Hello! I'm really sorry for making you all wait. Hope you enjoy this chapter and the more that will come! ^^
Cross hoped he wasn't tearing up but the sight of his daughter fully grown up and looking so much like her mother was tugging at his heart strings.
"Mea filia pulchra."
Amber's smile widened, her father rarely spoke to her in Latin and to hear him call her his beautiful daughter, it just made her feel warm inside. Latin and Greek were languages spoke in Rome which was where Grandfather Cyril descended from. Amber was proud of her mixed Japanese-Roman blood and she relished in the fact that her father was speaking to her in one of her favorite languages.
Meanwhile Kanda stands by, watching the two converse in an language that was unfamiliar to him. he wondered what they were talking about but the smiles on their faces was enough to tell him that they should not be pressed about it in the present moment.
"You will grow up splendidly my darling Amber. Pulchra flos!"
Amber was starting to grin, she loved that her father was so doting on her but calling her his flower just made her feel giddy inside. She turns to her bodyguard, beaming.
"Kanda, my father says we'll just rest for now. Tomorrow we will try out the spells he thinks he could use to reverse my transformation."
"Alright, I'll help you take your bags up."
"Great! Thank you Kanda."
He nods, picking up her many bags while still carrying his luggage on his back before leaving the room with Amber and her father back at the foyer, speaking to each other fondly.
Days Later
"I CANNOT BE STUCK LIKE THIS FOREVER!"
Cross groaned loudly, resisting the urge to throw paperweights at his daughter so he settled to having a screaming verbal match with her instead. Kanda sat in a chair next to Bridget's desk wishing they were still in their happy, affectionate Latin speaking mode instead of the frustrated, angry and stressed out stage they were presently in.
It has been days since they came back and for the first three days the Marians were still acceptably emotionally disappointed with Cross's failures but after a third day, they were screaming at one another; Amber calling her father incompetent and Cross calling his daughter uncooperative. Provided, Amber can't use any of her verbal magic to cast a spell herself for a cure but it seemed like everything Cross tried did not work a bit and it did not help when Amber tried to engage her father to take whatever suggestions she had, bruising his ego.
Kanda watches as Amber only wearing a towel to cover herself, heads over behind the screen, still arguing with her father as she put on a mint colored slip on dress. Kanda was still getting used to the fact that Amber was surprisingly comfortable with not wearing any undergarments underneath. When he asked Bridget Faye about it, she merely explained that Amber's new body was only temporary so there was no point in buying clothes, it made sense to Bridget to just to let Amber borrow some old dresses from her closet so that she could walk around wearing clothes that could elude to her undergarment-less situation without feeling too self-conscious. Cross apparently was more focused on turning his daughter back to normal that he didn't even notice that his daughter was indulging in such a habit.
Kanda then turns his focus back to Amber who was standing in front of a large vanity full body mirror. She used her long fingers to adjust the skirt of her satin dress with Bridget's white heels on the ground next to her feet for her to wear. The dress was stretchy, seamless with a fitted mid-length skirt that hugged her grown-up curves perfectly. Kanda watches as Amber slips on Bridget's shoes easily on her feet before Bridget herself helps tie on her shawl around Amber to give her more of a cover up since all of Bridget's dresses were all body-confident clothes that hugged the woman's frame and Bridget wanted to do her best to keep Amber as decent as possible as she was sill technically a tween. Bridget then expertly ties the two ends of the pastel yellow shawl in the front around Amber's arms in two neatly overhanded knots to keep it secure.
The small redhead kindly thanked her once she finishes before turning on her heel and practically sashaying out of the room, casting a dirty look at her father before slamming the door.
"GAH! THIS IS INFURIATING!"
Kanda ducks as a knick knack of sort flew over his had before smashing onto the wall behind him.
"Sir, you need to calm down." Bridget tells him monotonously.
"My daughter cannot be walking around in a grown up body forever! All the men in this blasted place is looking at her, she is wearing adult clothes, she walks and talks like a woman, Lavi looks ready to jump her any second...I am losing my baby girl!"
Kanda realized then that Cross was losing it; he was going to go nuts with worry and protectiveness if Amber didn't turn back to normal and a cuckoo Cross was not something the Black Order could deal with.
They could barely handle an irate Cross, a stressed out Cross was a ten times worse.
Looks like, he had to iron this mess out.
