So, at this point, everyone knows that I was forced to remove Lemon Island and its mature content due to the Eliminator Forum vicious attacking and trolling me. I'm going to move ALL my mature stories to a new website. If you're just as sick of this as I am, please join our cause to bring freedom back to Fanfiction!

Avenger Forum link, remove spaces and *: www. fanfiction. n*e*t /forum/Avenger/119079 (All information can be found in the Supporter forum.)

The Rebellion Forum link, remove spaces and *: www. fanfiction. n*e*t /forum/The-Rebellion/114259/ (Most forums are banding together here.)

Petition for an MA rating link, remove spaces and *: www. change. o*r*g /petitions/fanfiction-net-we-want-fanfiction-to-create-a-ma-rating

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Anyway, I have MOVED this story COMPLETELY to another site. You can find this STORY and all its subsequent UPDATES here: h*t*t*p :/archiveofourown. o*r*g/works/723149/chapters/1341438

I have the same penname there as I do here: ParadiseAvenger

X X X

Under the best of circumstances, Hei was lovable. Under the worst of circumstances, he was likable. (As a testimony to that, even after the police woman Misaki Kirihara had discovered that the sweet young exchange student Li Shengshun was really the Black Reaper, BK-201, she had been unable to shoot him in the back to take him down.) Because of that, it was no surprise that the shadowy syndicate chose Hei for this mission and many others that required a sweet inconspicuous personality.

The woman's name then was Luciella Le Blanc.

When he did dream, though he denied it, the things they did together were the subject of a few of his nightmares.

But that was a long time ago and a lot of things had happened since then. Amber had prevented Hell's Gate from being destroyed at the cost of her life, Mao had lost his consciousness to the cat since they had abandoned the syndicate, Huang had bought Hei and Amber the time they needed at his own life as well, and Hei had glimpsed his sister in the space between worlds. A lot of things had happened, a lot of people had died, and there was a lot he wished he could take back.

But not a single Contractor had the power to turn back time and even if they did, he suspected the Obeisance would be too great for them to pay.

Time travel was for immortals and fools, after all, and Contractors were neither.

So, Hei had no choice to continue with the way his life had turned out.

He was alone except for the Doll, Yin, who was forever at his side like his miniature shadow the color of bruises. She watched over water, watched over him, and watched over the world as it passed outside the window. Even though she was just a Doll, sometimes he felt that she was far more human than he was. Even if she had to use her fingers to make herself smile, even if his rational mind insisted that she was only a Doll… Yin was all he had left in the world.

Everything else had been taken from him—his sister, his first love, his human mind and body, and even his job.

…X:X:X…

Night had fallen on Okinawa.

The endless wine-dark ocean was outside the cool glass of the window, washing endlessly against the grey-white strip of sand that made up the small beach. The sky was dark, the fake stars gleaming with the lives of the Contractors. The real moon and stars had vanished so long ago that she was growing used to the sight, but it was troubling to look up at the fake sky. The sky was something that should have been constant, but it was gone—just completely gone.

Yin's pale magenta eyes tried to pick out Hei's star in the false sky, but she couldn't find it even after several minutes of searching. Her vision wasn't the best to begin with. Since she was a child, her vision had been failing. Her eyes were plagued with cataracts and, though she wasn't completely blind, she was painfully nearsighted. And since Hei was sleeping, his star wasn't very bright to begin with. Even when he was at the height of his powers, his star was still dim.

It was as if even the star knew that Hei was still had his human soul even though he was a Contractor.

He was an anomaly.

He was both.

He was everything.

The Doll gave up searching out Hei's star and turned in her chair by the window to look at her sleeping companion. Hei's pale face was smooth with sleep. His ink-black hair looked like coal on cream, spread across the white pillow case and feathered against his sallow cheeks. There was a small bandage on his cheekbone and dark circles under his deep blue eyes. His lids fluttered slightly in his sleep and she suspected he was dreaming again even though he denied it.

Suddenly, Hei lurched up in the bed, hands fisted in the sheets tightly, his mouth half-open in a scream.

The dark starlight played over his body, the shadows pooling in his collarbones and the fine bones of his throat and falling across his dark blue eyes. His body was thin and fragile-looking. His bare chest was wrapped tightly in white bandages, heaving for breath as the vestiges of his dream clung to him. For a long moment, he just sat there until his breathing finally returned to normal. Then, he pushed his dampened hair out of his face and took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Hei," Yin said softly.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Were you dreaming?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Contractors don't dream."

