Out of breath, the exorcists rested at the entrance of the temple. "Well, this sucks…" Okami sighed. "We were pretty far in, too."
"Don't worry! I'll smash the boulder with my hammer!" Lavi swung his hammer and hit the boulder with all his might. Nothing happened.
"Che." Koru had picked up the Kanda trademark. "Step aside." She readied her bat, and swung. A large crack filled the jungle as the boulder crumbled into little pieces.
Allen, Lavi, and Okami stood there, jaws dropped.
"Tee-hee!" Koru spun in a circle. "Woo…dizzy…" She almost fell down, but Lavi caught her. The carrot top stared up at him in awe. "T-thanks…" She blushed.
*GAG* "I'd be find with Koru falling in love with someone, if it weren't Lavi she was falling for." Okami whispered to Allen, whom she thought was next to her. Instead, he was sulking in a corner, mumbling Lenalee's name.
"You've got to be kidding me! Am I the only sane person here!?" She growled. "C'mon, love birds. You, too, Allen, no more being emo in the corner…"
Lavi, you touch anything and you will be bound and gagged." Allen paced forward.
"I can't touch anything." He said innocently, glancing at Koru.
Whack!
"Didn't you say you wouldn't make anymore stupid comments?" Lavi lay on the ground, seeing nothing but stars. Okami pushed Koru forward. "I swear he's going to rape you one day…"
"Wait, what!?" Koru was as oblivious as always. "What about Lavi? You can't just leave him there."
"Watch me." Okami continued forward, but Koru dashed back to the redhead…
"Oh, Lavi! She poked him. "C'mon, get up. Suck it up buttercup. Toughen up!" She poked him again. "C'mon, it can't hurt that bad!"
Lavi gave no response.
"Wow, Okami. You knocked him out cold!" Koru poked Lavi's seemingly lifeless body. "Either that or he's dead…"
"I'd be much happier if he was dead…" Okami disappeared into the shadows, along with Allen, their voices fading in the distance.
"Hey, wait you guys! Help me drag Lavi!" They didn't hear her. (coughwereignoringhercough) "Aw, man, they abandoned me! Not cool guys!" She shouted. With a resigned sigh, she looked down at Lavi's corp- body. "This is all your fault, you know that, right?" She plopped down next to him, taking off her vest. She started to poke his arm out of boredom. "Oi, baka, wake up." However, he continued to lay there on the lush carpet of moss.
"Koru! At last, we're alone!!!" Lavi sprang up suddenly.
"What the hell!?" She replied, shocked and irritated. Lavi stood, pulling her up with him before suddenly dropping with her into a dramatic tango pose. "Holy Crap, Lavi!"
"I've been waiting for you my entire life, hime! I love you!" He intoned in a pathetic French accent.
"You've probably been waiting your whole life just to say that, idiot. You're so lucky Okami isn't here right now…Let me go, I don't bend like that!"
"Nope!" And with a cheesy grin, he leaned in for a kiss and…
A low growl came from the clump of trees to their left. The pair froze as a jaguar leapt out. Lavi stood defensively in front of Koru, hammer out. "Don't. Move. I'll protect you!"
"Oh! Look, a kitty!" Koru stepped away from Lavi. "Hi kitty-kitty!" The jaguar growled.
"Koru! Are you crazy!?" Lave ran after her.
"But it's a kitty!" She pouted. "I wanna pet the kitty!"
Kami, remind me why I love her?
Koru came face to face with the enormous cat. Slowly but surely, she lay her hand on its head. It began to purr right then and there.
Lavi's jaw dropped. "What are you, some kind of cat whisperer?" He stood in awe.
"Nope. I'm just like catnip to cats, big and small." She grinned.
--
"Ko-ru! Al-len! La-vi!" Okami roamed throughout the temple. "Anyone?"
A cold hand clamped on her shoulder. "EEK!"
"Sorry, sorry! It's me, Allen!" He looked down at her, since he did grow, and was now taller than she.
"Yay! I found someone!" Okami skipped in joy. Dark places weren't her favorite…
"Well, technically, I found you…"
"Same difference!" She yelled. "This place is creepy. Why would the general even be in here?"
Allen and Okami walked silently through the temple, Allen leading the way. The brunette's foot caught something and she tumbled forward with a cry of surprise. She gripped Allen's shirt, pulling him down with her.
"Are you okay, Okami?" She lay on top of Allen, their faces centimeters apart. She flushed bright pink, thankful for the poor lighting.
