A Waking Nightmare

I knock politely on the door of my own shop eliciting a shriek before I hear a, who is it? Only Miranda would answer that way. I calmly tell her that is it only me, which it is because Kanda preferred staying at the apartment, watching television because it is absolutely impossible for him to fall back to sleep once he has risen. I stand back and survey the windows. Yes those kids certainly took their time on it with writing crude things and drawing . . . actually rather nice pictures, like the flower, but still managing to make the whole sight downright tasteless. Why couldn't they have just doodled on the sidewalk? Miranda jerks open the door flinging herself into my arms and wailing deafeningly. She says it is all her fault the children must not like her so they plotted to wreak revenge on her for being so ugly. This of course is nonsense. Miranda may be plain but she can make herself look very appealing when she wants to and I do not believe that people are as malicious as she claims. I smile at her and we silently begin gathering cleaning supplies, I have a feeling that we'll need some heavy duty scrubbing tools.

I am able to return to my apartment about four hours later only to find it empty. My heart starts pounding as I remember that numbing sensation of when I first was alone, before anyone found me. I quickly call Rinari's cell phone with the number that she wrote down earlier. She picks up after several rings laughing about something.

"H-hello?" She finally inquires between giggles.

"Rinari it's Allen, how are you?" I ask about her because it may be rude to immediately demand to know about another person.

"Never better!" She exclaims gleefully.

"That's great! Um would you by any chance know where Kanda is?"

"Yes he's right here do you want to talk to him?"

"Yes please." I hold my breath for one minute.

"Bean sprout."

"Kanda you could have left a note!" I shout in a breathy voice. He sighs and when he speaks it sounds faint like his mouth is farther away from the receiver.

"I just went over to the hotel since you took so damn long."

"What are you all doing?"

"Rabi and Rinari are playing twister."

"And what about you?"

"Waiting for one of them to fall so we can all go out." My stomach growls reminding me I have not had breakfast.

"Ne Kanda you all haven't eaten yet right?"

"No we have not." He grumbles.

" So I can show you all the best places to go!"

"That's a good suggestion but I'll have to clear it with my staff first."

"Why?"

" For safety reasons."

"That's fine, so we should probably all meet up at my place?" He hangs up; I guess that's a yes.

Everyone packs into and around the outside of my kitchenette. I sit on the bar with my feet resting on one of the stools; it gives me some height and power to address the throng. I glance at Kanda before announcing where we are heading.

"I know for a fact that you all won't be bothered because not that many people go there anyway."

"Wow that sounds promising." Kanda notes in disdain.

"Hey!" I try my best not to pout, "You said you were worried about crowd control and this happens to be my favorite restaurant so kindly, shut up." No one said a word and I take a breath and continue, "It's about a twenty minute drive from here and it's not fancy at all so no one has to dress up and I hope you all like fish because there's a lot on the menu, but uh it's not a solely seafood restaurant so you can get other stuff too."

"It's already been checked out so I say let's go before my stomach crawls out of my mouth!"

"Rabi that's gross!" Rinari smacks him on the shoulder.

"Ow woman that hurt!" He rubs his arm and she quickly starts rubbing the same spot. Rabi grins giving Kanda a thumbs up. He ignores it and starts walking to the door with Rabi bounding close behind. Rinari is shaking her head as I step beside her.

" I need to be more careful with him." She mumbles.

"What do you mean?"

"We were playing a game that we found in the hotel and he fell on his shoulder trying to stop my fall, the idiot, basically the whole point of the game is to fall down!"

"Ah twister." I say remembering what Kanda told me on the phone.

"Yes it's a rough game." She sighs but it's a happy sigh. I couldn't help but notice how serene she looks.

"Ne Rinari, are you two . . . together?"

"What!" She exclaims eyes wide as they jump from side to side, "Whatever makes you think that?"

"It just sort of seems that way, the way you two behave it's like you both are connected."

"Allen- I- you can't tell anyone please!"

"If it's some kind of secret you better stop shooting hearts out of your eyes." I waggle my finger at her like she is child.

"I'm being serious!"

" I promise, I won't tell a soul."

"Thank you." She slips one arm through mine and says in a loud voice, "Now would you be a dear and escort me to the car?"

"It would be my pleasure." I reply patting her hand and walking her outside.

We enter the food haven with me in the lead because of course if something jumps out at us I should be the one to get hit. I wasn't expecting anything by any means, I'm on good terms with the owner of the place and good friends with the band that plays here, but someone did jump me. As soon as the door is open someone's lips smash into mine. I gasp and she parts her mouth mimicking me and presses in for a moment longer until I feel her amused smile and she pulls away.

"Road!" I choke out staring at the girl in front of me.

"How was that?" She questions in a cool almost detached way.

"Um, uh I- I don't really know." I answer honestly confused. Kanda pushes my back to get me moving again.

"A friend of yours?" He asks with a grimace.

