Chapter Three anddddddd wow, I think...I'm really starting to enjoy this fic now XD If not for the fact that it's easier than I thought, but it's just...amusing. Oh, and the rating might go up on this (possibly) in the future. Yes curse me for working on this at 1AM in the morning. It fullfills what Pressure doesn't (in a way). Also Lenalee is a bit, um, not fangirl-esque but she has a close relationship with Kanda (like brother-sister-ish--Kanda not being the insane!brother, of course) that allows her to tease him without worrying about getting chopped in two.
Note: Color me crazy—okay, I was TOLD I would have good luck on my birthday (by Japanese Fortune Sticks that I looked at yesterday with a friend). Wound up giving my friend (who had never gotten a good fortune) EXCELLENT luck. And now D. Gray Man's back. On my 18th birthday. I-I'm so happy. S-So very happy. I think I'm gonna cry. Or wait—I already am.
Note 2: And again FF is having issues. I'm able to update and everything, but about twice so far I've had on certain fanfics (ex. Pressure, um, and then some of my really old ones) either the reviews go 'missing' or, like for the recent chapters, there aren't any 'views' (like those disappear too). Is that just a glitch? And is FF not sending alerts anymore? -because she's had something updated for a week now, and no one's reviewed, so she's wondering if she needs to edit it, or something to get it to show up again, or whatnot-
Cubwub: -smiles- That makes me happy, and I'm glad you think so! Yes, this is definitely different from Pressure, but I'm glad you're enjoying it all the same. And of course thanks so much for the review! –hugs- And here's the next chapter!
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'What the fuck?' I let out a laugh, loud, disbelieving, it didn't sound like me, 'What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
For a stagnant moment she just stared at me, eyes a mix of emotions, which shouldn't have been. We weren't alone either. Kanda was hiding—just around the corner—I was sure she had heard his footsteps.
Then, slowly, she answered, 'I don't know.' She didn't lower her eyes. She was too proud for that. And now Kanda was just hiding in the shadows, eyes trying to be cold, but maybe not succeeding.
'You don't?' I tried not to smile—to laugh again, 'And why not?'
She hesitated, but for only a split second, "Y'know—that's a good question. One I don't have the answer for."
And Kanda stepped forward, the dim light illuminating him, and his eyes. Hate, Worry, never Fear, and Maybe—maybe something that gave me a heart I couldn't ignore. Maybe.
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"Just make sure he doesn't collapse." I heard him try to explain, but Lenalee wasn't listening. She was too busy staring at the bloodied sheets, eyes unfocusing every few seconds—to mist over with tears—before Lavi tried to rip her attention back to him.
'She's too soft for this.' And she was, 'We've all seen people die before.'
Finder after Finder and—Exorcists too.
'But they didn't bleed,' I reminded myself, 'They turned to dust.' Because for us—that was what death was now. And death by blood—with blood—seemed so unnatural. When, really, blood should be normal, not—not turning into sand. I watched as Lavi reached out and took her head between his hands, snapping it back to him—his voice—and the Moyashi, half-asleep on the bed, red and feverish.
'Weakling.' I turned my head away before I could catch anyone's glance, least of all—Lavi's. He seemed to realize I had been staring and smiled, almost painfully, 'Now isn't the time to get sick.'
Not that I'd say that out loud. I didn't need—'This situation can't get any worse.'
And oh, how I wish the words hadn't left my mouth. "We don't have any rooms to spare." The nurse told us, "I'm—I'm so sorry." But she didn't sound like it—war probably made it that way, "You have to—double up."
"That might be for the best." Lavi murmured, "Allen needs to be watched—to make sure he stays in bed."
"Well then—split up. Choose your partners." Her eyes turned to Lenalee, "though girl's, obviously, room together. We can't afford to waste any hospital rooms either." If Lenalee hadn't been so upset she probably would have blushed.
'Crude, crude nurse.' But then—'Komui would kill us too, if he found out one of us chose to sleep in the same room'
"I concur," Bookman stated slowly, "Allen gets the first room, though, and I believe I'll be the one to stay with him—at least for the first night." He lowered his gaze for a moment, "It seems you lack…an adequate amount of doctors as well."
The nurse didn't seem insulted, 'But when the hell did I ever give a fuck?' Good question—never.
"Okay then—but what about the rest of us?" Lavi asked, only to have the old man shoot him a glare, "I choose?" He read it easily, "D'ah—okay?" He looked around at us before listing off—and his choices went like this.
Lenalee & Miranda (both girl's—"Logically")
Marie & Krory ("Bonds are important for fighting—get to know everyone!")
