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Tainted
iReii | Spirify

VII.

The male crouched down as he pulled out unknown plants from the dirt, then he quickly stood up and walked ahead of Ara. The Devanam fastened her pace to walk next to the scientist, who didn't seem to care. She hesitatingly asked,

"Um.. may I know what kind of plant this is?" Add stared at her with his usual voidness within his eyes as he answered, "It's type of a plant that contains odor Demon's don't like." Ara was quite surprised by his sudden kindness, she thought he would say, "You wouldn't understand." and ignore the female. Ara nodded her head as a sign of acknowledgement.

For about an hour, the two collected three different types of plants that would be beneficial in creation of the antidote. Both of their hands were filled with plants to the point they couldn't carry anymore.

"Let's go home." The scientist said as Ara happily acknowledged him. She was quite surprised by the fact that the scientist said 'home' as it felt like he accepted her as a housemate.

With her hands tied together behind her waist, the Devanam smiled at the scientist as she asked, "Shall I cook dinner again?" She stared at Add as she waited for the reply, but instead of an answer, the scientist pushed Ara back with his arm and silenced her.

BGM BLEACH OST - Fade To Black B13a Extended

"There's demons here." Add whispered to the female as he placed his pointer finger onto his lips. With surprisement, she quietly looked around in order to search for creatures, however, the two didn't have the sharp visions to find the monsters right away.

As Ara pulled her spear from a little loop glued to her belt, a sudden screech attacked the Mastermind and the Devanam.

"Back off!" Ara yelled to the unarmed scientist as she pulled her spear in front of her for protection. From the corner of her eye, she caught six mechanized weapons forming around the Devanam and the scientist, creating a ring of protection.

"Wh-what is this?" Ara asked as Add quickly responded. "Dynamos." Another screech came roaring behind them as they quickly turned around to face the demonic screech. A succubus lunged towards the two as they fixed the position of their weapons.

Ara pushed the scientist behind her, spinning her spear in front of her protectively. She quickly blocked the succubus, twisting her spear and stabbing the demon straight through the heart. Suddenly, her survival instincts kicked in and soon enough she was whirling around, her weapon elegantly decapitating the female. Her apricot eyes glanced sharply around the area, taking note that several other demons were appearing. Without sparing a second, she charged forward, her weapon pulled back before she thrusted it forward, hitting two demons in a row before she ruthlessly tore her lance back. With another strike, she hit them both perfectly at the heart. As she fought, she glimpsed over to Add, whose dynamos were blasting powerful purple lasers, each hitting a demon accurately at the heart.

There is only a few left, Ara. Let's finish this with the Secret Arts.

Obeying, the Devanam came to a halt, closing her eyes and wrapping Eun's energy around her body. She let out a slow sigh before pulling her spear back. With a sudden burst of speed, she pierced forward, sending a shock wave outwards. After that, she activated the Eight Trigram Palm attack, her spear plunging forward in a series of attacks leaving behind an orange hue. She was able to push back most of the demons coming at her before she jumped, slamming her spear down and creating a powerful force that allowed the ground to erupt up in pieces, sending any victims nearby into the air. Before she could let out a triumph smile, her mind came to a sudden realization. Add was in the area.

"Oh my god! Add?! Add, where are you?!" Ara shouted, looking around at the corpses of the monsters that littered the area.

Due to her powerful attack earlier, the ground was tilted and several pieces of the Earth stood up in funky shapes. Trees were pulled out and laid randomly across the ground. She whipped her head around viciously, trying to find the fair-haired male.

"Ugh…" As soon as she heard a low groan, the Devanam turned to find the source.

Upon further inspection, she could see a sprawl of white hair a few feet away from her and she dashed over.

"Add…!" She cried out, gazing over at a large gash on his stomach, bleeding profusely.

The scientist opened his eyes, glaring at her as he tried to sit up, his dynamos trying to help him as best as they could.

"Oh my… No! Don't sit up, you're hurt!" Ara gently pushed him down, taking her long robe off which left her in her tank top, before she pressed it against his wound to stop the bleeding.

"And who's fault do you think that is?" The Mastermind muttered, lying down and wincing in slight pain at her action.

For a moment, the spear-maiden went silent, her eyes narrowing with guilt. As the bleeding came to a stop, she tied her robe around his stomach as a temporary gauze.

"I'm sorry… But for now, we need to get you back to your home and treat you,"

"I'm fine." The scientist heartlessly said, nonetheless, Ara ignored the scientist's words and wrapped his arm around her neck. "What are you-" The Mastermind questioned Ara's action, but realized it was hopeless to deny her offer.

