Hey guys this took forever and it's also half the usual size and more of a filler. I'm also avoiding writing the next chapter cause stuff starts to go down and I feel bad ruining the nice stuff but I have to. And my charger for my laptop broke so I wrote this on mobile. Auto correct sucks.
Asura hadn't slept that night, just laid back and stared at the ceiling of their 'tent' with tired eyes. He couldn't sleep. If he slept then he would dream, and those always were quick to turn to nightmares. He knew what would happen, should he drift off. The dreams would turn into night terrors. He'd probably panic and wake his brother and the girls. Possibly hurt them if he lashed out. That was the last thing he wanted.
He slowly sat up slowly, pulling his knees up to his chest and quickly checked if he had disturbed any of the others. Kid was still curled up at his left side, closer than he was the night before, but not enough for it to be uncomfortable. Liz and Patty were further away, the younger girl taking as much room as possible and forcing her sister to sleep in a ball. He blinked, rubbing at his eyes as he sighed in relief. No one was disturbed by the movement.
By the time morning came, he was exhausted, but still stubbornly fighting off sleep. Kid was the first one to wake up, groaning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Asura watched as his brother slowly sat up, looking slightly confused for a moment as he remembered the previous night. Finally he locked eyes with the older Reaper, brow furrowed in concern upon finding him curled up. The attention made him uncomfortable, so Asura unconsciously curled up tighter.
"... Asura? Are...are you alright?" The younger boy received a nod that was too slow and hesitant to be the truth. Still he would accept it, a part of him afraid of pushing his brother too much. Kid had worked hard to gain some kind of trust from his brother and he wasn't about to jeopardize their relationship. Even after the week or so that he'd been visiting the other shinigami, Asura was still hesitant to trust him. Though it was easy to forget sometimes because, as he'd soon learned, Asura was a pretty good actor.
Hesitantly, the elder boy uncurled himself as he eyed the other shinigami. Kid could still see how tense his brother was despite his attempt to appear relaxed. It was a little concerning to him but maybe it would be best not to say anything. It was obvious that Asura did not want to talk, so instead he said, "How about we go get some breakfast? It's still early enough that no one should be here and we still have the keys from last night."
Once he got another hesitant nod, Kid crawled out of the tent with Asura following behind him slowly. As the older boy stood, he felt a tug on his sleeve. It startled him and he flinched away from the touch, regretting it immediately when he met his brother's worried gaze. Before Kid could even ask , he shook his head and crossed his arms defensively. All Kid could do was stare in confusion before deciding to lead the way out of the room. He knew Asura was following because he could hear his quiet footsteps.
Once they arrived the older Reaper sat at the nearest table, slumping forward and putting his head in his hands. Kid frowned at this as worry twisted in his gut. He was quick to grab some food from the kitchen, just pop-tarts because they were easiest, and taking a seat right across from the older boy. Asura took the one offered to him and nibbled on the corner, still looking like he was exhausted. Hell, Kid was starting to think Asura hadn't slept at all.
"...Hey." Kid started, waiting for his brother to look at his before he continued. "Asura, you know you can tell me anything, right? I really want to help you, but I can't do that if you don't tell me what's wrong." There was a hesitant look on he brother's face, so Kid added, "At least tell us if something we're doing is scaring you or making you uncomfortable. We'll try our best to fix it, okay?"
Asura nodded in understanding, though it seemed like he was skeptical. It irritated Kid to some extent, but he saw the older boy start to fidget nervously and squashed that feeling down as something occurred to him. "Hey Asura...Can... can you feel my emotions?" The guilty look that crossed the other shinigami's face was all he needed to confirm that idea. It was a little strange to think, but he was pretty sure their father mentioned him having pretty good soul perception.
"That's pretty amazing you know. That you can sense people's emotions. There's only a few people that good, and I think most of them have a grigori soul." He offered a smile, hoping to ease some of the tension. When Asura smiled back he relaxed, feeling like he'd accomplished something.
They finished eating and Kid stood up, waving for Asura to follow. The elder Reaper didn't even try to move, just ducked his head and curled up in his seat. Kid was immediately concerned, reaching out to try to comfort(?) his brother only to be stopped by a large, red barrier. It made him worry more because Asura had never outright denied contact for him even if he did look incredibly uneasy. Even if the barrier flickered out of existence seconds later it didn't help.
