Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Chrno Crusade crew (as much as I'd like to!) all property of Daisuke Moriyama.
AN: This fic is a RxC AU and a fair bit OOC but for better understanding of things mentioned it takes place while they are still in New York. So before Rosette embarks on her mission to find Joshua in San Francisco. And I'm using the manga for reference. Oh and a warning that in a future chapter(s) there will be a lime (possibly a lemon but I don't know how much you can get away with here at XD )
'Blah
blah blah.' normal speech.
'Blah blah blah.'
characters thoughts
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Intolerable Cruelty
Chapter 1 - A New Mission
Chrno watched the sleeping form from his position on the windowsill in deep thought. The steady rise and fall of her chest and occasional snort was somehow calming. This was the third time this week where he'd felt compelled to visit his contractor in the middle of the night.
Lately he'd found it harder and harder to get her out of his thoughts, her perfect blue eyes, her pink lips and the porcelain like skin of her exposed throat and collarbone..
Chrno shook his head as his thoughts started to wander into dangerous territory. As of the past couple of months he'd begun to notice things about his contractor that he'd never noticed before, things like how flawless her skin is, or how the fabric of her militia outfit clung to her body in certain areas.
He was certain that nothing had changed, that she was still the same Rosette he had known for four years but as of a few months ago he'd started to see Rosette in whole new light. She was no longer a little girl to him anymore, but a young woman, a very beautiful young woman.
Chrno sighed; it was already three in the morning, which meant he'd been sitting at the window for almost two and a half hours now, just staring at her.
'Why do I keep coming here? If she were to wake up and see me..'
Chrno grimaced at the thought; Rosette had no inhibitions when it came to beating the tar out of perverts.' Not that I'm sicko or anything, but I can just imagine how she'd view the whole situation.'
"I'm sorry Rosette I was just watching you sleep for a few hours like I have been most nights lately, nothing inappropriate of course!"
The words sounded stupid in his head and he could only imagine how pathetic they'd be if he actually had to use them. 'Nothing inappropriate, not a single dirty thought in my head.'
'What a lie.' He snorted, a slight blush on his cheeks as he remembered two nights ago when Rosettes nightgown had managed to hitch itself up to her waist when she'd rolled over in bed.
'I really am dead meat if she catches me' Chrno winced, realizing it was high time he left and went to bed himself. 'It isn't so bad after all.' he thought to himself, he'd be able to spend time with her tomorrow, his beautiful contractor.
Giving one final longing look at her peaceful form he leapt from the sill landing softly on the grass. His form fading into the night as he lightly jogged off towards the Elders workshop.
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'You gonna eat that?' came a voice as a slightly bent fork poked around in chrno's breakfast. Chrno sighed not looking up from his plate 'nope all yours.' Rosette was her normal self as usual; blissfully unaware of the tri weekly moonlit visits her partner was paying her.
'y'know, I have been having the strangest dreams lately!' Rosette mumbled with a mouthful of Chrno's toast. 'I get the oddest feeling that I'm being watched sometimes at night!' Chrno swallowed hard, careful not to show shock or surprise.
'I wonder if that damn perverted old man has anything to do with it.' She said thoughtfully. The elder was infamous for his panty stealing antics, having had more than his fair share of broken bones and concussions from run-ins with Rosette.
'Ha really? I'm sure its nothing.' Chrno said reassuringly eyes still trained to his plate, hoping the warmth in his face wasn't showing too obviously.
'You should probably close your window at night if it really worries you-' the words fell out of his mouth before he'd even had time to think it through.
Rosette's head snapped to attention, gripping her fork tightly 'how do you know about my window being left open?' an angry vein started to pulse on her forehead. 'You've been peeping on me too haven't you?' Rosette spat out grabbing Chrno's collar and yanking him close to her, the fork shoved dangerously close to his unprotected throat.
'Uh n-no that's not w-what I meant.' Chrno stammered, knowing all to well he could be in for an early visit to the infirmary. 'w-what I m-mean is, w-well I didn't m-mean anything a-at all.' Chrno winced waiting for the beating from his contractor, but it never came.
'Relax Chrno, I'm just joshing you' Chrno opened one eye to reveal his Contractor grinning at him 'I think you said the same thing last week.' The grip on his collar releasing, he settled down back into his seat.
'I'm probably just imagining things again, like usual you could say!' rosette winked at him, Chrno's heart missed a beat 'How does she do that?' he thought to himself, his breath almost catching in his throat.