"I-I'm fine…Sorry, I tripped…" She began to get up, but her hand slipped on the wet moss. "Whoa!" Their faces collided, ending in a lip lock.
Holy crap! What do I do? This never happens in real life! Quick, what would the sweet heroine/pretty princess in disguise do? Oh, I know! Act cool, calm, like nothing ever happened…Wait a minute, why does that sound like- OMG, Kanda is a pretty princess! Never mind, here I go!
She jumped up, babbling a mile a minute. "OMG, I'm so, so, so sorry! Here, let me help you!" She pulled him up, releasing his hand as soon as he was balanced. Inwardly, she blanched. Yeah, way to be slick, idiot…
"It's…uh…umm…okay…?" Unsure of what to say, Allen's face was a lovely shade of red.
"Gah! I slipped again! I'm sorry!"
"How do these things happen in real life?!" Allen spazzed.
"Eee! Please don't kill me!"
"Kill you? Lenalee is going to kill me!" Allen was practically ripping hair from his head at this point.
"She won't find out, we'll just play it off like nothing happened, right?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Right."
--
"Bye-bye kitty!" The jaguar purred then ran back into the dense jungle. Lavi grabbed Koru be her waist and pulled her close.
"Where were we before that…rude, interruption?" He purred.
"Right about…here." Koru moved her face forward, Lavi cupped her cheek…
"My eyes!!! Gah! My best friend is falling for an idiot!"
"Fell." Allen corrected quietly from behind her, sensing the coming war.
"Are you freaking kidding me? Every time!!! I swear, Okami, you ruin the most romantic moments!!!" Lavi blew up in a fit of rage.
"Ah, cram it, Rabbit!" Allen stood by Okami's side.
The anger mark on Koru's face was clear. Her perfect kiss moment was ruined. How does it go? Hell hath no wrath like Koru without her perfect kiss…
Wishing to keep a cat fight from ensuing, Lavi stepped into the invisible tension. "So…" He suggested slyly, "Where have you two been?" He winked suggestively.
"Nothing happened!" They replied in unison.
"Someone sounds suspicious~" Koru teased. "Of course nothing happened while you were alone with your…" she paused, grinning evilly, "squeeze." Laughing and ducking behind Lavi, she grabbed his shoulders and used him as a shield. "Don't hurt me!"
Okami had a positively feral look on her face as she grew nearer. "Beautiful…" She said, making a fist, throwing it at Lavi's head.
"Eep! Not again!" Lavi whimpered, holding his hands in front of his face. He squinched his eyes shut, and waited for impact.
He heard a solid smack of contact, but felt no pain. Cautiously, he looked up.
"Now, now, darling, I think you've hurt the young man enough for one day…" An abnormally tall, pale man stood before them, holding Okami by the wrist. "We should get going, shouldn't we? That is, if we want to make it back to HQ before the Noah catch up with us…" The four exorcists stared at him, with his nonchalant tone.
"What. The. Hell! We spent two days here, and you've been practically stalking us the whole time!?" Koru growled, ready to hurt the man.
He laughed nervously. "Well, uh, you see…Let's go!" He turned on heel, dashing towards the train station.
--
"Slow down!" Allen cried, several yards behind, obviously not as fit as the general. Raoul stopped.
"You're so slow!"
"No, you just have frickin' long legs!" Koru shouted from Lavi's back. Her short stature had long ago rendered her incapable of keeping up, and Lavi had oh-so-generously offered to carry her.
Okami, however, was not pleased with this. "Koru, if you can talk, you can walk!" She snapped from the general's other side, ignoring Allen's plea in light of her excuse to be cruel to Lavi. Out of nowhere, though, appeared a little girl dressed in black, holding a colorful lollipop.
"Hey, hey! Look, Tyki, it's your playmate!" Okami narrowed her eyes and growled. "We're going to have lots of fun today!" Roade said excitedly, twirling.
"I guess so. Shall we have some fun, exorcist?" Tyki said, landing gracefully in front of Okami with a smirk.
Koru jumped off of Lavi's back, pulling out her innocence as she did so. "Why do you people never go away!?"
The-oh-so-fearless general ran off behind a tree to hide, as the two girls immediately split.
"Alright, Koru, you take Roade!"
"As long as you're okay with getting Tyki…you know what happened last time, Okami…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know auntie. She took her fighting stance, tuned in to Tyki's mind.
"Tell me what to do." Allen said, invoking the crowned clown. "Lavi, cover Koru. We'll be okay."
He didn't respond, but his hammer was released.
