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In which Miranda and Kanda have a 'date'
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Miranda arose brightly the next day, feeling lighter than she had done for a long time. 'Who knows,' she thought to herself, 'this could even be… love.' She smiled widely, then looking at herself in the mirror noticed to her horror, a small bite mark on her neck. It was an off-purple reddish colour, and looked rather.. horrid, she thought.
After she dressed in her uniform, she looked through her case, and found her compact of pressed powder, and tried her best to conceal it. Sighing as she looked at herself in the mirror, she delved back into the case and pulled out lipstick, in shades of pink, eyeshadow, in blues, pinks and other pastels, and a tube of black mascara. Gently she applied some of the palest blue shadow to her eyes, with a small smudge of pink lipstick to her lips. She pressed them together and smiled. She looked better already! She quickly applied a coat of mascara to her lashes and fixed her collar to hide the mark more, fluffed her hair up a little more, then, picking up Kanda's now mended coat, woefully smiled at her pin cushioned fingertips and walked out of her room, to tap on Kanda's door to see if he was awake yet.
'Kanda-kun? Kanda-kun? Are you awake yet?' she said softly through the door, tapping on it. Her only response was a muffled groan, which earned an extra flush of colour to her cheeks, as she still had last night on her mind. 'Kanda-kun? I'm coming in, its me, Miranda' she said a little louder, pushing the door. Surprisingly he'd left it unlocked. Maybe he'd fallen asleep right after she'd left. She glanced around, seeing his towel still laying abandoned on the floor from last night, and her eyes trailed towards the bed, where he was still sleeping soundly.
With a click of her tongue, not in annoyance, more in surprise he wasn't awake, she softly walked to one side of the bed, draping his coat over the chair in the room as she went. She was amazed she didn't trip over his heavy leather boots, as there was little light in the room, thanks to the Hessian curtains they use in the Inns to ensure travellers get as much sleep as their body needs, not how much the sun dictates to them.
He was sleeping on the left side of the bed, facing inwards. She leaned over, pushing strands of her hair out of her eyes, and was graced with the most angelic looking sleeping Kanda.. Looking at him laying there, with his left arm outstretched from under him, his right tucked up under his head, her heart melted in an instant. She couldn't bare to wake him, so she tiptoed, quietly from the room, shutting the door, and wandered down into the dining area of the Inn, eager to seek out a cup of coffee, and maybe something small to eat.
Possibly 10 to 15 minutes later Kanda strode in, and Miranda eyed him over the steam of her coffee, smiling to him when he noticed her. Of course he had his usual sullen expression on but Miranda didn't mind. She knew it was just his way of being, as hers was to be anxious and always nervous. Oddly today his mood had a calming effect on her, whereas before she would have felt as though she were treading egg shells.
'Eating anything this morning, Kanda-kun? The porridge is quite nice, and I believe the jam was made with cloudberry, very sweet' she smiled sweetly at him. He looked at her with an air of indifference, then stood to go order something to eat. When he came back, he had exactly what she had recommended.
'I usually never eat anything but Soba for breakfast. But I doubt that they serve it here at all, never mind for breakfast.' he stated quietly, picking up his spoon and dipping it into the sweet, milky oat cereal. Miranda watched him with interest, sipping her coffee, as he chewed the oats, and swallowed slowly. The only apparent indication he liked it was the tiniest of murmurs that sounded like 'mmm', and the fact he loaded up his spoon again after he'd swallowed the first mouthful.
She wondered if he'd noticed the small effort she had made with the makeup, and in embarrassment her hand went up to her neck where the bite was. The small hand gesture was not lost on Kanda, who wondered what was wrong with her neck, 'Maybe an insect bite?' he thought to himself, with all the innocence he did not have the previous night. He noticed her makeup though, thought it made her look very different. A tug of attraction was quickly sealed away as he spooned up another mouthful of this strange oat stuff.
After breakfast, they set off through the town in search of the Innocence. Luckily Toma had been scouting the day before they arrived, and they managed to pinpoint its location in a large, wooden structure on Kizhi island, on Lake Onega. The structure was in fact, a church. Although this massive domed structure looked less like a church then either of them had imagined.
