"Good morning, Lyserg," Marco greets the green hair male upon his entrance inside of his personal hotel room.
"Ah good morning to you too, Marco," He returns the greeting out of a sense of being polite to the older male along with a small smile present on his face.
"Are you ready to continue with discovering clues as to where Lady Jeanne could possibly be?" The blonde poses to the young man, who remains steadfast by the hotel's door.
'What kind of question is that Marco? Are you trying to test my faith in finding Lady Jeanne? Do you think that I have wavered in the slightest?'
Lyserg did not hesitate to respond with, "I'm ready to lay my life on the line if it means that Lady Jeanne will be safely brought back to our side without any harm to come to her."
'He matured a lot from the time he had relentlessly pursued us to join our ranks so he could enact his revenge on Asakura, Hao.'
He brings his index finger to the middle of his glasses and pushes them back up on to the bridge of his nose. "That resilience is an admirable characteristic of your personality."
Lyserg answers with a "Thank you" and a bow of his head to display his respect for Marco's compliment of his personality.
"So what time does the team need to be in the lobby and ready for today's expedition of clues?" Marco quickly poses to the boy after he turns to face him face to face.
"I will allow them some time to eat some breakfast so they can have energy for today's search." Lyserg replies after he cuts his eyes over to the clock to see what time it is.
Marco covers the distance between him and Lyserg, pauses right next to him, and mentions, "That sounds like a plan to me. I will be on my way to inform the others."
Lyserg simply watches as the blonde leader of the X-Laws makes his way out of his hotel room and leave him to his personal thoughts.
He lifts one of his hands up until it covers his face when a thought pops up in his head. 'I don't think Marco is no longer fit to serve as the X-Laws leader anymore. He's weathered and old.'
'Someday…the X-Laws will no longer have to answer to Marco but rather myself if they want to maintain their positions within the group.'
'And once I assume full leadership and have Jeanne-sama back in our care then the only thing that's left to deal with…is that insignificant pest.'
A small smile graces his face as he quietly chuckles to himself, 'I will have Hao beg me for mercy to spare his worthless life once this whole fiasco is over and done with.'
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Jeanne POV
Jeanne knew that Hao needed the comfort that the silence around them had established as his face firmly remain planted in the valley of her bosom.
She continues to run her fingers through Hao's brunette tresses as a sign of continuous comfort along with her steadfast stance of not leaving his side.
The outside noises seem to flood inside of the rather quiet sanctuary of Hao's apartment yet it did not concern Jeanne too much since she felt his head suddenly shift from underneath her grasp.
She glances down into his chocolate brown orbs before she inquires, "Are you feeling any better?"
He did not verbally respond instead he simply returns his head back to its previous location. He further tightens his hold around her petite waist.
"I won't leave your side until you're better." She firmly states in a tone of reassurance when she heard Hao muffled a response against her chest.
Jeanne leans in closer so she could hear whatever it was that he tried to say in her chest, "Your presence is soothing."
A blush spreads across her cheeks once she processes his statement as she chimes in, "You have that same effect on me."
'To think that if I was so gung-ho on having Hao killed for his previous heinous crimes then I wouldn't be able to see his kindhearted nature underneath the shell.'
She silently shook her head at how one sided the X-Laws, or her family, boasted about forgiveness yet never genuine implement it like she was able to do especially towards the "devil" himself, Asakura, Hao.
Jeanne returns her attention back to Hao to see if there was any movement of his head. However, there still was none besides the one from earlier.
'I just wish the X-Laws could see what I see inside of Hao…a mislead soul, who had to unearth what life was and is on his own.'
'Even I had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that the Iron Maiden wasn't for my benefit. It served as more of the box, which kept me from seeing the outside world on my own.'
She ceases running her fingers through his hair, brings her arms around his neck and gently tightens the hold around him.
'I would have never been able to discover the source of my growing sadness and depression if Hao had not challenged me to remove the barrier that kept me safe.'
'It is kind of ironic how I wanted to take his life and yet...he gave birth to mine.'
She decides to rest her cheek against the crown of his hair and inhales deeply with the blush still present on her face.
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Yoh was covering his nose with an index finger when he could feel a sneeze coming on. "Achoo!"
Anna pauses from the magazine that she casually flips through and casts her gaze on to her husband to see him rubs his nose against one of his fingers.
"Are you catching a cold?" She inquires as she narrows her gaze in on the brunette male, who merely rubs underneath his nose.
Yoh merely shrugs his shoulders up and down while he replies, "Who knows?"
Anna merely rolls her eyes at her husband's nonchalant manner of how he answers her question whenever it was on the topic of his health.
She diverted her eyes back to the glossy pictures that were splayed across the magazine spread and claims, "It will be all on you if you were to end up becoming sick on our honeymoon."
