Ami was so cute.
Ryo wondered if she knew that her hair was sticking up at odd angles. She rammed her fingers through it and tugged again, completely unaware of what she was doing as she squinted at another page of ancient, crumbly text.
The dark circles under her eyes weren't cute.
Ryo tugged at his collar again and shifted uneasily in his seat. He'd given up a long time ago trying to interpret anything in the books around them. He'd had a moment of sharp alarm when Ami had suggested trying to use her computer to make the translation go faster, but Ryo had shut that down immediately. The idea of watching her writhe in pain as her ears bled was absolutely intolerable.
She'd been going at it since. For hours. Ryo had paced, shuffled, explored, and made his way back to this seat at least 30 times since then. She was exhausted. She was dealing with injuries from battle. Her stomach had growled, through she'd ignored it. She had the most intense focus of any person he'd ever met. It was incredible. It was charming.
It was driving him crazy.
He'd promised himself another hour or two before he interrupted her at least four hours ago. Her stomach growled again, and his tether snapped. "Ami? Ami. Ami! AMI!" Deep, crystalline blue eyes blinked up at him.
"Oh. Ryo. I'm terribly sorry. Have we been sitting long?" she murmured. He blinked at her. Ami sighed, ruffling her bangs and frowning at the book in front of her. "It's no use, I'm afraid. I just can't make any sense of it at all." She shot him such a despairing look his hackles raised for a moment.
He gave her his best smile. "Hey, don't worry about it, right? I mean, you did your best, but we should really get going." He cast a nervous look over his shoulder. They'd been in one place way too long. He'd been as patient as possible, but a terribly dark energy that had slowly tucked itself in around them felt absolutely oppressive now, and he was no Seiji, but it didn't take a sage to figure out they might be on someone's dinner menu.
Ami blinked again and made a little Oh! gasping noise, rising up from her chair on legs that had probably fallen asleep. He winced in sympathy as she stumbled away from the table, bent over, and attempted to rub feeling into her legs briskly. Then he averted his gaze as he realized where he was staring, color creeping into his cheeks.
He cleared his throat and forced himself to focus on their surroundings. The dark, creepy atmosphere went a long way toward sobering him up. Yeah, he didn't like where this was going, and he definitely didn't like the idea of Ami anywhere near it. He reached again for Rekka, frustrated beyond belief when he slammed into a wall of darkness where Rekka should have been, nestled warmly inside him. He could feel it's comforting heat, but the armor was blocked.
"Drat!" Beside him, Ami was furrowing her delicate brows. He fought the urge to reach over and smooth them back out gently with his thumbs. She met his gaze, sadness and a kind of trepidation in her own that made his guts clench.
"Ryo, I can't tell what might be waiting for us here. Not without my computer." Ryo stormed over to her, and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, giving them a little shake. She felt so tiny and delicate in his grip, he couldn't help the small tremble that wove through him at the thought of anything happening to the porcelain of her frame.
"Ami, we talked about this. A lot. I remember. In fact, most of what we've been talking about is you, not using that thing. What if it kills you next time?" he growled. Ami flushed and dropped her gaze, but he really couldn't make his hands let go. He needed to know she understood him. Understood that he wasn't going to tolerate her putting herself at risk again like that. Finally, she gave him a tiny nod, those shoulders slumming in defeat.
"I – I know I shouldn't Ryo, I just feel so useless without it!" she blurted to her shoes. Ryo smiled at her, even though she couldn't see it.
"Hey, look. We'll be ok. We'll be careful, do the best we can. But I can't tolerate you putting yourself at risk like that Ami. I can't. So don't ask me to again, alright?" Ami looked up, nodding at him shyly again, giving him a small smile.
Then she screamed and the world went white for a second. He felt his body bounce a few times before his back slammed into something decidedly more solid. A wall? A wall. His head was spinning.
What happened? Where was he? Why wouldn't his head stop spinning? Everything was swimming in and out of focus, and he couldn't make his vision cooperate.