Yin didn't respond. Instead, she turned her gaze back out the window at the glowing white ghost of the beach beyond the glass. Hei swung his legs out of bed and came to sit in the chair across from Yin. They were so close that his bare knees just touched hers. In his black shirt and shorts, he looked almost sickly, but Yin looked that way too. They were almost like twins in the night—both pale and slender and beaten and broken hearted.

"You can go to sleep if you want, Yin," Hei said suddenly.

She turned her pale eyes to him, stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. She stood from the chair at the window and crossed the room in her bare feet. Before they fled to Okinawa, they had stopped quickly to buy new clothes, but she didn't have any pajamas. They had been in too much of a hurry at the time so she had been wearing one of Hei's black tank tops. She now took a clean one from his bag and held it against her chest for a moment as if hesitating.

He wondered why. She had never hesitated before.

Then, in the way that only a Doll could, she stripped down to her panties right in front of him and pulled on the shirt. Hei politely averted his eyes, keeping his gaze out the window so he wouldn't see her creamy thighs or the swell of her small breasts. He didn't turn his head until he heard her slide between the sheets that were probably still warm from his body and get comfortable. (1) She pulled the ribbon from her hair and set it in a small pool in the night stand for the next day.

"Hei," she murmured in the darkness.

"Hmm?"

"You won't go and leave me alone, right?" she asked softly.

"No," he said.

She was quiet for another moment and he relaxed listening to her soft breathing.

"Hei," she said again.

"You should sleep, Yin," he told her.

She shook her head, silver-violet hair feathering on the pillows and framing her thin shoulders. "I can't," she said.

"I'm sure you can," he said patiently.

She shook her head stubbornly. "I want Hei to admit that he was dreaming."

He sighed. "Contractors don't dream, Yin."

"Neither do Dolls," was all she said. Her pale eyes seemed to glow in the dark, watching him.

Hei turned his gaze back out the window and didn't respond, even though she continued to watch him for a long time before finally falling asleep. Outside, the umbrellas on the beach that looked like sweet hard candies during the day looked like dangerous night-blooming flowers under the darkness of the fake sky. His eyes sought out his own star and then looked away into the endless ocean.

…X:X:X…

One of the hardest things about being on the run and having to blend in was that Hei couldn't eat his fill. He could usually eat enough for ten people and lately, he had to eat just enough for one. It didn't even matter that Yin ate as much as a mouse and he got to finish what was on her plate. His stomach growled fiercely and he pressed a hand to it, cursing inwardly, as he stared out the window. Pathetically, he even felt a little weak since it had been so long since he had eaten enough to sustain his body.

"Hei," Yin murmured.

He turned to face her, lowering his hand from his empty stomach. She was standing at the door in her pale blue sundress, wide-brimmed straw hat, and white sandals just waiting patiently for him. They had to keep up the ruse of being a young newlywed couple on their honeymoon so it was time for their twice-daily walk on the beach—once in the morning and once as dusk was falling. Her pale eyes went right into him and he sensed that she knew he was starving, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I'm coming," he said to her.

She inclined her head slightly, silvery-violet hair kissing her cheeks, and stretched out her hand. Hei took it more out of habit than anything else, but Yin's fingers tightened oddly on his. Yet he didn't remark on that either, just like she hadn't said a word about his growling stomach. They had that kind of relationship—they were so used to being together that they hardly needed the words between them anymore. Actually, it probably had more to do with the fact that Yin was a Doll and Hei was a Contractor.

"Let's go," Hei murmured and tugged lightly on her hand.

The beach was a small strip of white sand, cast in deep shadow only by the palm trees and hard-candy-colored umbrellas. Farther up the beach, there was a driftwood log that looked as if it had fallen from a sailing ship thousands of years ago. By now, it was twisted and snarled and barely even resembled a tree anymore, but it was there anyway. Hei figured it was like his humanity. He had been twisted and bent by the things he had done, but he was still human.

He sat down on the log, patient, because Yin always stood at the edge of the ocean as if in a state of awe.

It was probably because Yin's Observer Spirits watched the world through the water and the ocean was the largest source of water anywhere. She probably had a Spirit observing the other side of the world at that very moment. He smiled as she knelt to pick up a whorled conch and pressed it to her ear. She didn't smile and her face remained blank, but he saw the small play of bright happy emotion in her pale eyes. Even though she was a Doll, she had feelings and emotions and made decisions on her own.