BGM [DEEMO] V.K. - Pure White Extended

Soon enough, they reached the residence of the scientist. Ara gently helped Add slump down on a chair who silently groaned in pain. Ara digged through multiple cabinets in order to find dressings and bandages. After couple minutes, she realized it was hopeless. Bravely, the Devanam questioned the scientist,

"Where are the bandages?"

"I said I'm fin-"

"No you are not! Please let me help you." Desperately yet angrily at Add's behavior filled with ignorance, she yelled at him even though she knew it was disrespectful. Add decided to give up as he pointed towards the cabinet Ara haven't touched yet.

Ara swiftly walked towards the cabinet, opened it wide and grabbed bandages and dressings. She walked over to the scientists who was still gushing out blood. She hesitated, but it was something that must be done. She took off the robe she wrapped around the scientist's abdomen and unbuttoned the scientist's button up as she could feel the heat rising up to her face. For a moment, she was surprised to see that Add is actually toned, but she brushed the side thought away as she placed a dressing on his wound and wrapped it around his waist.

"Done." Ara said as she stood up. The Mastermind buttoned up his shirt as he said to Ara who was surprised at his sudden thoughtful action, "Thanks, Ara."

On a vast night sky, stars were sparkling in between the leaves of a tree as they glistened under the moonlight. Ara stared at the moonlight as it reached her window glass. She slumped down on top of her bed, sighing as she let herself to be sunk on her comfortable bed. Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink color as the thought of Add constantly appeared onto her mind. His silky white hair, his lavender eyes, his collar pones that peek out from his button-up, his toned body, veins that pop out of his hands and wrist- everything about the scientist was within Ara's mind.

'Why, but why?' She thought to herself. She never felt a sensation like this. 'I need a fresh air.' Ara thought to herself as she slowly walked towards her bedroom door. She slightly cracked an opening as she peeked her head out to search for any signs of the fair-white hair. Surprisingly, he was nowhere in sight. Ara was slightly glad that he wasn't here due to the fact that she won't expect what kind of embarrassing reaction she will demonstrate to the scientist once again.

The Devanam cracked another door open as she walked outside. The air was frosty as Ara shivered due to sudden coldness. Ara breathed out puffs of air as she leaned herself against the wall. As the cold wind breezed lightly past Ara, she felt her mind clearing as she sighed of relief. When she was about to go back inside the house, the front entrance glued to fences surrounding the residence opened and the scientist walked in. Sudden burst of her mind she just cleared came rushing back to her brain as she felt herself blush.

She examined the Mastermind. It seemed as if he was going out for a short walk to clear his mind as well, however, there was a physical feature that was fairly new. His eyes that contained nothing but voidness was filled with concern as his dark circles under his eyes shadowed the stress he's been obtaining. His broad shoulders were slumped as well. Then Ara noticed his hands- he was holding onto more plants that they searched together hours ago.

"Why-why are you holding onto those? Did you go and find some more by yourself in middle of the night?" Questions came spurting out of the Devanam's petite lips with a tone filled with nothing but worry and concern. The scientist sighed as he blankly stared at Ara. "Yeah." The scientist quietly said to the Devanam with his usual tone frosted by coldness as he entered his resident.

"But why? You're injured, you shouldn't be outside!" Ara asked with concern while following the scientist inside the house, even though she knew her questions were an annoyance to the male.

"You saw the forest! There was whole bunch of them! I need to make the antidote as fast as I can before everyone decides to become a demon." The scientist said, with anger filled in his voice. Ara took a step back due to sudden anger from the scientist that was unfamiliar to her. However, he was right. The demons have already multiplied its population in a short amount of time.

The Devanam's heart stung with pain due to sudden guiltiness she felt. He was out there in a dangerous zone in middle of the night, vulnerable by himself, trying to accomplish a journey that wasn't even his. Yet Ara was just concerned about relationship she shared with the scientist.

"You're right.. I'm sorry." Ara quietly apologized to the scientist as she followed Add. He placed his plants next to beakers on top of his table as he was brushing the dirt collected onto his hands with a handkerchief. Then the scientist placed his hands on top of the Devanam's head. She glanced up to match his lavender eyes that contained no emotions, she felt the heat rising up to her cheeks once again as they matched their eyes. "Go to sleep, you must be tired." The scientist quietly said as he walked away into another room.

'But what about yourself?' Ara thought to herself. Why was he worrying about her when he's the one with features that resembled tiredness? She felt the same sensation she felt earlier while thinking about the Mastermind rushing back to her senses once again. Realizing the senses she's been feeling, she thought to herself as she touched her heated face,

'Oh god.. I'm in love with Add.'

A/N

Finally romance starts to sprout out of this story, took us a while but here it is, at last!
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and as always, thank you for reading. :)
Please don't forget to R&R as it will be beneficial to us!

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