Bookman & Allen ("Temporary but useful—don't wanna crush ourselves with paperwork")
Kanda & Lavi (I glared at him—but—he grinned right back)
"But what about me?" Timothy had piped up.
"You're small enough y'can sleep with the girls if y'want?" Lavi laughed—the kid scowled, and tried to punch him. But he only managed to get a noggie instead.
"Well then—where would you like to sleep?"
"You're the one choosing?"
"Fine then," Lavi had only glanced at me and grinned again, "You can stay with us. We'll—if you've got a larger room set out, that's the one we'll take. Just need a larger bed though."
The woman nodded her head curtly and—with Lavi helping support most of the Moyashi's weight—and both Lenalee and Miranda hovering right behind him—turned on her heels—leading us straight for our rooms—
which were surprisingly close to the front of the building. And none too far away from the hospital rooms. 'Not that I expected anything less.' We were the intruders—Lavi had so charmingly reminded us—we had to do everything within our power to help—
I let out a near silent sigh as Bookman and Lavi—with the sprout—disappeared into the first room. The one next door—the one the nurse crudely kicked open—was the girl's room. Followed by Krory and Marie—near the back—'Makes sense.'Krory looked like a Vampire—people had stared at him when we arrived—and Marie—'It'd be too noisy.'
"Now you three," the nurse turned to us, almost annoyed, "The only bigger room we have free—it's this way, around the corner." She took us down the first corner past a door with an arrow scrawled on it—and then she, too, kicked it open.
It really was a much bigger room.
"This used to be a fairly nice hotel," she explained, "This was the first of the suites," she pointed to a set of stairs going up—labeled 'fire exit'—"That leads up to the second floor, some of the larger rooms are up there, but we're using them for patients."
Lavi nodded his head in understanding, "Yeah—the more space, the more patients." Then he bowed his head slightly, "Thank you for your time." He smiled, then and the nurse—flustered for…some…odd reason—nodded her head in response, uttering—
"I'll find more blankets, and a mattress for the boy." Timothy immediately pouted—the damn brat—
"why can't I get one bed? They're double aren't they?" He looked at me and then at Lavi, "They can share, can't they?"
'Oh hell no.'
I glanced at Lavi, who actually seemed to be thinking the idea over.
'Damn he thinks too much when he doesn't fuckin' need to.' I cast him a glare but again he ignored it.
Then, a second later, he smiled, "That doesn't seem like a bad idea—don't wanna take an extra bed when we don't need one." He looked over at me, as if daring me to question him—
And with a nurse here
And wounded
I felt like if I disagreed—
'Tch,'I shrugged my shoulders as nonchalantly as I could, which caused Lavi to smile even more, and the woman to relax—slightly.
'This is going to be much longer than I thought.' I groaned inwardly, watching as she turned to leave and—in the next moment—Timothy running over to claim one of the beds—bouncing on it like—
"Oi! Don't act so damn fuckin' happy." I hissed—and all he did was stick out his tongue.
'Correction. This is going to be ten times longer than I thought.'
But in the long run it didn't make any difference. I knew that—but—didn't mean I had to agree with it.
-------(Lavi's POV)-------
Kanda was pissed—to put it bluntly. Very, very pissed. Snappish, boarish, and maybe I thought—for a split second—that I should've just shut Timothy up before he had uttered those words—
'But with the amount of wounded that might come in—they need all the beds they can get.' My eyes narrowed as Kanda moved towards Tiny Tim—eyes glaring dangerously close to predatorial—
"Yuu—don't." He shot me a searing glare, "They don't have any room for us if we get hurt. You damn as well know it."
He returned the glare with just as much force behind it, but then, abruptly, turned away, "che."
And Timothy just continued to bounce on it, grinning like he'd been given a whole box of chocolates—that only he had to share—'They didn't have much, at the orphanage.' Sure I had been told everything about the kid—the place was almost bankrupt when they found him, 'I don't think they had time to give everyone chocolate.'
Not that I would've minded, 'kids, plus chocolate—never a good thing.'
"So this is your room," I didn't jump, but Timothy sure as heck did when Bookman popped his head in through the door, his beady little eyes narrowing, "Good—Lavi, need to talk to you."
'Aww, great.' I let out a sigh, "Right, right, Gramps." I looked at Timothy, who had stopped bouncing, eyes wide, like he thought he'd get in trouble—Kanda, just looked annoyed.
"If you're leavin' I'm getting the fuck out." He hissed.
"Well you're going to have to stay." The Old Panda answered for me, "It's not…safe—shall we say?—yet. Now Lavi—hurry, I was just speaking with Komui and," he trailed off, giving me another pointed glare.
