Chapter 11
~Ashley~
It felt so good to get off that train and finally be able to walk around. I enjoyed getting to know Dallas and Lavi better but being in that train for three days wasn't my idea of fun. 'At least it was better than the train ride with Kanda.' I thought.
We were walking to the hotel when I noticed a banana peal lying on the ground. 'Okay,' I thought, 'this is beginning to become ridiculous. How many banana peals am I going to slip on in my life time? They're following me!' I carefully walked around the banana peal, and a few seconds later I heard a scream. We quickly turned around only to see….
"Raikou what are you doing here?" Dallas and Lavi asked at the same time. Raikou had slipped on the banana peal I had just noticed and was sitting on the ground rubbing her head. Dallas and I glanced at each other with surprise displayed on our faces. I then walked over to Raikou and helped her up.
"Are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded her head 'yes' in response.
"What are you doing here?" Lavi asked again, "You should still be at the order."
"Well I heard that you guys were going on a mission and I hadn't been assigned any missions, so I was going to be lonely, and I thought that no one would miss me so I followed you here." When Raikou finished her explanation we all erupted into laughter.
"Raikou you're crazy!" Dallas said.
"What were you thinking?" I asked as I shook my head in utter disbelief. Raikou shrugged her shoulders.
"Well we better get to the hotel so we can figure out what to do with you." Lavi said smiling.
When we entered the hotel we walked up to the front desk and received a small brass key for our room from a slim man with a heavy black mustache and dark black eyes. I assumed he was the owner of the hotel. He told us that our room was the third door on the left and that if we needed anything don't hesitate to ask. The hotel was pretty plain and wasn't that big but it had a comfortable feel to it.
We were all too tired from the train ride to talk so we walked to our room in silence. It wasn't until we were standing at the door of our room that I realized we only had one room which meant we would be sharing a room with Lavi. I don't think Dallas or Raikou realized this until Lavi unlocked the door and we walked into the small square room and were greeted by two full sized beds.
"This is going to be problematic." I said when I caught sight of the beds.
Lavi walked over to one of the beds and sat his suit case on it. He then laid down on it with his hands behind his head and turned to look at us with that crooked smile of his glued to his face. "Sooo….Who wants to sleep with me?" He said as he winked at us.
I felt my face grow hot and I smiled in spite of myself. "Lavi what are we going to do with you?" I said as I shook my head side to side with disbelief. He didn't say anything; he just continued to smile crookedly. "How about this instead: we three girls will sleep in one bed and we can divide the room by hanging up a blanket when we need to change." I suggested.
"Okay but I am not sleeping in the middle." Dallas said, and something told me she wasn't kidding.
"I don't want to be in the middle either." Raikou added.
"Okay I'll sleep in the middle then." I said. I didn't really care where I slept as long as I would be able to sleep in a bed.
"Are you sure about that Ashley? You can still sleep with me." Lavi offered again.
"No, it's okay. I'm going to sleep in the middle. Sorry Lavi." I said my face growing hot again from embarrassment. Lavi's smile fell when I told him no and he looked so disappointed.
Once we put our suit cases away and were settled Lavi went in search of a phone to call Komui and tell him that Raikou was with us. Dallas, Raikou, and I were sitting on the bed together when Lavi left and I decided to ask "So tomorrow we're supposed to find the innocence and retrieve it right?"
Dallas nodded her head as she said "Yep, but I don't understand how exactly we're supposed to do that when the innocence is located under water. Shouldn't we need swim suits or something like that?"
"The innocence is underwater?" Raikou said, shocked.
"Yep, apparently it's been causing ships to disappear." Lavi explained to Raikou as he suddenly returned from his phone call with Komui. "And I think it would be a wonderful idea for you girls to get swim suits." Lavi said as he smiled that terribly crooked smile at us.
In response I shook my head in mock disbelief as I thought 'Good Lord, Lavi' while Dallas rolled her eyes and said "Seriously Lavi?" as she laughed, and Raikou yelled "Lavi quit being such a perv!" He looked a little hurt by Raikou's comment but he quickly shook it off and returned to his usual smiling self.
"We might as well get some swim suits. I really need to get some new clothes anyway." I said as I sighed heavily.
"What do you mean?" Raikou asked her voice full of curiosity.
"Well I don't actually have any clothes apart from my exorcist uniform and my sari." I said with downcast eyes as everyone looked at me with shock filled eyes. I could feel my cheeks burn red.
"And why is that?" Raikou asked.
I moved around uncomfortably before saying "Well when I was in India I didn't have much money so I had to sell my old clothes and…." I trailed off not knowing what else to say.
"Oh…"Raikou said quietly.
Lavi glanced at the clock on the wall and said "Well if we're going to buy clothes and swim suits we better hurry it's getting late."
