Chapter 4: Annabelle's House, As The Fireworks Faded In The Sky?

Glowing streetlamps lead the way through the gathering crowds, people stood about the street watching in amazement as beautiful fireworks cascaded into the dark night sky. Kid and Annabelle slowly made their way through the festivities cluttering the streets. Kid kept a tight grip on Annabelle as she swayed about in a dizzy mess. Annabelle's arm stayed latched around Kid's supporting shoulders, giving her a little balance.

"What were you doing out on your own anyway?" Kid asked curiously as they shuffled between the townspeople.

"I was on my way to meet some girls from school, they invited me to watch the fireworks with them." Annabelle looked to the ground, disappointed in not being able to spend the evening with her classmates.

However, looking back to the night sky Annabelle thought over her current situation. Her evening had turned out very different to her expectations, it had been a very stressful evening for Annabelle and it wasn't one she would rush to experience again. However, one good thing came from this chaotic evening. Annabelle was able to meet the illustrious 'Death The Kid'. The same boy practically worshiped by the students at her school. Kid stood beside her, walking her home surrounding her with his safe aura. A gentle warmth radiated from the boy as his arm stayed clasped around her waist.

Annabelle looked at Kid, though her vision was still blurry his face was close enough for her to regain some focus. She could see his golden eyes scanning their surroundings, carefully analyzing the buildings before him. His soft skin glistened ever so slightly under the gentle glow of the festive lanterns. Noticing her gaze, Kid turned to look at Annabelle flashing a calm smile in her direction. Their eyes met briefly sending a nervous shiver through Annabelle's' body. This was Death The Kid, he was practically royalty amongst the citizens of Death City. Was it acceptable for someone like Annabelle, a 'common girl', to make eye contact with someone of such status? The thought dashed Annabelle's' mind. Quickly Annabelle broke eye contact looking away to navigate through the busy streets. Looking back at her surroundings, Annabelle's eyes locked onto a familiar building.

"There, it's that one!" Annabelle's eyes lit up upon noticing her apartment, her sudden flutter of excitement brought Kid to a grinding halt.

"Let's get you inside." Kid said, as he turned towards the apartment block, examining it in one quick glance.

Annabelle rummaged through her bag looking for her key. This was quite difficult with only one arm free as the other clutched onto Kid for balance. Luckily, Annabelle's key was easy enough to locate as her bag was pretty much empty. Clutching onto the small metallic key, she extended her arm out to unlock the door. The key met with the door handle as her hand moved around aimlessly trying to locate the lock. Though Annabelle's concussed vision made this pretty much impossible.

After a few minutes of trying, but failing to put her key in the lock, Annabelle sighed letting her hand drop to her side.

"I can't do it..." She muttered under her breath, disappointment flooding her face.

"Pass me the key." Kid said softly, understanding Annabelle's condition.

As Kid reached out to take the key, Annabelle moved it out of his reach. Confusion fell upon Kid, his eyebrows raised ever so slightly in surprise. Annabelle's eyes locked onto the door, her face bitterly serious as stern concentration radiated from her. She lifted her hand again to fumble with the lock. Struggling, Annabelle's face sunk in disappointment once more as her hand returned to her side.

"Useless" she mumbled, glaring at the ground.

Suddenly, a soft hand encased Annabelle's, helping her guide the key into the lock. Her eyes widened upon the touch of the warm palm embracing her hand.

"You can always ask for help you know. You don't need to be so stubborn."

Annabelle's once glum expression exploded into admiration as she turned to look up at Kid.

"You should accept help when you're struggling, there's no point fighting for no reason." Kid calmly stated as he turned to look at her, his voice stern yet comforting.

Her gaze was quickly snapped away from Kid as the clack of the key turning inside the lock broke her concentration. Annabelle clutched onto the door-handle pushing it forward, eager to get inside. She pulled away from Kid and staggered into the dark apartment.

"Hey! Wait up! Let me help you." Kid called as he stepped inside the house.

Annabelle glanced over her shoulder at him. Upon noticing Kid pushing the door shut, Annabelle's heart began to pound as the realization dawned upon her. The room was soon to be swallowed by complete and utter darkness. The comforting light from the street began to fade.

"No! No don't close it!" She shrieked, panic setting in as she waved her arms around, manically stumbling back towards Kid.

Kid froze, looking toward Annabelle in her panicked state. Realizing something wasn't right, Kid pulled the door open once more letting the gentle glow of the street flood the room. Letting out a sigh of relief Annabelle turned to the light switch.

"You can't close the door until I've turned the lights on..." Annabelle mumbled, her voice trembling ever so slightly as she moved towards the switch.

Seeing the light switch before her she stretched her right arm to the wall, waiting for the contact to be made. Annabelle was nearly at the wall when her knees buckled beneath her. She stumbled forward missing the light switch as her body met with the floor. Noticing that Annabelle hadn't been injured by her fall, Kid rested his forehead in his hand.

"Seriously, didn't you listen to what I just said?" Kid chuckled before making his way over after turning the light on and closing the door. "If you need help, just ask" Kid stated before crouching down beside her.

Avoiding eye contact, Annablle looked away from Kid, slightly embarrassed by the situation. Shaking his head playfully at Annabelle's stubborn behavior Kid latched one arm under her knees and one around her waist. Annabelle's head shot up, confused by Kid's actions. Suddenly, Annabelle felt her body leave the ground, Kid's arms supporting her as he lifted her up bridal style. Annabelle gripped onto him, she didn't like being picked up as she was afraid of being dropped. Amidst her fear, Annabelle looked slightly confused. Kid didn't look strong enough to lift a person, but his slender size proved to be misleading.

