Well, that's a turn out for the books! Welcome back IcyLady, glad to see you here even if it's only for nostalgia! This story will finish within a year, I can promise, for my own sake as well as you exceedingly generous 6 readers. Hope you all are enjoying the start of spring/fall depending on your hemisphere.
Four figures, one large, three small, stood perched on a tall outcrop above the train tracks. The sun set at their backs, casting long shadows over the hills and vales of the northwest, where the rainwater flowed down into shining lakes between the hills. In front of them, the railway snaked out and to the north, over high trestles before the land rose up to hold the tracks snugly in its valleys.
"Heads or tails?"
"You guys can decide."
"Tails."
"Heads."
"I did it last time."
Marie flipped the coin up and caught it on the back of his hand.
"What's the result?"
Three heads peered over.
"Heads," said Daisya.
"Really?"
"Yes," Lenalee confirmed.
"I suppose I should be glad you're not trying to lie, Daisya," said Marie dryly. "Do you have a train in mind?"
"There should be one going Liverpool in, uh, half an hour? We can go from there to Hull through Leeds."
"Once you have the schedule, meet us in the rear car."
"Right-o." Daisya saluted lazily. "Kanda, you wanna come with? 'S always easier to get info out of those drivers when you've got a sword with you."
"Sure."
The two boys unshouldered their travelling bags, leaning them together against a nearby rock while the others followed suit. It was fall, so the light would take a while before it faded completely. Thankfully they were still far enough from the sea that they weren't getting the cold winds.
"You're sure it's scheduled within the hour?" asked Lenalee, setting down a pack nearly as big as her torso.
"Absolutely," Daisya said. "We've still got time for a game, or something."
"I have a pack of cards," offered Marie.
"Great!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Daisya's legs folded nearly under him as he sat where he was, not bothering to check the grass for dirt. He was going to be getting dusty sooner or later. From his pocket, he fished out a matchbox.
"You guys up for Stop the Bus?"
"Yeah."
"Sure."
Marie knelt down beside Daisya, facing north so that he'd hear the noise of a train before any of them could see it. Lenalee chose a spot facing him, no easy task when you had to deal with his poker face, while Kanda slumped down across from Daisya. He undid and retied his ponytail as Marie dealt the thick paper cards, probably just for the sake of it, and Daisya passed two matches around to each player. There weren't enough in the box for a full game, he'd forgotten to restock with how fast they headed out.
"Does everyone remember the rules?" asked Lenalee.
"We played it, like, last week," he said.
"It's always good to check."
It wasn't their rowdiest game, without any sort of partner rules and without the weird and complicated games they'd been used to with so many days trapped inside HQ. It was better than nothing, though!
Sure enough, they never had any trouble reading the cards. If anything, it was harder just to see everyone's faces with the sun shining straight across from the horizon. Of course, Marie could read them with his fingers whether it was light or dark. Nice to have clear skies after so many days of rain, even if Daisya never thought he'd be thinking this, since the rain did actually get boring after a while.
They played for just under half an hour, enough for Daisya to strike out but not enough to leave a clear winner. Kanda was midway through winning his first round, reading his hand one card at a time, when Marie straightened up and held a hand up for them to quiet down.
"Daisya, can you see anything?" he asked.
Daisya paused his construction of a matchstick tower to scan the horizon. "Nothing yet, but you're probably right. Now's about the time it should be coming."
"Then let's pack up," said Marie. "You've brought rope?"
"A short one, yeah. If it all goes to plan, I shouldn't need it."
"I'll follow behind you, just to make sure," said Lenalee.
They packed up quickly, since there was nothing worse than missing a train and waiting hours in the cold for another one. Not that he'd ever been there, no. Daisya collapsed his little castle back into its matchbox, while Kanda collected the cards and Marie kept an ear out for their ride. The iron horse was loud as hell, especially among these hills and rocks. As they tied up their packs, the chugging of its engines filtered out to the rest of them.
"I think I see it," Lenalee said a few minutes later, pointing to the gap between hills where the tracks came out. In the shadows, Daisya couldn't see a thing. "It doesn't look very long."