"Wait who said we were going to get swim suits?" Raikou lashed out at Lavi.
"Well Ashley needs some new clothes. Do you want her to have only two things to wear for the rest of her life? Also if we have to swim to get the innocence you either are going to have to wear swim suits or nothing at all." Lavi said cheerfully as he smiled. Raikou looked liked she wanted to hit Lavi. When no one said anything Lavi said "Great then that's settled. Let's go!"
The sun was just beginning to set on the streets of Greece bathing the white city in a golden glow as we left the hotel in search of bathing suits. A cool sea breeze blew gently through our hair and the smell of sea salt filled our noses.
The city was beautiful. A maze of buildings carved out of white marble that sat on the rocks overlooking the sea made up what was Greece and it took my breath away.
We passed many restaurants and food stands that sent all of our mouths watering. The food looked so good. All the fruits and vegetables were so bright and lush. When we passed the food stands and restaurants we finally found a store to buy swim suits. It had a bright blue stone roof and hanging out of the glassless windows were many elaborately decorated and brightly colored clothing. Inside the store we could see more clothes and what looked like swim suits.
As we walked into the white marble building we were greeted by a short, pleasantly plump, older woman. She had steel gray eyes and was wearing a bright blue and yellow dress and gold hoop earrings. She reminded me somewhat of a gypsy.
"Hello what is it you are looking for?" The woman said in a thick Greek accent.
"Oh hello," said Dallas, "we're looking for some bathing suits."
"Oh I see," she smiled, "the bathing suits are over there. Feel free to look around."
"Thank you," we all said to the woman as we entered her shop.
Dallas and Raikou went straight to the bathing suits and Lavi followed them while I stayed behind to look at the clothes. All of the bright colorful clothing was overwhelming. When I finished looking through most of the clothes I had selected two pairs of pants and two knee length skirts; one blue and white with gold dangly beads and the other black with silver moon beads. I had also grabbed two spaghetti strapped shirts one was white to go with the black skirt and the other was blue to go with the blue skirt. I also had picked out two shirts; one was decorated with stars, suns, and moons and the other was decorated with butterflies. The last things I picked out were two dresses and two night gowns. One dress was knee length, and sky blue with golden embroidery, the other was black and embroidered with silver, and it went down to my ankles. Both nightgowns were lacy; one was silver and the other was a light rose pink.
When I was satisfied with my clothing supply I walked over to where Dallas, Lavi, and Raikou were standing. Only to find Lavi holding up the skimpiest swim suit I had ever seen. It was a hot pink two piece and the top was strapless. "You should get this." He said with that stupid grin of his plastered to his face.
"What the…? No I am not going to wear that!" Dallas said as she hit Lavi on the chest, not too hard though. She did it almost playfully. I laughed at the scene. Lavi turned to look at me. "Will you get it Ashley." I laughed again in spite of myself before saying "No. Sorry, but I think I'll pass." He opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could Raikou said "Put it away Lavi. Now!"
"You're no fun," Lavi said as he put the skimpy swim suit back.
"What all did you find, Ashley?" Dallas asked and I showed her the clothes I had grabbed. "Oh my God I want that butterfly shirt! You're going to have to let me borrow it!" I smiled as we all began to laugh.
"So do you know what swim suits you guys are getting?" I asked.
Raikou and Dallas shook their heads. "I'm debating between these two," Dallas said as she held up a lime green two piece decorated with pink hibiscus in one hand and a dark purple two piece embroidered with a pattern of gold in the other.
"I think you should get the green one," I said.
"Okay," Dallas said as she smiled, "So what are you going to get?" She asked me.
"Ummm…. I don't know. I like this one," I said pointing to a black two piece that was embroidered with silver spirals.
"Then get that one." Raikou said.
"Okay. So Raikou do you know what you want?" I asked her.
"Yeah I think I'm going to get this one." She held up a turquoise blue two piece that was embroidered with patterns of what looked like gold stars.
"That's really pretty," I said, "it'll look awesome with your pink hair." I said enthusiastically.
"Thanks," Raikou smiled cheerfully.
"Well if you girls are ready we better go. It's getting really late and I don't know about you but I'm tired." Lavi said.
"And I'm hungry," Dallas added.
"Me too," Raikou and I said at the same time.
"Okay hand me your clothes and I'll check out for you while you go and find something that we can take back to the hotel to eat. I'll just meet you back at the hotel later." Lavi said.
"Okay, see you later Lavi," I said with a smile before we left the shop.
When we stepped outside we were greeted by a dark star filled night sky and a silvery crescent moon. As soon as I saw the moon I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was so beautiful and looking at it gave me a sense of peace.
"I think I saw some food stands down there," Dallas said as she pointed to the left.