I just shrugged my shoulders, and began following him out the door. When I passed Yuu, I gave him another warning look. He chose to look away, though, at the last minute, muttering, "Che" again before going over to the bed—
'He always sleeps on the left, by the window,' I noted, 'Need to keep that in mind.'
But once we stepped out of the room—into the hall—and once I brought the door to a soft shut behind me—
Bookman didn't sound too happy, "Our room arrangement's only temporary. Allen will get better."
That wasn't good. But—well—"Of course he will!"
"When he does Kanda and I will switch—Timothy will go with them." He replied, curtly, "After all, they know nothing about a situation like this."
"I wouldn't say they're that dumb." I retorted back, not even thinking—"They've seen death before—" but dammit I knew it wasn't the same—
"It isn't the same and you know it." He glared at me, as if—as if he expected to whack me over the head-or generally beat the ever living shit out of me—but then he decided against, "You know it." He instead repeated.
I scratched the back of my head, "Yeah—I do, don't I? But where're we going?" I was vaguely aware of the different 'unpacking' sounds taking place in the rooms around me. 'Damn if this isn't a nice hotel though.' Untouched—unscathed—'almost unnatural.'
Almost except for the still bloodied sheets being carried into the lobby. Another death, apparently. Another failed removal of a bullet—'Even now it isn't easy. 'Specially with a shot to the head.' I grimaced inwardly, at the thought.
But that bit of war normal-ness wasn't enough to ease my caution on the place.
And from the way the old man was walkin'—he had a pretty damn good idea not to trust the place either.
That definitely wasn't a good thing.
------(Kanda's POV)-------
"The bathroom smells funny." I felt my eye twitch as the kid came back in the room. I didn't even turn to look at him, "Really—it smells funky. Like—like that stuff they use on our clothes."
I didn't know what the hell 'they' used on his clothes, I just concentrated harder on staring out of the small window. I had pulled the curtains back—to let some sunlight in, even though the sun was setting, and it was too cloudy—but we didn't get a very good view. Just a backyard that looked like it hadn't been tended to in a while—
'Figures they'd neglect something in a gaudy place like this.' Nice beds, nice sheets, clean everything—it was definitely one of the better hotels we ever stayed in, 'But it's going to be hell.'
I just knew it was.
The kid had come closer, "Why're you staring like that?" I saw his reflection in the mirror, looking more smug than curious, "You see somethin'? Or are you just staring?"
I didn't want to respond.
"Why're you ignoring me?"
'This is why I hate kids.' No barrier—none at all between their mind and mouth—their thoughts leaked out constantly—
"You are ignoring me, aren't you?"
'No, really?' I rolled my eyes and shifted a bit—
"Jeez, you're boring!"—'Do I want to be interesting to you? No.'—"I'm bored! Why do we have to stay here? It's not like that redhaired rabbit guy can do anything!"
I turned to look at him—the last damn thing we needed was for the damn brat to go missing. Especially in a damn war zone—well, refugee camp, but—it was impractical.
"You'd be surprised." I didn't know why I chose to speak then—but he was goddammit at the door now, and I didn't want to get blamed for something that could've been prevented.
"Really?" The kid turned his head back to me now, "What makes you so sure?"
I shrugged, "Che—if he doesn't do something then that old man will."
"That old guy?" He let out a laugh, "The guy that looks like a panda? What the hell's he going to do? Lecture me?"
'Ah, right. He hasn't seen—'
"Much worse." He looked intrigued now, "He's beaten the crap out of Lavi just for not listening."—'Though that almost seems intentional now'—since I knew the redhead probably could avoid the old guys movements—but then—'Why the fuck do I care?' because I didn't.
This seemed to amuse the brat even more, "Really? But—he's old." I didn't respond to that, so he added on, "But they're off to check on Allen." The only person he'd actually say their name nicely—Allen, the damn Moyashi.
"If you think so." I shrugged my shoulders, "But I wouldn't try to sneak past them."
"I'm good at sneaking."
My eyes narrowed, and my eye twitched again, "Yes but—that's the only exit." The only obvious one, anyway.
He thought that over, "I'll find a way."
"No you won't."
Before he could get his hand back around the doorknob—I was already there, dragging him back. "Hey!" he yelped, shocked—struggling—
"Do you goddammit want to hurt yourself?" I hissed out, throwing the kid on the bed.
"What the fuck do you care for?" he rubbed his wrist, "Mr. Stoic Japanese bastard dude who looks like a girl."
'Keep calm, keep calm, don't—you can't, there aren't enough rooms, there aren't—there—'
-------(Noise's POV)-------
"That can't be good." I murmured, standing up immediately, and concentrating harder on the sound—a loud thump, coming from down the hall, and around the corner.