"We may have to share our cabin, then," said Marie. He already had his Innocence out, thin steel wires that braided themselves into a cable as he hummed.
"We won't," said Kanda. Side-by-side with Daisya, he was standing on the edge of their little hill, feet nearly over the edge as he gauged the drop down to the tracks below. The train had disappeared behind another hill, but the noise from engine was getting louder. Once it came back into sight, they'd be ready to jump—always sooner than you thought you had to, since those things moved fast.
"Aw, what do you mean?" teased Daisya. "You're not going to scare them off, are you?"
"No, they'll see you and leave."
For that, he got a punch on the arm.
"Kanda, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you had a sense of humour, yeah?"
"Are you guys ready?" called Lenalee. "Marie just needs a few seconds."
"Yeah, we're ready! You should probably boot up your Innocence, now."
"Daisya, please use some better jokes," said Marie, further behind them.
A green glow lit them all up while Daisya stretched his legs, coming off of the inappropriately-named Dark Boots. There was a sharp thud, and Lenalee kicked off behind them.
As usual, she flew back a ways to meet the train and hovered just over the front car, ready to help if anyone had trouble getting on. The Bell was great, but sometimes, Daisya really did wish he could fly. It was about time to put on the gloves he had stashed in his cloak pocket.
"Man, I never get tired of this."
For some reason, Kanda scoffed.
"What?"
"Don't you get bored of everything?"
Daisya couldn't help smiling, getting a look in return. "Almost everything."
Whatever he said next, Kanda didn't hear it. The train had come up on them. Time to go. They both stepped back, ready to run forward and push off of the edge, jumping from the bright sideways light of the hill into the darkness.
Daisya jumped first, twisting awkwardly in the air so that he landed splayed-out on the roof of the first car. It wasn't quite as simple as touching down—the moment he made contact, he had to dig in against the train's movement, gloves and boots throwing up sparks as they clung on. While let the speed of the car drag him back along the roof, Kanda landed in front of him.
Somehow, the guy managed to stay standing. He'd never know how he did it, but looking up along his stance, Daisya could see him shaking with the effort. Show-off.
Feeling his feet reach the end of the roof, Daisya prepared himself. This was the hard part. He doubled his grip on the car and let his feet slide off the roof and down the side, scrabbling for and finding a foothold. Once he had that, he shifted his hands to the edge of the roof and jumped down on to the bobbing, narrow deck at the back of the car. Success!
A loud clunk and the screech of a tortured piano told him that Marie had hopped on the car, latching on with the Innocence cable to guide him.
And then, quiet as a living shadow, Kanda dropped down beside him.
"What did you try, this time?" asked Kanda. He looked up, signalling for Lenalee to join Marie at his spot.
"Magnets. I thought, they're the iron horse, right? So magnets should work."
Daisya flexed his hands, feeling the click of the iron he'd shoved between the lining and canvas of his homemade gloves.
"Did it?"
"I think so. I mean, I didn't get scraped up, did I?"
Daisya rapped a quick rhythm on the door of the car, then leaned back on the deck railing.
"Rope's better."
"Says you! You don't even have to do anything, you just jump."
"I know."
Any further argument was cut off by a harried-looking woman at the car door. She opened the top section, looking out at them for a split second before ducking inside, scanning the car, and leaning back out. Even in the darkness, it wasn't hard to identify an Exorcist's uniform.
"Liverpool, arrival at half past ten!" she shouted over the wind and roaring engine. "Please don't disturb the passengers—"
"Yeah, yeah," said Daisya. "We'll just be in the back. See ya!"
Before he'd finished speaking, the door closed with a snap.
"Huh, and we didn't even need to threaten her."
"Once is enough."
Kanda nodded towards the back of the train. "Cars or roof?"
"Hey, let's go along the roof. I'm feeling adventurous."
"Always do."
They scrambled back up—well, Daisya scrambled, and Kanda followed behind with practiced grace—on to the roof, where Daisya stopped, dropping to a crouch. He kept one hand flat on the train roof.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thought, it's dusk. It's nice to see the stars come out."
"You're going to fall off."