"Ryo!" The desperate feminine shriek jump started his heart, urging it to a gallop inside his chest. Ami. That was Ami. Ami was screaming. Ami was screaming his name. Terror and rage burned through his veins and he felt his head clear immediately.
Someone's hurting Ami he thought, getting to his feet, staggering backward, and leaning against the wall as he tried to catch his balance. Another scream had him lurching forward blindly. Hell no. Hell. No.
Not Ami. Ryo blinked his eyes clear and tried to understand what was happening when all he saw was complete and utter darkness. He blinked again, trying to understand why he couldn't see. His eyes were open, right? They were definitely open.
There was a lot of crashing and thumping happening forward and to the left a little ways, and he shuffled in that direction. Gurgled whimpers and delicate grunts propelled him faster. The distinctive sound of a fist hitting flesh, hard was followed by a female crying out in pain. Rage burned through him hot and bright. He was going to murder someone.
He charged toward the sounds blindly, hoping to either tackle Ami to safety and put himself between her and the enemy, or tackle the enemy. He leapt, and felt himself collide with a delicate body. Small, shaking arms wrapped around him and clung. He had Ami. She was shaking, gasping. Ryo set her behind him and growled into the darkness as he whirled around.
"Stay away from her." He snarled. His angry demand was met with amused and wicked laughter.
"No. She screams very nicely." Ryo felt his blood boil at the raspy, echoing phrase. He opened his mouth to tell whatever it was exactly what he thought about that, but suddenly the room was bathed in a bright blue glow.
"I'm afraid I can't allow this to continue." Ami's voice was quiet, but strong. She yelled, and the blue light moved outward, temporarily blinding him. He blinked as things settled and the suffocating darkness faded with a shriek of rage. Ryo found himself staring stupidly at Ami. He was practically on top of her. He flushed at their nearness, but before his sense of proprietary emotion got the better of him, he noticed dark bruising already beginning to mottle the line of her small jaw, creeping up and around her cheek and down to her chin. He couldn't help but curl his lip and let out a low growl.
His hands moved of their own accord, reaching up and gently cupping her cheek, turning her head in the dim light. She flinched, and he gentled his touch even more, rubbing along the coloring with the lightest of touches. She was going to have a black eye. Ryo felt impotent rage well up in him. He'd been so busy flaking out like an idiot that he'd let his guard down, when he'd known it was dangerous. And Ami had paid the price. He let his hands fall to his sides, curling into fists so tight his nails bit into his palms.
"You were hurt. I'm sorry." He gritted out. Ami blinked at him, a blush staining her cheekbones. At his visible upset, she grabbed one of his hands in her two small ones, gently uncurling his fingers and easing his grip until his palm was cool and relaxed between her own.
"Apologizing is silly. I was caught off guard as well. It's a good thing we both recovered quickly. And I didn't even use my computer." She beamed up at him, radiating goodwill and he wrestled fiercely with the urge to just pull her into his arms and hold her close, tucked safely against his chest. He shook himself, and cleared his throat.
"Thanks." He was busy averting his gaze when he realized that they'd staggered out into a corridor, and it was currently coated in ice. He gasped in awe and alarm. "Ami—" he started. She shook her head and smiled.
"It's alright , that's just me. I figured my powers might cast some light and hopefully obliterate the darkness. I'm glad my hunch was right." She smiled shyly at him. He rocked back on his heels, thrown. Not only had he been caught unaware, but he'd been saved by a girl. A quiet, shy, tiny little thing. He loved how petit she was. How delicate. It made his guts feel warm. But knowing she'd saved them both? That was humbling as hell. He wasn't going to let it happen again. The warm feeling crept back into his body as he stared at her now. Almost as if Rekka were active, but not quite. Not exactly.
When he'd been watching her, watching over her in the weird, creepy library, he'd felt a little strange in his chest. He rubbed at it absently now, wondering what it meant. It ached when he looked at her, bruised but smiling at him, surrounded by the ice that had saved them. The ice that she'd made. He cleared his throat again, and held out his hand to her, offering her a tentative smile.
"No one's getting past me again Ami Mizuno, I promise." She returned his smile and tentatively placed her fingers in his.
"I believe it."