If anything, he felt worse that Asura seemed to think had to stop. "S-sorry... I'm not thinking straight...I, um...I didn't sleep well..." The older boy mumbled quietly, rubbing at his eyes and trying to stifle a yawn.
"Well, if you're still tired, we can go back and you can sleep some more. I'll take the keys back to father, okay?" Kid suggested, waiting for a nod before he stood up to leave. "Okay, then let's get going. I don't really want to get caught by any of the teachers with father's keys and I don't know if father's called any of them for a meeting today."
"O-okay..." Asura said as he followed Kid's lead, silently agreeing with the younger boy as they walked back to his room in silence. They pushed open the door and to his surprise, the room was cleaned . The bed was made and, now that he looked, Asura thought there were more pillows. The black blanket he found that he liked was folded up at the foot of the bed. Everything else had been cleared away, dragged back to wherever they came from.
"Hey guy, we cleaned up already. Figured it would be quicker." Liz stated. The older Reaper offered a grateful smile to the girls, grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around himself as he sat on the bed.
Kid settled at the table between the two girls, thinking quietly about something before he finally spoke. "Hey Asura? The next time we go to meet our friends, would you like to come?" He asked, watching his brother anxiously fidget as he thought about it. Finally the older Reaper shook his head.
"I...I don't think that's a good idea..." He said, quietly adding, "I-if I go outside people will stare and I don't want everyone to see how strange I look..." One hand raised slowly and covered his third eye. He turned away to avoid meeting the eyes of his brother and the boy's weapons. He didn't see the three exchange uneasy looks, but when Liz cleared her throat, he turned back to her.
"Maybe we can find you something to cover it with? Would that help?" The girl suggested, shrugging her shoulders. After a moment's thought, Asura nodded and smiled lightly behind his scarves. He wasn't sure if it would really help, but at least people wouldn't be able to see his third eye. That was a bit of a relief. "Okay, then I'll look around."
"Th-thank you..." He murmured before Kid spoke up.
"Well, I guess we'll just go." Kid said, standing up and adding, "I still have to go give father his keys back." Liz nodded, grabbing her things and motioning for a pouting Patty to do the same. "I'll see you later Asura."
The girls waved and smiled, Liz saying, "This was fun! We should do this again sometime, but with the others too!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Patty chirped happily. "We'll see ya later! Bye-bye!" Slowly, Asura raised a hand in farewell, smiling softly. He was happy even though he worried they were only trying to be nice. It was easier to forget about everything bad that had happened and just be normal for a while, even if he knew he was just pretending.
Once the door clicked shut, the Reaper yawned. He was tired from being up all night, and being surrounded by people practically drained all his energy from the previous night. He crawled under the covers of his bed that the girls had made for him, cocooning himself in the sheets once he was comfortable. Finally feeling safe, he closed his eyes to sleep.
.
.
.
Kid hesitantly approached his father, the keys Asura took last night held tightly in his hands. Admittedly, he was a bit worried that Shinigami would be angry. He himself had never stolen something... Nothing his father didn't need him to steal anyway. But that didn't count because it was usually from enemies of Shibusen and for good reason. The shade was not in his human form, probably because Stein and Spirit were both there. From where he was standing, he couldn't tell what they were talking about.
Seconds later, Shinigami noticed him standing there and waved his son over with a cheery, "Hiya Kiddo! How was your sleepover?" The nickname made him sigh, but he still looked up at Shinigami and answered.
"Good morning father. We had fun, but...um, you dropped these." Kid held up the keys, trying hard to sound as normal as possible. The older Reaper said nothing as the boy added, "We found them while we were cleaning up so I thought I'd bring them to you." He handed them off to his father, who took them without a word.
"Thank you Kid, I was looking for these, but I didn't want to bother you kids again. I was going to check Asura's room later. Speaking of Asura, how was he doing?" The man asked, setting the keys aside as he waited for an answer. The younger Reaper glanced at Stein and Spirit briefly and hesitated.
Finally he answered, "He seemed...Off today. He was quieter and more... I don't know...tired? Reserved?" The boy shrugged , not entirely sure he was using the right wording. "Is he going to be okay?" Shinigami didn't get to respond as Stein spoke up instead.