"Hey, it's more stable sitting down. Besides, you'll catch me."
A month ago, Daisya would have been joking, and Kanda might have shot back with a remark of his own. But it wasn't worth denying, now that they both knew the truth.
...
They stayed up on the roof to the transfer point, shivering through layers and layers of travelling gear, but dropped down into the car with Marie and Lenalee on the way east. There wasn't even time to get a card game in before they all dozed off, stacking themselves awkwardly to make the best of the time and space they had. Marie shoved his pack up against the window as a cushion, Lenalee curled up on the seat with her head on his lap, Daisya put his head down on the table, and Kanda took up most of the other bench with Daisya's knees for a pillow.
It wasn't really sleeping. Daisya still had the rumble of the tracks in his head and the vague pressure of Kanda keeping him awake, the crick in his neck and the cramps in his legs. His pack wasn't a great cushion either, since the clothes he had were on him and what was left was gear and the bedroll. His mind just drifted off, following weird paths and circling around. He had a good feeling about this mission. Since he and Kanda had it out over his broken leg, the weird sort of curdled fear between them has evaporated. He still sort of felt a thrill whenever they really got into it on the field or in the dojo, but that wasn't anything bad. It kept life interesting, even if it wasn't so scary anymore.
He felt Kanda shift and toss. The weight was kind of comforting. Yeah. This team would make it through.
...
They woke up, or at least opened their eyes, well into the morning when the train pulled into Hull town.
Daisya was up first with the light shining across his face, and with him up, Kanda didn't have much of a choice. They unfolded themselves with a minimum of swearing, then tried to stretch out the cramps. All that got them was new cramps, and a whole orchestra of snapping or cracking joins. It was sort of gross to think about what was going on there. One loud pop woke Lenalee, who started stretching, too, and then Marie had probably been awake from the start. He didn't get up until the rest of them had already checked their things and opened the blind.
"Sleep well?" Daisya asked. It wasn't like anyone else was saying anything.
"Yes, thank you."
"Yes!"
"Mm."
He patted Kanda on the shoulder for no particular reason. "I didn't. I don't know what you all were doing, but that was terrible."
"Some people would say the polite thing," said Marie. Lenalee giggled, the traitor.
"Aw, shut up. How long until we get there?"
"We take the same damn train every time," said Kanda flatly.
Daisya flopped back down in the seat, stretching out all the way to make sure some people didn't get to sit down.
"Yeah, but am I going around with a stopwatch?"
"Do you think we have one?"
"Okay," he conceded, "Maybe not."
"Move over."
Kanda tried to shove his legs out of the way, then did shove his legs out of the way when he resisted.
"Oh, fuck off—"
"Language," said Marie.
"Ficken Sie," he corrected, stretching out again over Kanda.
As he settled down, he braced his head against the hard wall of the carriage and prepared to relax. The sleep he hadn't had was catching up with him. Out the window, he could see rows of tall brick houses pass by, blurred against the grime on the glass.
"I think we're close to the station," said Lenalee, peering out at an angle. "There will be ships leaving in the afternoon, right, Marie?"
"Yes, though we should try to board the first one we can."
"We're stopping for snacks first, right?" said Daisya.
Kanda could snicker all he wanted, but it wasn't a question. Even if Marie did answer.
"We do need to eat. Remember, you'll use your own money until we reach the continent. Food and supplies will be cheaper there."
Lenalee looked back from the window. "Kanda, remember that nice lady we found near the fish market?"
"Yeah."
"We should go there!" she said. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see us. The eels were really good, too."
"Eels? Hell yeah. Cooked or jellied?" asked Daisya. "I'm not a fan of fish jam."
"Cooked," said Kanda, combing his fingers through the end of his ponytail.
"I remember we had the same type of thing when I was a little kid," said Lenalee. "Komui liked them, but he can't really cook that well and Jerry didn't know the recipe, so we don't really have it any more."
"So long as it's not out of the way, we can go by there," said Marie.
All of a sudden there was a long, drawn-out, painful squeaking noise as the train ground to a halt outside the station. Daisya would've gone sliding right into the table if Kanda hadn't grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
"We're here!" he announced.