"What isn't?" Krory stepped up to me, coats rustling loudly, but not loud enough to clearly hear the sound, "What's wrong?"
"Kanda's angry." I said, simply, and I heard him grunt ever so slightly, either annoyed, or worried, or maybe even scared—because I knew him, had known the boy since he was ten—of course he'd scared the shit out of people a few times.
"I-I see…at Lavi?" Came Krory's hesitant, if not a bit protective, response, "They're sharing a room just down the hall."
I nodded my head, "I know, but—I heard Lavi walk by a few minutes ago. Isn't the new boy staying with them?"
"Ah—yes, yes he is." Another hesitant answer, "He's just a kid though."
"Kanda doesn't share those sentiments." And unfortunately those words were more than true. He couldn't stand them, within any stretch of the imagination. Everything they did annoyed him—he wouldn't even touch babies.
"I figured as much." Krory let out a loud sigh, "I-do you think we should go check? I know they said we shouldn't really leave our rooms yet, but,"
"I'm sure they won't mind if we visit each other." I walked to the door, finding the doorknob and turning it slightly—waiting for the click before pushing it open.
Another loud crash and a child-like yelp.
And—
"Oh! Noise!" Lenalee, somewhere directly in front of me—I hoped I hadn't scared her, but then her heartbeat already seemed too fast, "You're—checking on Kanda too?"
I nodded my head, "Yes, I—"
"That's good." She cut me off, "I know he'll listen to me, but you might need to restrain him."
"R-Restrain?" Krory muttered, nervously, under his breath.
"Yes," Lenalee said, all too happy with a hint of worry—she was trying to smile, "Unfortunately I think we'll have to."
"Sorry, Sorry!" I heard the younger voice yelp loudly, "What the hell's your problem?!"
But there weren't any more crashes—and—I heard booted footsteps too.
"What the hell," It was Lavi, I recognized his voice anywhere. And his heartbeat—no matter how expressive his words were—his heart was always calm. "Yuu—I thought I told him not to beat the crap outta the kid."
"Lavi?" That was the Bookman, coming from the same room they left Allen in.
"I'll be back in a sec," Lavi called, "We don't want Kanda ta kill the kid now do we?"
Bookman grunted in that agreeing—but annoyed—way of his, before turning back to the room. But he left the door open.
"Good God how the fuck did you get to be an 'Exorcist'" I flinched at the sound of the kids voice, taunting the title, "with that fuckin' temper?"
The kid definitely didn't have the nicest of voices.
Lavi let out an annoyed sigh, "You all heard it too, eh?"
"Yes," Lenalee was probably nodding at him, "Miranda, um, said she'd stay behind—it startled her so much."
"Then I'll make 'im apologize." He was grinning, it was so easy to tell, "Sound like a good idea Marie?"
I nodded my head.
"If Allen was okay—he'd scold 'im too." Lavi laughed this time, he always laughed even if this wasn't really any sort of funny, "But—yeah," his hurried bootsteps rushed past me, "This-a-way."
And we followed him, the sound of his footsteps, around an unfamiliar corner, in front of the second door on the left.
He kicked the door open—loudly—and then he groaned, "Yuu-chan!"
"What?" said teen snapped, irritated beyond reason.
"Good lord—don't trash the fuckin' room just to get to the kid." He said most of that under his breath, but then, "Any broken bones, Tiny-Tim?"
"Don't call me that." The kid growled, "I'm bruised all over—my body hurts!"
"Well—" I had the distinct feeling Lavi had been going to say something entirely different from the words that popped into his mouth, "that's definitely not good. Yuu—he's just a kid."
"So?" Another snap.
"You shouldn't treat a kid like that!" Another unfazed response.
"How the fuck would you know?"
"Common sense, Yuu-chan." I heard the laughter in his voice as he called him by the girlish nickname—
'When did that habit pick up?' I didn't know, nor was now the time to be asking. "He's right, Kanda. I don't know what he did but, please,"
Kanda let out a sigh, his heartbeat slowing slightly as he calmed down, but he remained silent, instead of choosing to explain himself. Which would have made things easier—but this was Kanda, after all. The stoic teen didn't make things easy. If he did, then—then—
I didn't know.
-------(Timothy's POV)-------
"aww, jeez, if I'd known you'd try ta kill th' kid I woulda taken 'im with me."
'Yeah—he really did try to kill me.' My heart beat—I didn't—not even the Akuma scared me as much as—as much as—
'Oh you were scared shitless.' Divine Possession laughed, floating easily beside me, 'Though in all honesty, he is quite creepy, isn't he?'