"He should be alright, it's probably just a bad day. It's not uncommon for people in his situation to have off days, just check up on him later and if it continues let one of us know. We would rather not see him regress after he's started trying to recover." The man said, fixing his glasses quickly.
Kid nodded, a small frown on his face at the thought of his brother shutting him out. It made him uneasy, but he knew his teacher was right. "I will." Then he turned to his father and added, "Would it be alright if I brought Asura out into the city sometime? I wanted to show him around and he can meet my friends then."
For a long moment Shinigami was silent, thinking over his son's request. Finally, he shrugged. "I suppose so, just don't leave him alone. The city has changed a lot and it might make him anxious. I wouldn't want him to have a panic attack." A smile broke out across the boy's face and he nodded.
"Thank you Father, I will make sure to keep an eye on him." By the look on the boy's face, Shinigami could already tell that Kid had something planned for his brother. Instead of asking about it, he let it go. There was no real reason to ask since he was sure that whatever Kid was thinking wasn't bad. " Well, I should go now. Before Patty decides to come looking for me."
"Alrighty then Kiddo. You go on and have fun." The shade said, ruffling the boy's hair and earning an upset squawk. Kid left grumbling under his breath and fixing his hair as he walked.
The next day had started out horribly. First he'd woken up screaming from a nightmare he couldn't remember, and then he'd tripped getting out of bed because the blanket decided to wrap around his legs. He spent ten minutes laying on the floor, too frustrated with this day to already to bother getting up. Hell, he even debated just climbing back into bed and sleeping all day. It was a desire he couldn't quite explain, but it left him confused because he'd only ever managed to sleep for a couple hours at most before...this.
Eventually he pushed himself off of the floor. He spotted his clothes folded neatly on the table and grabbing them as he entered the bathroom. The lock clicked into place and he sighed. He really was tired. Spending the day in bed seemed much more appealing with each minutes that passed, but he had been thinking about going to the library for a while and today seemed like the best day for it. Maybe he could find some more of those comic books Kid had shown him. Or more of the series he'd been given.
So he hurried to get dressed, turning away from the mirror as he did. He couldn't look at himself lately. Didn't want to see the scars and remember. He'd learned the hard way how bad of a panic attack he could have if he did that. The only good thing was that no one had been there to see it. Once he'd finished, he left the bathroom, fixing his scarf before leaving.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he was sure he was lost as he didn't remember the library taking so long to reach. Looking around the next corner made him sigh, it was the same place he'd passed earlier. Now he knew he really was lost, maybe it would be best to go back to his room for now. If Kid showed up later he could always ask his brother to show him the way again.
A hand on his shoulder startled him from his thoughts and he let out a frightened shriek. Before he could bolt down the hall, the person behind him spun him around and clasped his hands on the boy's shoulders. The red hair and suit looked oddly familiar, but at the moment Asura couldn't place where he'd met the man. The man spoke up then, concern etched onto his features.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm Spirit, your father's weapon." He offered a reassuring smile, noticing how tense the boy was. It took him a second to register that the tremors he felt were from the young Reaper's shaking. He looked terrified to see Spirit there. The man chose to ignore that for now though. "Asura, are you lost?" After a moment, Asura nodded and Spirit moved to stuff his hands in his pockets. "Okay, well where do you want to go? I can take you there."
Spirit got no response, aside from the shivers he could feel through his hands. Slowly, Asura took a few steps back, eyes darting around as he looked around. The man frowned, but quickly tried to change it to a reassuring smile. It was obvious that the Reaper didn't want to talk, so Spirit began to rummage through his pockets, grinning as he found what he wanted. His grin widened and he offered the pen and paper scrap to Asura, saying, "Here, just write where you want to go and I'll take you there." With a slight nod, Asura took the offered items and did as he was told.
Once he was done he handed the paper and pen back. It took Spirit a second to decipher the word written on the paper as Asura's handwriting was shaky, but he still understood it as " Library ". The man smiled and nodded, "Alright, the library was this way!" He announced, pointing in the direction they would be going. "Follow me."
It was a short trip to the library, but the moment they entered the room, he saw the Reaper's eyes light up. It reminded Spirit a lot of Maka, and he couldn't help but smile fondly as Asura disappeared among the shelves.
Hours later Asura had been found curled in the corner, surrounded by piles of books and starting to fall asleep.