I reluctantly looked away from the moon to look down the street. "Then let's go," I said.
I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I saw the food. Ripe fruits, lush vegetables, and soft baked bread filled the shelves of the carts. Dallas had already started grabbing food. In her hands she had grapes, strawberries, and French bread.
"What do you think Lavi would want?" Dallas asked.
"Who cares about what he wants!" Raikou said making Dallas and I laugh.
I shrugged before saying, "I don't know. What you have already is fine. I honestly don't think Lavi cares about what he gets."
"Okay then we better get back to the hotel. Lavi's probably already there." Dallas said as she told the owner of the stand to send the bill to the address of the Black Order.
It was around eleven at night when we finally reached the hotel.
"We spent longer in that store than I thought we did." I said to no one in particular.
"I know I'm so tired." Dallas sighed. As we passed the front desk the owner of the hotel welcomed us back with a small smile before returning to his work.
"Does Lavi have the room key?" Raikou asked as we walked to our room.
"I think so." Dallas said. We were now standing in front of our room door. Raikou knocked on the door impatiently. A few seconds later the door opened only to reveal a brightly smiling Lavi.
"Hey, so what'd you get?" he asked.
"Grapes, strawberries, and French bread." Dallas answered as we walked into our room.
"Your clothes are over on the bed," Lavi said as he took a couple of grapes from Dallas.
"Thanks for bringing them," I said as I grabbed my soon to be filled suit case and walked over to my pile of clothes.
"No problem," he said as he flashed me a smile.
"So what did Komui say about Raikou being here?" Dallas asked. Raikou's head jerked up when she heard her name.
"He said," Lavi began, "that Raikou should just stay with us and that he was thankful she had been found. Apparently Raikou had the whole Order looking for her." We all turned to look at Raikou whose cheeks had begun to turn pink.
"Well it looks like they missed you after all, Raikou." Dallas said causing the hotel room to fill with sudden laughter.
Once we finally stopped laughing I got up to look for a blanket to divide the room with. I ended up finding one in the dresser. "Does anyone want to help me put it up so we can change into our pajamas?"
"I will," Lavi said, and together we successfully got the blanket up.
When we were about halfway changed Lavi impatiently asked "Can I look now?"
"No!" We all yelled back at him.
"Why not?" he whined.
"Oh my God Lavi grow up!" Raikou yelled although out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw her blushing.
"No," Lavi said plainly. I smiled at Raikou and Lavi's bickering.
When we finished changing we told Lavi that it was now okay to look. I was wearing the silver spaghetti strapped nightgown and was surprised to find that it was shorter than I expected it to be; the laced hem rested just a little bit above my knees. The fabric was shimmery and reminded me of the moon, which is one of the reasons why I got it. Dallas and Raikou's night gowns were really short too, so I didn't feel that self conscious about the length. Dallas's night gown was similar to mine except it was shorter and was made of silky pink fabric. Raikou's nightgown, on the other hand, was lime green and stopped about four inches above her knees. Her nightgown also had green ribbon that tied into a bow on the collar of her nightgown.
Once Lavi had pulled down the blanket he froze in place as he examined each one of us individually. When he finished he said "Nice choice ladies," which was soon followed by a wink.
I blushed and rolled my eyes before I took my hair out of its bun. My hair fell out in a mess of curls. As I shook my hair out Dallas said, "Whoo, Ashley!"
"What?" I said as I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
"Your hair looks as luscious as Yu's!" Lavi exclaimed with wide eyes. We all burst out laughing.
"Thanks, I think." I said still smiling.
Raikou yawned, "Hey I think we should go to bed now," she said sleepily.
"That's a good idea Raikou," Dallas said as she walked over to the bed. Raikou and I followed her. When we were finally situated I was in the middle, Dallas was laying to my left, and Raikou was to my right.
Before Raikou turned off the lights I glanced over at Lavi. He was lying comfortably in bed while we were cramped together like sardines in a can. I was trying to figure out how the heck this was fair. It wasn't. I sighed and rolled over onto my side. A few seconds later I heard, "I'm falling off the bed. Could you guys please move over a bit?" It was Dallas. In response Raikou and I moved over as far as we could without falling.
I could just picture Lavi's grin as he said "You sure you don't want to sleep with me Dallas? There's plenty of room."
"Well…Okay, sure." She replied. Shocked I turned my head to look at her although it was pointless to do so in the dark.
"Really?" Lavi asked clearly surprised and a little excited.
"No." Dallas said it so seriously that Raikou and I couldn't stop laughing. It got to the point that Lavi had to say "Okay stop laughing already it wasn't that funny!"
"Yes it was." I said which only caused us all to laugh harder. We were still faintly laughing when I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