"Don't need you to tell me that." I gritted my teeth and used the wall for support—"My head's killin' me."
"Jeez, jeez," the redhead—Bookman's apprentice, Junior, whatever, walked up to me, worried, and then knelt down, "Your head—y'might have a concussion. Where's it hurt?"
I wanted to say 'everywhere' just to get on the damn guys nerve—and maybe—
'Oh I don't think he'll feel bad. You did call him girly.'
I wanted to respond to that but—he was standing right in front of me and—I learned the hard way, they couldn't see him. It. Him, "I—the back." I answered instead, and immediately that's where his hand went. He let out a soft hiss, and pulled his hand away—for a second I thought I'd see blood, but there was none.
"Good, no blood," he sighed, "but y've got a nasty bump." He looked back over his shoulder at the girly-man, "Yuu—y'gotta be more careful."
The guy just crossed his hands over his chest and 'che'd' at us. And immediately the big—scary—black guy walked up to him, and whispered something that I didn't hear—
'Don't want to.' Divine Possession corrected.
So what? Is what I would have said.
"Geh, I know it hurts but no need to make a face like that." The redhead murmured—not offended, not even—just the same expression, but with his eyebrow raised—like he was expecting something.
"I know, but,"
"Stupid kids." I heard the girly-guy muttered, turning his head away, "Complain about every damn fuckin' thing."
"I do not." I retorted loudly, trying to stand again—but my vision swirled at the movement.
'Too fast.' Divine Possession tried to reach out, but stopped. It was my innocence, yeah, but, if I randomly got helped up by nothing then—
"Woah there, too fast," the redhead repeated, "Sit for a second. If you can walk fine, then y'just need to take it easy. If not, then we need some ice." He thought that over for a second, "Actually—we might need ice anyway, but getting some isn't going to be easy. We'll have to ask a nurse." He turned back to look at the others in the room—
Which made me realize how small this room was. Along with the big-black guy, there was this guy with the vampire teeth I had been introduced to—and then that insanely sweet girl.
'That you don't like.'
Again I wanted to respond enough—enough to make him shut up—but—
'You're the one who said you wanted me here. I can leave if you want me to.' Divine Possession murmured in that flippant way of his, 'Besides—it doesn't seem like any Akuma will appear. Not immediately at first, and you need to rest up for it.'
But—
'You agreed to come with them—and you were dragged here because you initially agreed. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon, even if it's just for practice.' His face contorted for a second, 'Though I really don't like the fact that you'll have to use humans. I won't be able to eat them.'
I tried hard not to let the shock show, but—but—"You sure you're okay?" the eye-patch guy patted me lightly on the shoulder, and I stood just a bit straighter because of it.
"I'm fine." I gritted out, taking a step away from him and the wall. I wasn't dizzy anymore, "I just—stood up to fast. My head'll be fine."
"Good." I looked back at him and he grinned, slightly, "Your headband's lopsided." But before I could reach up and fix it again, his big hands were there, fixing it himself. I tried not to notice when his eyes focused on the tattoo—which thankfully wasn't a damn orb now, but still—plastered on my forehead. He pulled his hand away a second later, though, and grinned a little softer. "There—all fixed."
Then he straightened up—he was tall—taller than the girly guy, and much taller than me—and turned to the others, "I don't think they'll mind if we borrow some ice, right?" He looked hesitant though, like he really didn't want to ask.
"I'll be fine." I probably said that too angrily, but it didn't matter. He gave me a quizzical look, "See? I'm standing, an' walking fine!" I grinned, and he looked impressed.
"Well if you say so." He agreed easily, mimicking my grin with a similar one, "But y'need to be careful and rest."
'But that means I'll be stuck in here!' I didn't know what face I made, but he ignored it—instead, turning to the girly guy.
"Now Yuu," the guy stiffened again, and glared, "whaddya say?"
"The brats fine."
He sighed, "No, Yuu—not that."
"Then what?" He glared and—his grip tightened on his sword thing. He called it Mugen. Or something.
'Oh my,' Divine Possession grinned, 'He's going to attack his friend?'
"They're friends?" But I muttered it low enough—and they were too distracted—everyone was tense now, but not like this was new—watching…
As Kanda pointed Mugen roughly at me, "He's fuckin' fine. What the fuck do I have to apologize for?"
"Because!" The redhead held his hands up—like that was really going to stop Mugen from slicing him the hell in half, "You need to!"
"No I fuckin' don't."
"Yeah you do. Just apologize." I didn't see how it happened—
Divine Possession did, though, and started to laugh, 'Did you see that?'