Ami was so cute.
Ryo wondered if she knew that her hair was sticking up at odd angles. She rammed her fingers through it and tugged again, completely unaware of what she was doing as she squinted at another page of ancient, crumbly text.
The dark circles under her eyes weren't cute.
Ryo tugged at his collar again and shifted uneasily in his seat. He'd given up a long time ago trying to interpret anything in the books around them. He'd had a moment of sharp alarm when Ami had suggested trying to use her computer to make the translation go faster, but Ryo had shut that down immediately. The idea of watching her writhe in pain as her ears bled was absolutely intolerable.
She'd been going at it since. For hours. Ryo had paced, shuffled, explored, and made his way back to this seat at least 30 times since then. She was exhausted. She was dealing with injuries from battle. Her stomach had growled, through she'd ignored it. She had the most intense focus of any person he'd ever met. It was incredible. It was charming.
It was driving him crazy.
He'd promised himself another hour or two before he interrupted her at least four hours ago. Her stomach growled again, and his tether snapped. "Ami? Ami. Ami! AMI!" Deep, crystalline blue eyes blinked up at him.
"Oh. Ryo. I'm terribly sorry. Have we been sitting long?" she murmured. He blinked at her. Ami sighed, ruffling her bangs and frowning at the book in front of her. "It's no use, I'm afraid. I just can't make any sense of it at all." She shot him such a despairing look his hackles raised for a moment.
He gave her his best smile. "Hey, don't worry about it, right? I mean, you did your best, but we should really get going." He cast a nervous look over his shoulder. They'd been in one place way too long. He'd been as patient as possible, but a terribly dark energy that had slowly tucked itself in around them felt absolutely oppressive now, and he was no Seiji, but it didn't take a sage to figure out they might be on someone's dinner menu.
Ami blinked again and made a little Oh! gasping noise, rising up from her chair on legs that had probably fallen asleep. He winced in sympathy as she stumbled away from the table, bent over, and attempted to rub feeling into her legs briskly. Then he averted his gaze as he realized where he was staring, color creeping into his cheeks.
He cleared his throat and forced himself to focus on their surroundings. The dark, creepy atmosphere went a long way toward sobering him up. Yeah, he didn't like where this was going, and he definitely didn't like the idea of Ami anywhere near it. He reached again for Rekka, frustrated beyond belief when he slammed into a wall of darkness where Rekka should have been, nestled warmly inside him. He could feel it's comforting heat, but the armor was blocked.
"Drat!" Beside him, Ami was furrowing her delicate brows. He fought the urge to reach over and smooth them back out gently with his thumbs. She met his gaze, sadness and a kind of trepidation in her own that made his guts clench.
"Ryo, I can't tell what might be waiting for us here. Not without my computer." Ryo stormed over to her, and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, giving them a little shake. She felt so tiny and delicate in his grip, he couldn't help the small tremble that wove through him at the thought of anything happening to the porcelain of her frame.
"Ami, we talked about this. A lot. I remember. In fact, most of what we've been talking about is you, not using that thing. What if it kills you next time?" he growled. Ami flushed and dropped her gaze, but he really couldn't make his hands let go. He needed to know she understood him. Understood that he wasn't going to tolerate her putting herself at risk again like that. Finally, she gave him a tiny nod, those shoulders slumming in defeat.
"I – I know I shouldn't Ryo, I just feel so useless without it!" she blurted to her shoes. Ryo smiled at her, even though she couldn't see it.
"Hey, look. We'll be ok. We'll be careful, do the best we can. But I can't tolerate you putting yourself at risk like that Ami. I can't. So don't ask me to again, alright?" Ami looked up, nodding at him shyly again, giving him a small smile.
Then she screamed and the world went white for a second. He felt his body bounce a few times before his back slammed into something decidedly more solid. A wall? A wall. His head was spinning.
What happened? Where was he? Why wouldn't his head stop spinning? Everything was swimming in and out of focus, and he couldn't make his vision cooperate.