Tyki smirked, lighting up a cigarette. "You think teaming up will help you? That's cute…"
--
"Time to play!" Roade skipped around, as Koru and Lavi pay careful attention to her movement. "One, Two, Three, Four, I declare an exorcist war. Five, Six, Seven, Eight, I will decide your deadly fate!" She giggled.
"Koru, I'll handle her…" But she was gone, running after Roade.
"You can't decide anything!" Koru swung her bat with enough force to take out a charging elephant. Her anger was overwhelming. Roade just jumped and dodged the brutal swing.
"My, my…the little carrot top is angry." She laughed childishly.
"Koru!" A clear, commanding voice called. "Calm down! You want to defeat her? Use your head!" Okami scolded. "Forget about the past; it's history! Keep moving forward, remember? Remember what your parents used to tell you!"
Koru stood still, holding back tears. "But…she, she…killed…"
Okami shook her head violently. "History! Lavi, help her! We're kind of busy here!" Okami was so skilled, she could give pep talks and fight Noah at the same time. But, to be fair, she did have Allen helping her…or, did…
Regretfully, Lavi whacked Koru across the head, knocking her out of her fury. "I know I'm not supposed to hit girls…with the exception of Okami and the enemy…but you needed that, Koru."
"Uh, yeah, thanks…" She rubbed her head. "Sorry about that…I'm fine now…" Koru had a gift for changing emotions on a dime…
"That's my partner! Go get her, Koru!" Okami shouted, leaping back just as Tyki attacked where she had been. "Allen! What the hell are you doing?" Behind her, he stood stock still, oblivious. "Hello? Getting my ass kicked here!"
Tyki smirked again. "Now who has partner troubles? Cute pep talk, by the way…"
Lavi, momentarily distracted from his own foe, shouted at her. "Worry about him later! What are you waiting for? Activate your innocence!" He swung his hammer around haphazardly, taking out several trees but completely missing Roade.
"It is activated, you frickin' bookman!" She snapped, irritated as she finally grasped Tyki's mind. "And since you obviously need it, here's some help!" She called, as she made Tyki attack Roade.
"Tyki-chan! That's not nice!" Roade pouted, dancing out of his way.
"Koru! We need to do something about Allen! I can't keep this up with him emitting so much confusion while my guards are down!"
"Gotcha!" Koru yelled, ducking Roade. "Lavi, you're on your own for now…" She hurried over to Allen, who seemed to come down to earth at the sight of her. "You-your parents…told you to keep moving forward…?" He whispered a strange look in his eyes.
"Yeah…" Koru said, blinking. The two just blocked out the annoyed argument between Lavi and Okami and the actual battle.
"W-w-what…happened to them?"
Near tears again, she replied, "They were killed…by her." Koru jerked her head towards Roade, taunting Lavi into a rage with something they couldn't hear.
"Hurry up, you guys! C'est nostalgia! Geez! At least try to contain it!" Okami shouted, struggling with Tyki.
Of course, they continued obliviously.
"I ran with my little brother. By then, I had found my innocence, but I couldn't take care of him, too, so I brought him to my Uncle Mana. Then I left, making sure my brother would live a normal life, not knowing about me…" She shrugged. "That's when I met Okami…"
Allen's eyes widened. "Did…you say…Mana? What was his last name!?" Allen demanded a wild look on his face.
"I don't know! I was three! He did have a scar on his nose, though…" Koru said thoughtfully…
"O-o…one-chan…?" Allen asked hesitantly.
"Huh?" Koru stared at Allen, looking him up and down carefully. Then…"OMG, you are shrimpy-chan!" Koru yelled, surprised, but quickly shedding her stupor, glomping her long lost brother. The siblings proceeded to babble, having completely forgotten the fight… (As, by now, I'm sure you have, too…)
"Damnit, you two! Get your asses over here already!" Lavi shouted, standing in front of Kanda, trying to protect her from Roade, as she tried to control Tyki and protect her friends from Roade with the waves rolling off the reunited family.
"You know…" Roade said, getting around Lavi. "I don't think my hand will go in as far or as smoothly as Tyki's…Oh, well. Never say never, right?" She gave a demented little smile, and reached for Okami's eye.
With a cry of pain as she lost hold, Okami froze, left vulnerable for a second, felt the reeking terror of the jungle animals, the pain and love of the siblings, the illness deep inside the general, the triumphant pride and broiling hate of the two Noah…and crumpled.
Tyki, now free and in complete possession of his own body, flashed toward the lone bookman, who stared at the body behind him in shock, completely unaware of the danger…