I saw the after product. A swiped sword then—Lavi trying to back up—but the room was small and there were too many people—and the big black guy tried to stop the pretty-boy—but—
Then the old guy. The really really 'he isn't dead yet' old guy—the panda—popped his head in. "Lavi," he coarsely called out, irritated, before surprised, but then not. "Stupid apprentice" I heard him mutter under his breath, stepping into the room—into the space that was now between Kanda and a freaked out Lavi.
"Everything's fine here?" He glanced around—I didn't know but—
'He's looking at everything.' Divine Possession, again, impressed.
"What?"
"You're fine aren't you." He turned to me at the sound of my voice, eyes harsh and—I gulped nervously and nodded. "Good, then, Lavi." He turned to the eye-patch, who had calmed down now. Or his face wasn't so—so weird.
"I know, I know." He straightened his head band a bit—touching his eye patch, like he was making sure the pretty-boy didn't hack it in half—"Allen's good?"
"Well enough." He sounded offended, "But,"
'He's rooming with Allen isn't he?' from what I remembered—when he assigned rooms.
'Which was only a few minutes ago.' I tried hard not to glare, but only half succeeded. No one was paying attention to me anyway.
But—wait—
"I don't wanna stay cooped up all day!" Lavi was just about to step through the doorway, but he stopped. The old guy did too, but with a glare.
"Don't worry." The redhead grinned, "You'll be able to."
"Lavi." The old man hissed.
"Tomorrow—maybe. So just—wait today, okay?" His smile looked so convincing. But this just seemed to make the old guy mad—and he said, louder—
"Lavi."
"I know, gramps." He didn't even waste a second in his response, "going, going. And Kanda—"
The pretty-guy looked up, annoyed, but he still looked.
"Put Mugen away."
And—and—and—
When the redhead, stepped through the doorway and—when the girl, and Dracula looked at him—
He did.
-------(Kanda's POV)-------
"What?" I snapped, glaring at each of them. Immediately Krory retreated, but Lenalee just stood there, staring at me, and then at Mugen, which was now sheathed.
I hated it when the damn Rabbit made sense—sense enough for me to listen. Always made people gawk—'But I'm sure as hell not gonna apologize.' I didn't have a reason to—the damn kid said he was fine, and he sure as hell lookedl ike he was fine. Well, except when he glared at the ceiling for all it's worth.
"Kanda," Lenalee let out a sigh, and I felt Marie's hands grasp my shoulders.
'Aw, shit.' I didn't know what was going to happen, but—
"Krory, head back to our room." Noise gently ordered, "and…Timothy, is it?" the kid jerked in surprise—looking almost as afraid of Noiseas he did Bookman, "why don't you go with him? You need to rest…undisturbed, for a while."
He more than happily complied, but kept his distance from Krory, slipping through the door first, as Krory held the door open. But before he shut it, he turned to us again, "Um, should I…?"
"Close it." Lenalee smiled.
"Ah, um, yes," and the door was shut a second later.
"Now," Marie's hands went slack, and he dropped them from my shoulders, "what did he say?"
"What do you think?" Marie knew—of course he knew.
"He called you a girl." My head sank just a bit, but I didn't miss the sudden red that splashed across Lenalee's pale face.
"He…did?"
I nodded, and Marie—goddammit, "That's not funny!"
But he kept that serene smile on his lips, "Yes but, he's just a child."
"That's why." I snapped back, taking a few steps to my bed, before sitting on it.
"Still," Lenalee took a few steps forward, glancing at the space next to me on the bed, before sitting down next to me, "You—it's not—ahh," She knew she couldn't really say anything. She accused me of it too. Or. Not accused—but thought—I was—at first—
"Che,"
"I'm sorry." She deflated, "But—he's justa kid. I-I was too, and you forgave me."
And dammit Marie looked amused. He really had way too much damn fun—even for a blind person.
I let out a sigh, "Yes I did. But that was different." She cocked her head to the side in that 'really?' sort of way that just made me sigh louder, "How old am I now? And how old is he?"
"Um, you're eighteen and he's, um," she hesitated, looking at Marie who shrugged his shoulders, "I'd guess around ten? Maybe? But," she trailed off…
And I rolled my eyes, "See?"
She bit her lip, brushing her short hair back behind her ear, "Y-yeah. I guess it would be insulting."
"Tch," that's all I needed to say—it was obvious.
"But you still listened to Lavi."—
Then Marie had to go and point that out.
"And?"
"You normally wouldn't do that." Lenalee continued, "Granted you try to stab him," she paused before adding on, "again. But—still."
"He made sense." I tried to shrug it off, "That's all."