Lenalee craned her neck, trying to look along the track. "It looks like there's another train already here."
"Don't get too excited, Daisya," said Marie with a little smile that had to be a smirk. "We may be here for some time."
"I'm not excited, I'm just—"
"Bored of waiting," Kanda finished. "We know."
"Yeah, that's right." He flung out his arms, letting his hand do whatever they wanted up in the air. It would get the cramp out of his wrists, at least. "What are we going to do?"
"Wait," said Kanda.
"We still have cards," said Marie.
"We already did cards."
Stretching out one last time, he let his arms fall back. They folded neatly over his stomach.
"I wonder if we're allowed out in the hallway," mused Lenalee.
"What do you mean?" asked Marie.
"Well, we could just practice rolls or handsprings or something like that."
"Everyone here wants to get out," said Kanda. "It'll be too crowded."
On cue, everyone's head turned to check out the corridor. Even Daisya pushed himself up to try and get a look, though he didn't see much else but the wooden part of the door.
"There isn't anyone there right now," said Lenalee.
"Can we go?" Daisya asked.
"Kanda's right. We don't want to make ourselves known."
"Spoilsport," he teased.
"You are, of course, free to amuse yourself," Marie replied.
Daisya turned back around, laid out on the bench facing what he could see of the window. Kanda was still working on his hair, letting the broken ends and strands just pile up on his robe. Now there was an idea.
"Hey, Kanda, can I do your hair?"
"What?"
"Can I give you a hairdo? You know, braids, bun, whatever. Lenalee, back me up."
He waved over to her.
"Daisya is better with it than some people," she supplied.
"See? I'm great."
Kanda gave him a look that wasn't angry.
"How can you braid hair if you're flat on your back?"
"I'm going to get up!"
To prove it, he slid his legs off and pushed himself right back to sitting beside Kanda.
"See? Now, can I?"
"Sure."
Moving a little more slowly than Daisya would have liked, Kanda turned around and let his hair out of its ponytail. They all washed right before setting out, so it was smooth and dry, falling down his back. Sometimes, when they'd been on the road for weeks, he could take out his hair tie and it would be so greasy it just stayed up, billowing out like a lion's mane.
"Do you see any movement, Lena?" asked Marie. He'd gotten out a thin-ish braille book of poems that he always took with him, which he was reading through for what had to be the five billionth time. Did the guy never get bored of doing the same thing?
"Not yet."
"You're small enough that you could probably go out in the hallway without much trouble." Oh, come on.
"Traitor," Daisya said. "But don't mind us."
He combed his fingers through Kanda's hair. Actually, most of the knots were out already and stuck to his cloak, but it felt nice just to check. Kanda's hair felt a lot nicer than Lenalee's, even if it was riskier to practice on.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to do some exercises," said Lena. "Sorry, Daisya!"
"Eh, it's fine." He waved an absentminded hand at her, concentrating on the job in front of him. "Say, Kanda, what do you want?"
There was a trundling noise and a scrape of wood as Lenalee opened the door, stepping out into the hallway, and then a click as she pulled it shut behind her. Daisya bit his lip absentmindedly as he considered his options.
"I could just braid it down the middle," he said to fill the silence. "But that doesn't take very long. Maybe I could do a French braid? I think it would be kinda cool if we had a whole bunch of braids that I could tie together."
"Whatever you do, I'm taking it out," Kanda said unhelpfully. "It doesn't matter."
"Okay, anything I want. Got it. I've got a few pins that I can use in hair, I think..."
He turned away to grab his bag, plunging a hand down into it and feeling around until he found the contours of his pinbox. Mostly they were safety pins, for bandages, but there were some real pins and some hairpins in there that had found their way to him over the years. He slipped it out, opened it, picked out the hairpins, and set to work.
Bit by bit, the sun was rising and the light through the window was getting less intense, easier to work with. Another clear day.
This was relaxing, actually. He hadn't really minded doing his sister's braids, and helping Lena when she wanted something more complicated was fun. This was just especially nice since Kanda's hair was longer than anyone else's here, so there were more options. The possibilities! It helped that it was soft. That didn't make any sense. He'd seen Kanda wash it by just slathering with soap and dragging a comb through, but whatever magic kept him strong and healed him probably helped with that as well.