Whenever rosette smiled at him he felt his stomach tighten and his heart rate quicken, he always felt like he'd run a mile after one of her smiles. Chrno felt his cheeks warm trying hard not to focus on how sweet and inviting her lips looked.
'Time to go' he warned himself, standing quickly 'Well I think elder wants me to help him with some things today so I'll see you around lunch time, bye!' he said more quickly than he'd intended. Raking a hand through his purple tresses in attempt to look calm, he nearly tripped trying to get away from the table.
'You are an idiot' he berated himself, sure that the giggles he could hear were directed at him. 'Why do I always have to goof up in front of her?' he thought as the lunch hall doors closed behind him. 'Just once I'd like to not make a fool of myself!' And with that he stomped off to Elders hut, dimly aware he wasn't really needed by Elder, he just wanted some time to 'cool down' on his own.
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'Geez what's his problem?' Rosette asked aloud staring at the doors the demon had just fled through. 'He's been acting all strange lately.'
'Some might say he's been bitten by the "bug".' Said a voice as a hand lightly patted her shoulder. Rosette spun around to see the red headed Anna staring down at her with a sweet smile, her fellow sisters Mary and Claire with equally sugary grins.
'What do you mean 'bitten by the "bug"'?' Rosette asked, annoyance creeping into her voice, she didn't like how smug the three of them looked. Like children who had just found their birthday presents hidden in the linen closet.
'You know, the "love" bug!' squeaked Mary with excitement. Rosettes annoyance crept into her face, a small vein starting to throb on her temple 'Oh great the three town gossips, wonder what fib they'll be coming up with now' Rosette was very aware of how easily things got out of hand when the three nuns next to her got a hold of a snippet of gossip.
'I don't know what you're talking about, more rubbish I presume!' Rosette snorted, dropping her fork to her plate with a clatter. 'I have better things to do than listen to your coma inducing drivel' she snapped, moving to get up. a pairs of hands firmly pushed her back down into her seat.
'Rosette, don't be so quick to judge!' Anna beamed, taking delight in the annoyed look on her fellow nuns face. 'What we're saying is, Chrno's got a bit of a sweet spot for you' Rosette sighed 'They're baiting me I know it' She thought gloomily.
'Well, I'm sure that's great' she said, shrugging out of Anna's grip ' Pull the other one' Rosette deadpanned picking up her plate, she turned to the three nuns 'I'm not going to bite today, I know what you're about'
This only seemed to make Anna and Mary grin even more, Claire's smile remained the same 'don't they have anything better to do?' Rosette thought inwardly. ' You don't have to believe us if you don't want to' Anna simpered 'but you're the only one who hasn't seemed to notice' Mary next to her nodded vigorously in agreement.
'These guys don't give up' Rosette sighed, getting out of her seat. 'Okay that's nice, I'm going to go now and do some work, y'know instead of running around spreading gossip about people!'
Rosette stormed off leaving the three nuns looking quite pleased with themselves, half throwing her plate onto the dirty washing pile. Rosette was not in a good mood; having Chrno acting all weird towards her and those three witches on her heels was more than she could handle.
'All I need now is that old hag Sister Kate to yell at me for something' she thought savagely, pushing through the doors of the eating hall.
'Sister Rosette!' the call of her name brought her out of her seething for a moment. A young nun came running up to her 'Oh great now what' she groaned, the nun stopped a few feet from her, her cheeks pink from running.
'Sister Rosette!' she panted 'Sister Kate wants to see you right away!' the young girl leaning against one of the buttresses along the hallway, fanning her face with her hand.
'Oh fine I'll go see that old hag!' rosette spat, muttering curses as she stormed past the small and now quite frightened nun.
'My day is getting better by the minute.' she thought sourly as she made her way to Sister Kate's office.
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Sister Kate didn't look up from her oak desk as she heard a light rapping on the door of her office. 'Come In' she called, tidying up a few loose papers before finally looking up.
Rosette Christopher's head poked in the half opened door. 'You wanted to see me Sister Kate?'
'Ah yes, come in Rosette' The abbess gestured to the space in front of her desk. Pulling out cream manila folder as Rosette walked into the office, stopping a few feet from her desk.
'This is your newest mission' Sister Kate handed her the folder, re-adjusting the thin-rimmed glasses on her nose.