And they both stared at me.
And stared at me.
"What?"
"Nothing." They both said, nearly in unison.
"I'll go bring Timothy back," Marie murmured, turning his head slightly to Lenalee in his form of goodbye, before heading towards the door, and, again, closing it behind him once he was through.
"Now," Almost immediately—and Lenalee turned fully to me. "Your hair tie." I didn't get a chance to respond before her hands were on my shoulders and she turned me—and I let her—so she could see it clearly. "I still can't see it." She mumbled, more to herself than me—but like she wanted me to hear her—and then I felt her hands in my hair, loosening—
Then she had it, in her hands—when I looked back—and my hair, was loose around my shoulders.
I let out a low growl, which she ignored, instead choosing to hold the damn hair tie up to the fuckin' light just so she could see it better.
Then she smiled, "This really is pretty, where'd you get it?" She cocked her head to the side again, and smiled sweetly, holding it out so I could see it.
And—well—
It was nice. Nicer than I thought it'd be—for a small little trinket shop you'd think would sell crap. But—it also—
"It has a lotus." She said, handing it to me, "see? Here?" she pointed to roughly the center, and sure enough, with exactly ten visible petals, was a lotus. Or at least, the silver-outline of one. "It must've taken lots of skill to get something like that on something so small."
"Hnn," Didn't want to say I agreed, because then—
"Where'd you find it?" Well, she went and asked anyway, "I mean—I'm pretty sure you didn't have it on the Ferry…"
I knew I wouldn't be able to get a word in, so I left my mouth shut.
A few minutes passed—then—
"Well?" She raised an elegant eyebrow, "Are you going to tell me? Or—am I going to have to assume someone bought it for you?" She cocked her head to the side, "Not that anyone would buy anything for you—much less have you accept it—because then that has to mean something, doesn't it?" she let out a slight giggle, "I mean—Kanda Yuu, accepting a present from someone. Did they—did they mistake you for a girl too?"
"No!" I saw the glint in her eyes a second too late—she was teasing me. And I had just made it worse.
"Really? Then you bought it for yourself? But then that's not like you either." She shifted a bit on the bed, tucking her feet underneath her, smiling faintly, head cocked to the side, "You don't normally buy yourself anything—what's the occasion?"
"There is none."
'Shit.' I set my jaw even more rigid, 'I'm making everything so fucking worse just by openin' my damn mouth.'
Now I just knew she wouldn't stop, and, with that—that—
I had to remind myself she was Komui's younger sister. They had to share blood somehow—and goddammit why—
Why
Why
Why the ever fucking why
Did it have to be this way?
This inane—
Inane—
Teasing.
'I hate being teased.' I set my jaw even firmer, and, even though she had stopped giggling, the laughter was still there in her eyes, along with that disturbing glint, 'Like her brother and his…experiments…'
Experiments that, no matter how many times you fuckin' tried—they always came back to haunt you, somehow, someway. 'It's like a fucking curse.'
Good looks were like that too.
A curse—fuck, if I had been born ugly I would have preferred it.
"You're scowling, Kanda," I jolted when she placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to sound concerned, but sounding amused all the same, "did some stalker come up behind you and—" she halted her voice, stopped, coughed lightly, "I mean—it can't be that bad can it? You'd beat the ever living snot out of them if they tried—"
I let out a loud sigh, "No." I implored, "Your imagination's almost as bad as your brothers."
She looked semi offended by that but brushed it off, "Well what am I supposed to guess when you won't say anything? Or should I make something up?"
My face paled, "No."
"So you'll tell me?"
'Fuck.'
Her eyes were practically gleaming now, "Please? Or do I need to go find Lavi and ask him."
"No," the word slipped out, a little more forcefully this time.
"But he was with you the entire time." She pointed out, "he should know, after all he's supposed to keep track of stuff like that, isn't he?"
It was one of the few times I ever heard her directly talk about his "Book man" habits. She hardly ever did—but—that—that was beside the point.
"Tch, I seriously doubt he was paying that much attention."
"Really?" she sounded thoughtful, mockingly so, "I really don't think he'd miss something that obvious. Though he didn't say anything about it—" her eyes lit up a little more, but instead of asking the question—making the comment I knewwas hidden there—she instead, smiled, a little more mischeviously, and asked, "You're sure?"
I nodded my head, before halting the movement. I could tell—anything I did now, could and would be used against me.
"Why does it fuckin' matter?" I reached behind me to tie my hair back up again, but she grabbed it from my hand before I could.
"Of course it matters! It's so pretty!" I felt my eyetwitch, and she noticed, "I-I mean it suits you. Whoever bought it for you must have really good tastes." Suddenly her expression turned scolding, "And if you haven't thanked them yet, then you should."