Enough of that. Daisya had time to work, he had plenty of pins, he had an unresisting victim who just sat and stared out the window—this really was a good idea.
Starting at the top of Kanda's forehead, he pulled his bangs back and gathered them up, starting a thin braid that would bet bigger as he worked around the side of his head, pulling in more hair. Sure, it was a little messy, but Kanda said he was going to take it out anyway. This was for him, and he wanted to try a kind of braided crown he saw girls wearing in the east, last time they went out that far.
"What are you doing?" Kanda asked.
"You'll see."
"Fine. How long is it going to take?"
"I don't know. Ten minutes? Depends on if I want to make it look good."
He paused as Kanda moved, letting him shuffle around a bit and get comfortable.
"You can take longer," he said.
Now, that was interesting. Daisya had learned to understand Kanda after a long, long time of not getting what went on in his head. What that had to mean was that Kanda liked this. Daisya's hair was pretty slow in growing back after it all got burnt off, so he couldn't really guess why. It wasn't like his had ever been long enough to style.
Actually, when he looked hard, he could see Kanda's shoulders relax as he worked through the right side of the braid, getting it to curve around right to the base of his skull with a bit of trial and error. For some reason he had to resist some weird need to try get more of that tension out. It was just a compulsion. Kicking the ball, plucking strings, holding the pencil tight when he was writing, kicking rocks on the road until they bounced off into the bushes, and now, apparently, running a hand down Kanda's neck to break down the knots he was sure he had, after that night's sleep. He needed to feel things.
He didn't do it, obviously. Didn't have a death wish. But he ran his fingers through Kanda's hair and he thought about it.
"You can pull harder, if you need it to stay," Kanda mumbled out of the blue. "It doesn't hurt."
"This is working for me," he answered. "And besides, you said you're taking it out. It'll be easier if the braid's loose."
"Mm."
Not so far away, opposite the table, Marie started humming a tune. It was what he did when he was concentrating on something that wasn't music or the mission. Nothing notable.
But actually, this was tune they practiced together sometimes. There there were a few big chords at the start that went well with a chime and the rest of it could float over the pulsing, humming chords that the Charity Bell could produce if you had a good control day. Daisya found himself joining in with the same basic harmony.
Outside, there were a few thumps and creaking noises as Lenalee sprang backwards and forwards along the hallway.
He messed up a few times before he finished the flat part of the braid, forgetting which one to loop around or not pulling tight enough, but he made it to the end before his hands started to go numb. Sure, he rushed through the last part, but he was in plenty of time when he finally put Kanda's hair tie around the end. Now, time to pin it in place and clean it up.
"Is it done?" asked Kanda.
"Nope!"
"Mm."
First, the loose ends. Some of Kanda's bangs had escaped, so he scooped them up off of his face and behind his ears, pinning them back into the braid. A few more pins reinforced the loose spots, and then the tail of the braid got tucked in where he started and pinned down to complete the crown. Sure, it looked kind of wonky, but it wasn't too bad for a first try. He patted Kanda on the shoulder.
"I'm great at this."
"Wait until I find a mirror."
"Daisya is right," Marie chimed in. "You don't look any worse than before."
"Hah! See?" Daisya couldn't help laughing a bit. "I am good!"
Kanda suddenly fell back against him, trapping him in his spot like he'd done earlier. Tricky bastard.
"He's blind, Daisya."
"I know, but he's smart."
He must have given up on him. Whatever the reason, Kanda just turned over and made himself comfortable. If he could be comfortable. At least he wasn't messing up his braid, keeping his hands under his head rather than just lying straight on Daisya's lap.
"You shouldn't encourage him," Kanda said, directing it at Marie.
"Nor should you," Marie shot back.
The noise of a very faint, whispered kiai filtered into the cabin as Lenalee moved on to katas.
We're still in the early stages. Let me know if there are any typos that you want to make or things you want to see! No guarantees, but I am curious. Thank you few 3