The cool salt water lapped against her thighs, wetting the hem of her dress, but she continued to stand there.

He was about to call out to her that the tide was coming in when Yin turned and walked barefoot through the sand towards him. She held out the pink and white conch and Hei took it gingerly from her. For a moment, he studied the conch in his hands and then pressed it against the shell of his ear because she was still staring at him. For a moment, he listened to the false echo of the ocean inside the shell. Once he did this, she pressed one finger to her cheek and lifted the corner of her mouth in half a smile.

"Yin?" he asked.

She shook her head, put her sandals back on, and began to walk away from him. He set the conch delicately down beside the twisted log, stood up, and hurriedly followed her. She reached for his hand and squeezed his fingers tightly again. Her grip was surprisingly strong, damp and cool with the ocean water, but still heated with the life beneath her skin. As before, he didn't say anything and they walked back to the hotel together in silence.

Hei unlocked the door to their room.

Yin went to the window immediately. Outside on the small balcony, there was a basin of water where her Observer Spirit had been watching over everything in their absence. Then, the pale blue human-shaped apparition vanished. "It's safe here," Yin told Hei.

He nodded slightly and sat down on the bed. He was hungry and he was exhausted.

"You should rest, Hei," Yin murmured.

"I'm alright," he lied.

"You've been fighting since we left Tokyo. It's safe here," was all she said.

There was a knock on the door. Hei jolted, his blue eyes racing to the door, but Yin didn't even move. It almost looked as if she wasn't breathing. The knock came again and the manager's voice came through the door. "Room service."

Hei slid his eyes to Yin.

"It's safe here," she repeated.

He opened the door and smiled at the manager. "Yes?"

"Your wife ordered food for you," the manager said and proceeded to push the entire cart into their room. "This is everything, isn't it?" he asked Yin.

She nodded, her face expressionless, but Hei choked on his tongue.

The manager smiled at them, turned, and left.

Hei whirled on Yin. "What did you say when you ordered?"

"Enough for ten people," she said plainly, her pale eyes meeting his without hesitation.

"Yin," he said, exasperated, "We're supposed to be blending in. No one eats this much."

"You do," she said softly and then lifted the silver lid on a large plate of fried rice.

The wonderful scent of food assaulted Hei and he pressed a hand to his stomach to try to keep it from growling like some kind of animal. He tried to glare at her, but he couldn't. he felt weak at the sight of so much food and at the thought of being able to eat as he usually did.

"It's safe here," Yin said one final time. "Please, eat, Hei."

He sank down on the bed, looking from her to the uncovered food and back again. Then, with a sigh that was only partially upset and mostly relief, he lifted a plate of fried rice and began to eat. Yin came to sit beside him, delicately picking up her chopsticks, selected a small piece of sesame chicken, and daintily ate. They sat in silence together, Yin picking neatly at a few morsels of food and Hei finishing everything else. For the first time in a long time, he was finally completely full.

When they finished eating, Yin suggested he rest and he listened to her. He stripped out of his jeans and green shirt, laying both over the back of the chair Yin was sitting in. He pulled on the tank top she had worn to bed the night before because it was folded neatly on the pillow, crawled between the sheets, and slept soundly for several hours. Yin sat beside her sleeping companion's bedside, watching over him and the world outside the window.

He hadn't realized then that she was no longer a Doll, not to him at least.

She had already realized that Hei was far more than a Contractor to her, but she didn't know how to act on it.

All they knew was that they were at least together when everything else had been taken from them. Hei had lost everyone and everything he had ever loved. Yin had lost the piano and her family and even her emotions with those things. And they were both strange. Hei was a Contractor with a human heart and Yin was a Doll full of human emotions.

And, maybe, she somehow loved him even being a Doll.

And, maybe, once the pallor of death and the pain of destruction slid from his shoulders, he would love her too.

X X X

(1) I know in the anime, their room has two beds, but wouldn't it be strange for a married couple on their honeymoon to have two beds? And they're pretending to be married so that they blend in so that didn't make much sense to me. I decided to change it!

And I removed the original mature content that continued from that point due to the trolls. Please join the cause to bring maturity to Fanfiction again. Or read this story and all its updates in its original version on Archive of Our Own.