"Tch, if someone bought it for me, they'd probably be long gone by now." I tried hard not to roll my eyes, "It was a fuckin' port town after all."
Her scowl set just a bit deeper, "Yes but," then it was wiped clean, replaced by a confident expression, "someone did pay for it."
'Double shit.'
"I—"
"You said someone bought it."
"I said if—I didn't say they did."
"You never said they didn't." she quickly pointed out, clucking her tongue and holding the elaborate hair tie up, "I'm surprised you could get something that fancy here. I mean—I'm sure you can but," she trailed off, "It takes a good eye to find treasure, you know."
"So? They could've gotten lucky."
"Not just for the hair tie, Kanda." Something in her voice made warning bells go off in the far reaches of my mind—which wasn't that big, thank God, I didn't need to think about some useless crap—just sword fighting, how to survive—instincts.
"What the fuck are you talking about."
"Yeah, what are you talking about?" We both jumped—Lenalee more so than me, of course—as Lavi stepped in, his boots heavy against the floor, hair windswept, his headband down, for some reason…
He looked between us before focusing on the hairtie in Lenalee's hand, "Oh! You're tlakign about that?" he sounded amused—
'Shit, fucking dammit.'
"No we weren't."
"Yes we were."
We glared at each other through the garbled words.
Which just seemed to confuse the stupid redhead even more, "Eh? Are you? Or aren't you?" I opened my mouth again, but he cut me off, "Ladies first."
Lenalee smiled gratefully at him, "We were." She held it up, "I just wanted to know who bought it—since I noticed it at the port."
"Really?" Even more amusement there.
"yeah," she nodded her head firmly, "I mean—you were with him right?" he didn't answer but she already knew he had dragged me off so we had to have stuck together at least marginally, "did you see someone buy this for him?"
He contemplated that for a split second, walking over to us before holding the hair tie up, "Yeah—actually, I did. It's really nice isn't it?"
Lenalee nodded her head in agreement, and slowly, slowly, I felt myself shrink further and further away from them.
"Ooh—and the pattern too, it fits." His smile was an all out grin now.
"exactly, I was just taking a better look at it now." Again Lenalee agreed, "So I wanted to ask him who bought it for him—since they obviously have good taste, and I—I mean, he should thank them right?"
"Yeah, he should." Lavi wholeheartedly agreed—grin nearly splitting across his face.
'Shit, shit, shiiiiit.'
"So—did you see who gave it to him? I mean, just their face or something." Lenalee continued on, "We might not be able to find them, but we might."
"Yeah, you might." His grin eased a bit, "Actually, I think you won't have any problems finding him."
At her confused look, he answered, "Because—the person who bought it for him was me."
She opened her mouth to say something—but then, the door banged open again—'He closed it?' but the thought passed briefly—
And there standing in the door way was that fucking brat again, breathing hard, "I don't know what the hell you adults're talking about, but—Allen just got worse." Lenalee's eyes buldged, Lavi just turned his head—and—
"Well?" he had already turned around again, "what the hell're you waiting for?" his eyes lingered at bit longer on me, "and geez, you act so offended," his voice rose an octave and he made a fucking—flipping hand motion—that—that—"But you sure as hell play the damn part."
'God damn fucking brat—' before I could get farther than maybe a few steps from the bed—the fucking—"Let me go dammit!"
"What did I say." Lavi's voice—right in my ear, and—"He's just a kid, Yuu, calm down."
"How the fuck can I calm down?"
"Neh, I dunno." He didn't shrug his shoulders but I could tell he wanted to, "But you do look good with your hair down."
And the fucking worst thing about it was—Lenalee heard. I knew she heard. She had to of heard—
'How the fuckin' hell'm I going to live this down?'
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End of chapter 3, and I swear the most recent DGM chapter (chapter 179) severely helped out with Timothy's POV. Also made me like him even more XD Now then—doesn't this fic have a little more hints in it? Hmm, methinks it does, but eh, up to the eye of the beholder, as they say. Also, Marie's POV was extremely fun to do too, since you'd think it wouldn't be that descriptive, but it is in a different way.
As always: have questions? Comments? Loved it? Have CC--send it via review! Since, of course, that's how I know people read my stuff, and it's the only way I know to update!
EDIT: -whacks FF- it went and didn't save any edits I made to this chapter XP So HUGE Thank you to The Hecateae for taking the time to find them for me/list them in her review . -can't believe she DIDN'T go back and check to see if FF saved the changes- gaaah...
Now I'm off to open birthday presents XD