"Y-yeah this is Road, she's the niece of the owner and she is a singer." He looks her over and cocks a brow. I look from him to her and notice that she is now looking at me with a sulky expression.

"What is it?" I don't like it when she's upset . . . usually bad things happen.

"We just shared a special kiss and all you can say is 'I don't know'!"

"I was shell-shocked it came out of nowhere!"

"It came from me, stupid!" She grabs my ear and begins pulling me toward the back of the restaurant. "Let's see what my Uncle will think of your behavior."

"It was wonderful, please Road this isn't fair you know it's not!"

"You don't really mean that." She says releasing my ear and holding one of my hands.

"Road I'm sure your kisses will be appreciated by someone else." I say softly.

"But I don't like anyone else." She hisses tightening her fingers until I hear something crack.

"Miss could you let him go?" Once again Kanda comes to my rescue, though I don't know why I suddenly feel that way since Road is my friend.

"Allen?" She rubs her thumb on the outside of my hand in little circles as apology, "Dream about me okay, maybe tomorrow you'll view me differently."

"I can't really control what I dre-" She silences me with a finger to my lips and whispers in my ear.

"Don't worry I know you will." Then she prances up to the stage humming a lullaby.

This is the first time that I actually wanted to leave without any dessert.

At the table, when I tapped my napkin to my lips I wondered why? Why did she kiss me? Before when we would chat I thought all her flirting was just a game, evidently I was wrong. I turn my head to look at her standing proudly with microphone in hand. Maybe it is still a game. Whatever is going on in her head, I don't want to be a part of it. Rabi roughly jabs me with his elbow,

"What's the name of the band? They seriously rock!"

"Um, they're called Camelot." I call out just being heard over the music.

"Hn, it's deafening."

"Kanda!" Rinari chides him. He doesn't seem to care he just glares at his barely touched food and stands up. I stand too and follow him outside. Maybe the drummer was too loud, maybe I thought he was a horrible monster for not enjoying the meal, but the moment I am outside I forget all my reasons. He turns toward me and stares irately, like I am a stain on his favorite coat.

"What are you doing?" He demands with his hands on his hips.

"D-did you really hate the band that much?"

"I just wanted some air, but yes, loud noise does bother me." I take a threatening step forward and glare right back at him.

"You know some people would call it music." I sneer.

"But not all." He taunts patting my head like a dog and adds, "It's really noble of you sticking up for your girlfriend like this, but it's falling on deaf ears." He shows this by putting a pinky in his ear and twisting it around before turning and walking a few steps away as if our battle is over.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I shout loudly. He leans against a wall and props one foot up against it as well.

"Is that so?" He smirks, but it's different somehow. I go over and stand next to him not really knowing why. "She seems interested in you." He states gazing up at the hazy sky.

I sigh. " It's funny."

"What is?"

"Well I'm not interested in her, or girls for that matter. I've always been closer to men. It could be because I've never had a mother figure in my life, I don't know or-"

"It's okay I don't need your life story." I blush and close my mouth feeling more nervous than I had when I first entered the Black Order.

"So what do you need?" I question, blushing more.

"From you?" I gulp as his eyes come back to focus on mine.

"I feel like I've messed up somehow, that you're really unhappy-" I stop because he made a small smile.

"You have." He speaks bleakly into my ear. "The first time was by bringing me to this crummy place, the second, by letting her kiss you." He pushes off the wall and stands in front of me with one hand resting on the wall by my head. He wraps his fingers around my chin when I try to look away. His lips are so close I could touch them with the tip of my tongue if I wanted to. This is strange; I should not be thinking such thoughts! It seems like he can read my mind because he leans back, but his thumb leaves my chin and travels to my upper lip, gently skimming across it from the corner of my mouth, before I know it everything becomes black and I only concentrate on the touch. When it reaches the left side it goes back across on my bottom lip. I can't help it when my mouth opens as his thumb slowly presses down and moves along the path. For a split second his finger barely slips in and it feels like I am reverently kissing it and not letting it go. He rubs the same finger against my cheek and I feel a tiny amount of moisture.

"What are you thinking?" His voice washes over me and I know that his lips are close to my mouth again.

"Of kissing you." I breathe.

"Good." I clench my hands in anticipation; he's actually going to . . . I hear footsteps. My eyes snap open and he is gone. It all happened in a matter of seconds but it was somehow special.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: First off I'd like to thank my wonderful reviewers who helped me remain focused on this little fiction so thank you MitarashiiDango and Lochesh!

I have to admit this chapter was strange in many ways. Don't ask why Rinari/Lenalee and Rabi/Lavi were playing twister at like 6 or 7 in the morning, they're just energetic people I guess. Also I think that Road's last name is spelled with a 'K' but I wanted to use Camelot because of King Arthur, I love the legends surrounding him, besides there already is a band called Kamelot. Anyway as always thank you very much for reading!

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