Kanda knocked on Amber's door politely and it took a while but she eventually tells him to come in but when he did, he look around awestruck at the sheer size and style of the room. It was large, painted in angel pink and decorated with furniture of salmon color hue all around which included a large wardrobe, a dresser, a vanity table and a bookshelf filled with books of all kinds. Writings in cursive that he could barely read were painted on the walls of the nooksin the room and right there, in the center of the room, there was the bed which was crafted to look like an open oyster so it was circular in shape with a duck egg toned bedspread, apricot hue pillows and a sage coloured knitted duvet. Over the bed, was a soft material acting as a canopy with string lights hanging above. Kanda could only imagine how much time and effort went into decorating this room. All in all, the room was colourful but soft and sweet just like how Amber really was; charming, girly and fun.
"Sorry for making you wait Kanda. What do you need?"
Kanda turned to the sound of her voice only to freeze seeing Amber emerge from her personal bathroom in a soft lightweight grey robe and from the looks of it, he guessed that Amber was once again, wearing nothing underneath but what made it dangerous was the fact that it was mid-thigh.
Oh for fucking sakes, it would be so easy to rip it off of her...
He bit his tongue and forced himself to look up from the redhead's chest and instead at her face and watched as she adjusted her towel turban.
"You showered?"
"Kanda, I been naked the whole day with my bare ass on the floor as my father did ritual after ritual, incantation after another. My butt was cold and all the spell powder he was using stuck to my skin, how could I not shower?
Yes, do remind me how I suffered watching your bare back and naked body as you moved about in your father's office with your father and his assistant present!
Kanda groaned mentally, remembering how shocked he was the first time when Amber stripped completely and sat in the centre of the magic circle, Cross explained that she had to be nude because the spell would better penetrate her skin that way but the worse part was that Kanda was forced to be in the same room as her, to watch her.
"Kanda, what do you want?"
The samurai blinks his eyes, confused until he realizes he came here for a reason and slowly joins the redhead on the bed, sitting next to her, "Do you have any theories as to why you changed?"
Amber deadpans at the question but replies anyway, muttering that she thinks it had something to do with their fight. Kanda frowns, trying to remember what exactly was said.
He remembered denying his feelings for her and he remembered Amber getting pissed-
"You got mad because I called you a kid?"
Amber smacks his arm hard, irritated causing the samurai to retort in annoyance, "You are a kid Kit!"
"I am not! I'm a mature and responsible exorcist. I'm not some dumb, naive kid!"
"Everyone knows that! It was just a joke!"
Amber literally yanks the towel off of her head, angry, "No it wasn't! You were making fun of me! My age does not define me Yuu Kanda!"
"Oh really? Then how about you stop acting like brat? Yelling at your father when he was trying his best!"
"How dare you!" Amber rose onto her feet but Kanda was firm.
"You are a kid!"
"JUST BE HONEST WITH ME!"
Kanda froze, watching her cry for the second time and immediately he felt bad. Those yellow orbs that looked into his soul practically glistened with pain and heartache, yet it intrigued him how, despite everything, she's still breathtaking.
He listened painfully as Amber ranted about how hurt she was that he didn't trust her with his feelings and her theory that she thought Kanda just saw her as some little doll to tease for fun when really all she wanted was to be his equal. However, the more she ranted and whimpered, the more Kanda's heart melted out of guilt and something else...
Ah, he was in love with the little vixen, alright.
"I can't tell you how I really feel about you because I am afraid."
Amber sniffles, unsure of what Kanda was going to say but looks up at him as he continues.
"I am afraid I will lose you as a friend if what I want to happen does not work out. You have dared to stand by me, you dared to fight with me, against me and you dare to touch me with no fear in your eyes. I admire the person you are and I only said you were too young because I do not want to admit how I really feel. In truth, I don't care about your age. It's fun to tease you about it but you have to know you have my utmost respect and you are indeed my equal."
Amber had stopped crying and now she was looking at him with an unreadable expression.
"I love you Amber Amulette Hinamori Marian."
She froze, unsure of what to say and Kanda stared back, red in the face until suddenly he feels a hand pull him by his shirt and his lips locked onto Amber's. He closes his eyes, the softness of her lips paralyzing him almost but before he could kiss her back, she lets go of her hold on him and a bright light blinded him momentarily. When he finally opens his eyes, he sees Amber, his Amber, the 13 year old Amber smiling softly at him with her robe now wrapped tightly around her body.
"Did you mean it Yuu?"
Kanda smirks, intrigued that for the first time, she used his first name before pulling her close by her small waist to give her a chaste kiss on the lips.
"Damn right. I love you you troublesome kitsune."
Amber giggles girlishly against his mouth at his answer until Kanda cups her face in his hands and kisses her deeply.
"You're mine now. I won't ever let you out of my sight."
Hope you liked the chapter! Please rate and review! Thanks! ^^