Carrying her toward the small sofa, Annabelle felt the weight of her head injury beginning to take its toll. Her eye lids became heavy as Annabelle struggled to keep her head up. Nervously, Annabelle rested her head against Kid's chest, the sound of his gentle heartbeat put her at ease.

Annabelle met with the sofa as Kid lowered her down gently. Swinging her legs around to face Kid, Annabelle looked to the boy as he stood before her. Holding his hands to his hips with a stern face Kid began to look around the room, his eyes flickering in different directions as if searching for something in particular.

"Where do you keep your medical supplies?" Kid asked, still glancing around hoping to find a first aid box lying around.

"Huh?" Annabelle mumbled, slightly confused by the question.

"I'm going to see to your wound, I can't just leave you in this state." Kid stated turning to face Annabelle.

"Oh! No, you honestly don't need too!" Annabelle blurted.

Kid had already done so much for her and with him being the son of Lord Death, he probably had other more important places to be. Though something inside of Annabelle didn't want Kid to leave. His company had rid her of the lonley feeling that she had been experiencing over the last few days whilst moving to Death City.

"I'm going to guess there's a medicine cabinet in the bathroom over there." Kid flashed a smile at her before making his way to the bathroom, as if ignoring her last comment.

Opening the door, he searched the medicine cabinet discovering a small first aid kit containing some bandages and a few antiseptic wipes. Taking them back, he saw that Annabelle had gotten up from the sofa.

"Sit down." He commanded in a voice you wouldn't want to mess with.

Annabelle nervously placed herself back down onto the couch and watched Kid as he closed the distance between them. Sitting beside her Kid continued to take out one of the wipes before gently pushing her hair to one side.

"This might hurt a little." He said kneeling up on the sofa to get a better look at her wound.

Kid gently touched the wipe to her wound, Annabelle flinched at the initial contact but Kid made sure not to cause her too much pain. She watched as a look of concentration embedded itself on Kid's face as she clasped her hands together anxiously.

"It's doesn't look too bad, the cut isn't that deep so I doubt you'll need stitches." Kid smiled, continuing to tend to the wound.

Annabelle smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. Silence fell upon the room once more as Kid continued cleaning the wound. His chest hovered only a few inches from Annabelle's face as he knelt on the sofa beside her. Not knowing where too look Annabelle's eyes began to scan the room around her. The room was cold and empty, almost as if no one lived there. Which was correct to a certain extent as Annabelle had only moved in a few days ago and this was the first time she had sat on her own sofa.

"There we go! All finished!" Kid exclaimed, looking pretty pleased with himself.

Just as Annabelle turned to face Kid, the sensation of two soft hands encased her face. Annabelle burst into an uncontrollable blush as Kid looked directly into her dazed eyes.

"It appears you're still rather concussed." Kid stated, the close proximity between himself and Annabelle didn't seem to faze him one bit.

"Just take it easy for the next couple of days, okay?" Kid suggested, as his hands fell from Annabelle's' face.

Standing from the sofa, Kid looked toward the window as the fireworks continued to cascade through the night sky. His eyes almost glistened in admiration at the spectacular show.

"You never got to see the fireworks, did you?" Kid asked, breaking his gaze from the window.

"I guess not." Annabelle looked over to the window, glimpsing the closing display of colours.

"There's still time, You have a perfect view of the display from this window." Kid smiled gesturing to the window before offering out a hand assisting Annabelle to her feet.

Putting an arm of support around her still unstable body, Kid guided Annabelle slowly to the window. The window possessed a small ledge allowing Annabelle to rest against it, however, still leaving plenty of room for Kid to lean comfortably beside her. Kid's arms left Annabelle's side as she was now able to support herself at the ledge. Bright colours rocketed into the sky crashing into cascading waterfalls of glitter. Though they had been relaying into the sky continuously throughout the night, this was the first chance Annabelle had to really appreciate their magnificent beauty. Annabelle turned to Kid, his eyes glowing like a child in a toy store. Upon seeing how the fireworks entranced Kid, Annabelle couldn't help let out a small giggle.

"Aren't they beautiful? Perfectly symmetrical in every way." Kid awed in amazement through the small flat window.

Symmetrical? Annabelle thought to herself. Looking back through the window it struck her. As one deep blue firework flew into the stary sky, another mirrored it perfectly in time. True symmetry.

"Symmetry is what makes the world beautiful..." Kid stated as he fell into an admirational gaze, his eyes staying locked to the window.

It was truly amazing to witness such a spectacle, however as apposed to the symmetry entrancing Kid, the sparkling waterfalls captured Annabelle's heart. Every firework was perfectly in time with its counterpart, they both watched as the colours painted the sky. Each colour matched its partnering firework perfectly. Suddenly, another firework shot up into the sky. Annabelle watched, fascinated, a smile of wonder decorated her face. Looking over at Kid, expecting him to be in the same state, Annabelle realized something was very wrong. Kid's gentle face contorted into a look of uncontrollable rage as he clenched his fists tightly by his sides. Kid's golden eyes burning with fire, the young Shinigami looked as though he was about to explode into a fit of rage.

"Where is the other one?! It's asymmetrical garbage! This isn't right!" He roared falling to his knees, his voice came across pained as if in agony at the sight of the solitary silver firework decorating the left hand side of the sky.