Exorcist. So, we brought her back to the European Branch and she's been happy to have found another family since then.
5.
A few days later, I found her with Kanda Yu. I dropped by to see how she was doing and she was just flying at him with a bunch of kicks and a few punches here and there. She told me later that it was called capoeira and that she taught herself by watching the men in her village train. It looked like she was dancing, but at the same time I noticed that her relentless attacks never slowed and Yu continued to block them without finding any openings for a counter. I almost had to fight her myself to get her to stop beating up Yu. It turns out she was really frustrated and decided to take it out on the person who had the scariest reputation. Pfft. That's Yu alright.
4.
About two weeks after she joined the Black Order, she was caught stealing stuff from the Science Department. She was so into tinkering with pieces of technology that she couldn't help herself. She didn't deny it either and she even confessed that she'd been doing this since the day she first came! And that's when I realized that she'd stolen more than just intricate pieces of technology. The thief had also stolen my heart. After we set the records straight (they'd been blaming it on either me or Timcanpy before), Cristiana decided that she'd help out with their projects and keep Komui in line as well.
3.
And now, here we were almost a month after she joined the Order and I still haven't told anyone about my feelings. Ugh, I'm a guy. We're not usually inclined to talk about them, okay? She was there, risking her life to try and disable the death trap and I was powerless to do anything about it. I heard a groan and I found Bookman trying to sit up against the wall of the cave. I ran over to him and filled him in on what happened with the Akuma.
2.
"IDIOT!" He hit my head with my hammer - How'd he get that?! - and yelled at me even more. "You should've gone after the Akuma instead of staying with me! You're just being lazy because you know Cross' brat is out there, too!" Well, I couldn't really argue with that but I calmly replied back, just the same, "I couldn't leave you and Cristiana behind, either. And I already told you that the bombs were set up before I had time to chase after them."
1.
All of a sudden the bombs started going wild. Flashes of light played tag on the walls of our confinement and sirens started going off. "Shit! I must've cut the wrong wire!" Then, everything went dark and silent. For the exception of a tiny little clock on the roof of the cave. I could only barely make out what it said before Gramps made his way to the farthest part of the cave and I grabbed Cristiana and held her close to me, keeping myself between her and the explosives.
0.
I heard her scream my name just before they started going off, one-by-one. I flew forward and pinned the Brazilian to the ground. Everything was drowned out by the flames and the roaring of the bombs. I heard someone cry out and realized that it was me. Cristiana was too stunned to move and I felt her bury her face in my shoulder, waiting for the fireworks to stop. By the end of it, my back burned like hellfire and I could barely breathe. I tried moving my right arm and I felt myself wince. I thought, Well, it is an occupational hazard...Cristiana wriggled out and sat up, face smeared with grease and with a few burns on her arms. She stared at me with her stunning hazel eyes and still looked like the talented, impulsive, not to mention beautiful, girl that was branded as a psychopath in her own village. I smiled weakly at this, and she immediately frowned upon seeing it.
"Lavi! Damn it! Why you - You could've been - Are you..." She trailed off, not wanting me to see her distress at seeing me in this state. I could only imagine what it looked like, but I could definitely smell it.
I slowly shook my head and looked in the direction where Bookman was before seeing his face in my peripherals. He looked just as worried. Just before I said anything, I saw a swarm of finders and, before I could figure out what was going on, darkness took over.
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a mop of brown, wavy hair. Confused as to why that might be there, I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before poking it. It immediately jerked up and I found Cristiana's hazel eyes focused on my face. She swiftly pulled me into a hug, careful not to hug me too hard for fear of my injuries.
And then I found her sobbing. I couldn't think of what to do for a moment before pulling her into a hug and holding her. She never cried. She didn't so much as blink at some of the most emotional of moments, although I knew it was just a ruse to try to keep people out of her head.
Pulling away, I smiled and she frowned, saying, "How can you smile when you're like" - she gestured to all of me - "this?"
"If I'm gonna be honest, it's because you're here with me," and I clapped my hand over my mouth. I swear, my mouth is always running! Damn!
She widened her eyes and looked, really looked, at me. Smiling, she leaned in and whispered, "My, my. I think the feeling is contagious." And then she kissed me. Just like that.
I was stunned. Imagine, her kissing me instead of the other way around? Really?! I thought I was still in a coma for a moment, but the warmth of her mouth on mine made me think otherwise. I pulled her in closer and I thought, I never wanna let go...
Eventually, we pulled away, eyes bright and out of breath. She leaned in to my shoulder again, her smile mirroring mine. And she said the Three Little Words I never thought I'd hear coming from her. "I love you, Lavi."
"I love you more, Cristiana Siqueira." And she laughed this beautiful, tinkling laugh that reminded me of a bird. "I don't care if I'm Bookman's successor. I love you and I can't change that. And I wouldn't dream of trying."
I couldn't imagine this world without the free-flying spirit of this girl anymore.