"Ryo!" The desperate feminine shriek jump started his heart, urging it to a gallop inside his chest. Ami. That was Ami. Ami was screaming. Ami was screaming his name. Terror and rage burned through his veins and he felt his head clear immediately.
Someone's hurting Ami he thought, getting to his feet, staggering backward, and leaning against the wall as he tried to catch his balance. Another scream had him lurching forward blindly. Hell no. Hell. No.
Not Ami. Ryo blinked his eyes clear and tried to understand what was happening when all he saw was complete and utter darkness. He blinked again, trying to understand why he couldn't see. His eyes were open, right? They were definitely open.
There was a lot of crashing and thumping happening forward and to the left a little ways, and he shuffled in that direction. Gurgled whimpers and delicate grunts propelled him faster. The distinctive sound of a fist hitting flesh, hard was followed by a female crying out in pain. Rage burned through him hot and bright. He was going to murder someone.
He charged toward the sounds blindly, hoping to either tackle Ami to safety and put himself between her and the enemy, or tackle the enemy. He leapt, and felt himself collide with a delicate body. Small, shaking arms wrapped around him and clung. He had Ami. She was shaking, gasping. Ryo set her behind him and growled into the darkness as he whirled around.
"Stay away from her." He snarled. His angry demand was met with amused and wicked laughter.
"No. She screams very nicely." Ryo felt his blood boil at the raspy, echoing phrase. He opened his mouth to tell whatever it was exactly what he thought about that, but suddenly the room was bathed in a bright blue glow.
"I'm afraid I can't allow this to continue." Ami's voice was quiet, but strong. She yelled, and the blue light moved outward, temporarily blinding him. He blinked as things settled and the suffocating darkness faded with a shriek of rage. Ryo found himself staring stupidly at Ami. He was practically on top of her. He flushed at their nearness, but before his sense of proprietary emotion got the better of him, he noticed dark bruising already beginning to mottle the line of her small jaw, creeping up and around her cheek and down to her chin. He couldn't help but curl his lip and let out a low growl.
His hands moved of their own accord, reaching up and gently cupping her cheek, turning her head in the dim light. She flinched, and he gentled his touch even more, rubbing along the coloring with the lightest of touches. She was going to have a black eye. Ryo felt impotent rage well up in him. He'd been so busy flaking out like an idiot that he'd let his guard down, when he'd known it was dangerous. And Ami had paid the price. He let his hands fall to his sides, curling into fists so tight his nails bit into his palms.
"You were hurt. I'm sorry." He gritted out. Ami blinked at him, a blush staining her cheekbones. At his visible upset, she grabbed one of his hands in her two small ones, gently uncurling his fingers and easing his grip until his palm was cool and relaxed between her own.
"Apologizing is silly. I was caught off guard as well. It's a good thing we both recovered quickly. And I didn't even use my computer." She beamed up at him, radiating goodwill and he wrestled fiercely with the urge to just pull her into his arms and hold her close, tucked safely against his chest. He shook himself, and cleared his throat.
"Thanks." He was busy averting his gaze when he realized that they'd staggered out into a corridor, and it was currently coated in ice. He gasped in awe and alarm. "Ami—" he started. She shook her head and smiled.
"It's alright , that's just me. I figured my powers might cast some light and hopefully obliterate the darkness. I'm glad my hunch was right." She smiled shyly at him. He rocked back on his heels, thrown. Not only had he been caught unaware, but he'd been saved by a girl. A quiet, shy, tiny little thing. He loved how petit she was. How delicate. It made his guts feel warm. But knowing she'd saved them both? That was humbling as hell. He wasn't going to let it happen again. The warm feeling crept back into his body as he stared at her now. Almost as if Rekka were active, but not quite. Not exactly.
When he'd been watching her, watching over her in the weird, creepy library, he'd felt a little strange in his chest. He rubbed at it absently now, wondering what it meant. It ached when he looked at her, bruised but smiling at him, surrounded by the ice that had saved them. The ice that she'd made. He cleared his throat again, and held out his hand to her, offering her a tentative smile.
"No one's getting past me again Ami Mizuno, I promise." She returned his smile and tentatively placed her fingers in his.
"I believe it."