Yoh pushes the button to let his seat back in order for him to get comfortable and rests his head against his interlace fingers.
A "tsh" was muttered to his left as his eyes simply surveyed his surroundings when a thought hit him. 'I wonder if Hao is behaving well back at home.'
Before Yoh was about to nod off to take his daily nap, he opens one eye and responses with, "Oh...I think we just pass our stop."
Anna once again breaks her attention away from her magazine and turns her attention to the scenery outside.
"Yoh!" She shouts at the top of her lungs and slams the magazine down in her lap. The other passengers on the bus jumps from shock at the sudden sound of Anna's high pitch voice.
A lazy smile appears on his face as he simply spectates his wife's over the top reaction to his statement. 'I was going to tell her that we have two more stops left.'
'Nah…I'll let her sweat a little so I can drop a quick nap.' He considers to himself as he stifles a yawn with one of his hands and dozes off to sleep.
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Lyserg makes his way downstairs to the main lobby of the hotel room and detours toward the dining area so he could gather up the X-Laws so that they can head out for today.
The sight of Marco's blonde hair instantly catches his attention since it stands out among the other darker hair people that surrounds them.
He approaches the table as he silently counts how many X-Laws were present when he thinks to himself, 'Good…everyone's here.' "Is everyone ready to go?"
The group immediately cease their conversation by the time the green hair male stops and stands directly in front of them.
They exchange glances with one another as they seem to be in the middle of their morning breakfast with a delightful conversation discuss among each other.
"It seems as if we allowed ourselves to get comfortable again. By the way Lyserg, how are you doing this morning?" Meene questions Lyserg with a wide smile present on her face.
'Uhm am I the only one who's concerned with Lady Jeanne's welfare? Jeanne-sama would be highly disappointed if she knew that they were acting this lax and carefree.'
Lyserg fought down the urge to roll his eyes that would display his impatient side and answered her question with, "I'm doing fine. What about yourself, Meene?"
"You look like you could use some food. I think they're still serving some food over there so you better get it before it's all gone." She advises him as she points her syrup cover fork over to the serving line.
"Fine" Lyserg was agreeing with Meene since he knows it was a losing battle in matching wits with a so call motherly figure such as Meene.
'I need to crack them from the inside out in order to start my successful campaign of overthrowing Marco from the leadership position. But who should I choose to help me with this?'
He cuts his gaze over to where the other members sit as they continue to happily chat away about something.
'They're all loyal to Jeanne-sama so if I twist my motive and claim it's for the outright search of her then I can have their support. John, Prof, Larch, Chris, and Meene don't really hold a grudge toward Hao but he does…'
Lyserg turns back around after he spots the person, who it is that was going to be the catalyst for his campaign. 'This will be easier than I thought.'
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Hao POV
'She's still here.' He was thinking to himself when he was feeling her fingers grazing up and down the length of his hair in a repetitious motion.
The simple gesture allows him to relax in her presence and her presence only. Her arms provided him warmth that rivaled one emitted from the Great Spirit itself yet it was not as devastatingly destructive but rather a soothingly gentle warmth.
'Only she's allowed to see me like this…no one else has that privilege.'
Hao removes his face from the comforts of Jeanne's bosoms and leans his back until they unknowingly lock eyes with one another.
'The guilt is still there but her eyes still hold that innocence that I want to protect with my life.' He had tighten his grip to make sure that she was still there besides him.
'I'm glad the light hasn't dim even after what happened yesterday night at the pizzeria.'
It was then that Hao could hear Jeanne's melodic voice asks him, "Are you feeling any better?" 'I can't look at her eyes any more…I feel as if I failed her.'
'Why can't I find my voice to answer that question?' He wonders as he returns his face back to the place that offers him comfort.
"I won't leave your side until you're better." She firmly states to me, which causes me to response but it came out muffled since I was against her chest.
He could feel her weight lean against his body when he decides to repeat what he mutters in between her bosom. "Your presence is soothing."
'How would she respond to that?'
Hao figures that he left her speechless with his statement but a smile appears on his face when he hears her say, "You have that same effect on me."
After a brief pause he could no longer feel Jeanne's fingers through his hair, which causes him to think, 'Is there something wrong?'
His previous thought was quickly erased from his mind when he could feel her arms wrap themselves around his neck and gently squeezed the hold around him.
Hao could feel her cheek pressed against the top part of his head and took a deep inhale of air, which caused her chest to rise from the air her lungs just received.
The natural action combined with the steady beating of her heart soothes all of the doubts and worries that he had for his actions. 'She forgives me.'
"Hao," she whispers to him as she waits a couple of seconds before she continues to speak, "Thanks for freeing me."
'You've become my weakness as well.'
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Author's Note:
07.06.16 major editing revision