Rosette opened the folder and flicked through some of the documentation 'so what's this about exactly?' Rosettes mood had somewhat settled and curiosity now took its place 'I presume a demon or something is behind this case or we wouldn't be dealing with it'
'To be frank we don't actually know what exactly is behind this particular case.' Sister Kate went through her own copy of the case ' The report says that a small town to the south of here is experiencing irregular surges of Astral'
Sister Kate was interrupted as a small knock was heard from the office door. 'Oh good that should be him' she looked back at her papers. 'come in' she called.
Rosette looked quizzically at Sister Kate then at the door 'him?' she thought. Rosette looked surprised as Chrno stepped through the door timidly. Just as she was about to ask her partner what he was doing here the Abbess cut her off, gesturing for Chrno to stand next to Rosette.
'Good you're both here now' Sister Kate handed Chrno a similar manila folder to the one Rosette was holding. 'As I was just saying to Sister Rosette here, this case is a mystery to us, all we know is that the town is having strange surges of Astral'
Chrno skimmed through his folder, reading the first few lines of the report 'I wonder what this is about' none of the names or places stuck out in his mind.
'This is not something we'd normally look into only that the Astral is having unusual effects on the townsfolk.' Sister Kate finished, looking the two exorcists over her eyes lingering over the demon before continuing.
'We need you two to investigate the town and see what you can dig up' she finished, sliding the papers back into the folder.
'Uh- so what's the effect on the townsfolk?' Rosette asked, not really wanting to read through the fifteen-page report she held in her hand. 'How boring it doesn't even have any pictures!' she thought dully
Sister Kate twitched slightly ' Maybe you should read the report Rosette and you might not need to ask!' Chrno flinched slightly at the annoyance in the Abbess's voice.
The Abbess took a deep breath, calming her nerves. If there was one thing Rosette did better than any other person in the whole world it was make her lose her temper, just thinking of all the property she'd destroyed in the past made her want to strangle the girl right then and there.
'Seeing as if I don't tell you now, chances are you'll not read the report properly and miss out on important details-'
'We're going under cover?' Chrno's question cut the Abbess off mid sentence. His crimson eyes widened visibly as he read over the details of the new mission. A vein started to throb under the Abbess's habit 'Yes I was just about to get to that part-'
'Wow I can't wait I get to wear something other than this boring uniform!' Rosette hadn't been able to hide her enthusiasm and had burst out cutting Sister Kate off quite rudely. 'Finally something exciting!' no sooner had the words left Rosettes mouth Sister Kate had flung a very full bottle of ink at her.
The ink exploded all down the front of her Militia outfit, silencing Rosette very quickly.
'No one breathes another word!' Sister Kate yelled gripping the desk so hard her knuckles were white. ' You are going to this town undercover, furthermore you shall be going under the guise of a couple!' she took another deep breath trying to maintain control for just a little bit longer. Rosette was about to spit out a complaint but thought better of it.
' You will be stationed there for a week, longer if required but mark my words Sister Rosette if you mess this up or destroy anything, I will ban you from fieldwork for a year!'
Sister Kate's steely glare kept both Chrno and Rosette from so much as blinking. Rosette was dripping from head to toe in black ink and was Chrno standing as still as a statue.
'Do I make myself clear?' Both managed a nod as best they could, afraid the Abbess would throw more than just an inkbottle if they dared interrupt her.
Sister Kate sat down in her seat again, ' You are both dismissed.' Her demeanour somewhat calmed down. 'Father Remington will brief you further on the details of this mission as well as help provide you with your equipment for the duration of it.'
'You will be leaving tomorrow morning 8am, so make sure you're are prepared and ready. '
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'Did she say what I thought she said?' Chrno quickly flicked through his manila folder, looking for a scrap of evidence to back up what he had heard back in Sister Kate's office.
Sure enough in plain English was the description of their mission, they were to go to this small town, pretending to be a couple, this included sharing a room at a small bed and breakfast. The colour seemed to drain from his face as he read over the words again, trying to make sure he had read them properly.
'oh no' he thought, only too aware that part of him was ecstatic about the whole thing.
Not more than a few feet from the Demon, Rosette had an expression of pure mortification on her face.
This was going to be interesting.
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To Be Continued…
This is one really REALLY long first chapter…its amazing how much i can ramble. Hopefully its not too boring, I had to lay the foundations and all that stuff. You know how it is.
I had some confusion regarding the three nuns so I apologise if I got them mixed up. And Chrno and Rosette were very OOC, well mostly Chrno with those dirty thoughts he's havin (hehehe)
I hope you liked it, please review if you have the time, constructive criticism is very welcome, being that this is my first Chrno Crusade fic and all.
See you again in chapter 2!