Miranda gazed in awe at the fantastic building as their little boat crossed the lake to grant them access to the island. Kanda paid little notice to the buildings or Miranda, he was too busy trying to avoid the damned infernal rocks in the water. When the boat had landed on the side of the island, he jumped off before picking Miranda up by the waist, eliciting a squeal of shock from her. 'Id rather lift you out than have you fall in the water' he said by way of explanation.
They walked up to the huge church, Miranda activating Time Record as she walked, the huge globe of golden glowing clock faces covered the entire island. They hoped they would find what they were looking for..
Several hours later they returned to their boat, thankfully there had been only a few Level One Akuma there to dispatch, which Kanda did in seconds. Miranda carefully stowed the Innocence in a small pouch on her belt, and they made their way back to the shore at the other side, hopeful for a shower and some warm food. The Russian air was cuttingly cold, and they both couldn't wait to get close to a warm fire.
'After we have something to eat and clean up, shall we explore the town before heading home? We have a whole day ahead of us now' Miranda asked quietly. 'Fine' was Kanda's one word response, which amazed Miranda, and she had to make sure she had heard him right. He was allowing himself time away from being on the job? She didn't know what had come over Kanda the past day or so. He'd gone from being an absolute… well, impossible to reach person, to being.. friendly. Most people would probably been unnerved by this attitude alteration, but Miranda simply decided that even the grumpiest of teenagers could want to be happy at some point.
After a shower and a light dinner of a local traditional dish which Kanda conceded was also nice, they made their way out, still in their exorcist's garb. After all, they were still on the job and danger was still very much on the agenda with the Innocence fragment still in Miranda's belt compartments.
She happily wandered next to his side, and when she saw a beautiful pottery vase, she touched his arm gently, saying she was going to go look at it. Kanda was inwardly surprised at the gentle gesture she had made, thinking she must be getting a little less shy finally. With a nod he followed behind her to the market stall, with the various shapes and sizes of vases, all painted different colours.
'I think I might buy one.. just a small one, as a present for Lenalee.' she smiled at the different ones, trying to find one she thought Lenalee might like. Kanda looked over them, pretty nonplussed. They didn't interest him, these strange trinkets. What was their use besides sitting there? Completely ornamental and not worth his time. 'Oh, what about that one, Kanda-kun?' Miranda queried, and when Kanda followed her pointed finger, he saw a small vase, no more than half a hand high, painted jet black with red flowers on it.
Those same flowers again.. Just like the ones he always saw in front of his face.. 'Like I'd know anything about this stuff, Miranda' he said, trying to hide how unnerved the flower made him feel, without any care to hide his impatience. He wished he hadn't agreed to going out, that they were waiting for the train back to HQ. He hated to waste time doing pointless things. And that damned flower, a constant reminder.. But Miranda wasn't to know, why did he snap at her like that.. Che..
His tone hadn't gone unnoticed by Miranda. She straightened up and looked him in the eyes as best she could, being a good head shorter than him. Kanda blushed at how close she suddenly was, he could smell her lavender perfume again, and all he could see were her beautiful brown eyes studying him, and those pink lips.. aching to be kissed. She looked surprised at his sudden changes in attitude, swinging from angry to indifferent, wondering what was going on in that mind of his, that she still could not read. And she probably would never be able to, a small voice said sadly in her head.
He noticed her sudden sad expression and cursed himself, although he wasn't sure why. Why should he feel as if it was his fault he made her look so upset? He hadn't done anything, just said the truth, he wasn't interested in those damned stupid vases. And he hated that flower so damned much.. He couldn't help it..
'If you think Lenalee will like it, then I'll buy it for her for you' he said quietly, surprising himself. Why did he care so much? Why? But it had worked. Her expression cleared and she smiled radiantly at him.
'Thank you, Kanda-kun, but you don't have to buy it, I'm sure Lenalee wouldn't have use for something like that anyway, on second thoughts. Lets go back to the Inn, ok?'
Thinking to himself how he would never understand women, he nodded and pretended not to notice when she linked her arm in his. It felt nice, although he would never admit this to anyone.
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Just a quick authors note, Im going to be away til Sunday now so I'm afraid no more til Sunday for you all! Gomen :3 But look forward to the next chapter ;D