Epilogue 2: "Don't Ignore me!"
*cough cough and yeah, I couldn't resist.*
Author's note: So yeah, I kinda miss writing about Fran and Aoi. I was looking at some pictures in my picture gallery which has a total of uh…I can't count them all. I came across one picture of Percy and Annabeth that simply screams: DON'T IGNORE ME! Lightbulb. I now found the inspiration to write properly. I hope you guys like it!
Oh yeah, I strongly recommend you guys to listen to Len Kagamine's songs because he's hot and so shotalicious. Kyo-chan's still MINE though. XD
Have you heard Spiral Game by Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Miku and Luka? If you haven't you MUST listen to it. Len's rapping rapes me. :P
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn doesn't belong to me. If it did, I would probably bring Aoi and Sachie (my oc who's paired up with Kyo-chan) to the anime itself.
A week after the Impatiens Village incident, some battles and a few dinners later…
Aoi had been acting… weird. For long intervals of time during the afternoon, she would seemingly disappear from the rest of the Varia Officer's sight. This had been happening for a few days already. Whenever Xanxus would call for meetings, she would always be late, out of breath, and smelled of chocolate.
"And so… Squalo, Levi, Lussuria and I would be leaving for an important mission," Xanxus ended the daily conference in the lounging area which also served as a meeting place of the Varia officers. He was sitting on his red comfortable chair that he ordered Levi to bring for that briefing.
"Boss," Belphegor, the prince, raised his hand, "So that basically means that I'm left babysitting the uncute kohai-tachi?" he asked, pointing at Aoi and Fran whose head was leaning on his girlfriend's shoulder, eyes half-closed.
Xanxus's eyebrows went higher than normal. This was a hint that literally suggested: Duh.
"VOOIII! What are we waiting for! Let's go!" Squalo stood up from his chair. It seems that he was getting restless from sitting down and waiting for more job opportunities and liked the sound of going to work again. (Read between the lines, he wants to kill and assassinate people again.)
"Levi, ready the transportation, we're flying," Xanxus ordered his subordinate.
"Yes, boss," Levi obediently followed and left the room promptly. Squalo tagged along afterwards. Xanxus got out of his seat and strode through the room and out of the door.
"Oh my," Lussuria placed his left hand on his cheek in worry, "Aoi-chan, be careful, ne?"
"Huh? Oh sure," Aoi was staring blankly into space, brows furrowed, obviously bothered by something.
Lussuria pursed his lips, "Would you give oni-chan a goodbye kiss?"
Aoi recoiled at the sight of gayish but quite strong Sun Guardian of the Varia, leaning towards Fran, "Ew.. fat chance Oni-chan," she said, grossed out.
"Aww…" Lussuria said, disappointed, "Maa, well, see you later! Ciao!" He skipped out of the room to meet up with Xanxus, Squalo, and Levi.
Aoi sighed. She was left alone with Fran and Bel for another weekend of pure torture. Not that staying with Fran was pure hell, staying with Fran was actually fun. If they didn't will away the time kissing, they would talk about stuff or train with each other as Mist users do. Staying alone with Bel, on the other hand, was a completely different story altogether. With every opportunity the prince could get, he would annoy her, throw knives at her, and call her insulting names. In other words, he would try to kill her with every chance he got. But he was never close. Her other Varia officers would intervene and a free-for-all training (*cough battle cough*) would take place. When this happens, Aoi would grab the opportunity to escape. But staying with Fran and Bel together, at the same time was different. They would ultimately disregard her presence and start bickering with each other. During normal days when this would happen, Aoi would do her best to get noticed by Fran. But, when the two male members started the routine, she slipped away, back to where she came from before she attended the meeting with the guardians.
As fast and as stealthily as she could, she dashed through the corridors of the Varia headquarters, hoping that Fran and Bel wouldn't follow her. Thankfully they were too preoccupied with their verbal and physical war to notice she had quietly left the room.
Aoi took a key out of a pocket of her Varia uniform and opened a door.
"Ahh, Aoi-sama!" the cook greeted her.
"Yo!" she smiled, "How are the preparations going?" she asked eagerly.
"It's going good!" the cook answered in a jolly tone, "But we left the final details for you to do."
"Thanks!" Aoi beamed. She walked over to the oven and pulled out a cake. A chocolate cake. "Hoowah! I didn't think it'd be this huge!" she exclaimed, staggering over from the weight.
"Well, you did mix a whole lot of flour, Aoi-sama," the cook (who was a female, by the way) said reproachfully, while helping Aoi carry the humongous chocolate cake to the table.
Aoi reached out for the icing but the cook slapped her hand away. "Hey!" Aoi said indignantly, caressing her hand which stung from the assault.
"Tsk, Tsk, you might be one of our bosses but the kitchen is my territory," the cook explained, wagging her finger. "If I recall, you haven't washed your hands and you're not even wearing an apron!"
"Ah, right, gomenasai," Aoi bowed down in apology. She quickly went to the sink to scrub her hands thoroughly with soap and water, dried them on a clean towel and grabbed the nearest apron which happened to be in the color pink. Aoi grimaced and took a deep breath, among all the colors, what she distasted most was pink.
"Aoi-sama? It's about time to decorate the cake," the cook reminded her.
"Hai! Coming!" she returned back to the table and grabbed the icing. With her Varia jacket sleeves rolled up out of the way, and tongue sticking out of her mouth, she began the task ahead of her.
"Ushishishi, Fran, repeat what you just said," the Prince snickered.
"You're a fake prince aren't you senpai?" Fran said.
"Take it back," Bel ordered.
"Yada, I don't want to," Fran protested, stubbornly standing by with what he said.
Bel threw his knives at the frog-hat wearing teen, those deadly weapons lodged on the top of the frog hat.
"Itai, senpai that hurts," Fran complained.
"Take back what you said then you can remove them," Bel said.
"Aoi, did you just hear what the fake prince said?" Fran turned his head to Aoi's direction before she left the room, expecting her to reply using her cute voice. "Ah," his eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
"Ushishishi, she left," Bel stated the obvious, "She probably felt ignored," his grin grew wider as Fran stalked out of the conference room, his usually blank face streaked with worry. "The stupid idiots, I knew this was bound to happen," he muttered, pleased with the flow of events. He began to walk back to his room when he noticed his precious knives on the floor. Bended. "That Fran…." He mumbled darkly, "I'll get my revenge soon…" Bel returned to his chair and stayed to wait for Fran.
"Aoi, where are you?" Fran muttered to himself, his forehead beaded with sweat as he searched for her in the numerous rooms of the headquarters.
"It's done!" Aoi yelled out of happiness. She stretched her hands upwards. Her eyebrows scrunched themselves up when no one replied. "Huh?" she looked around and noticed that the cook and the rest of the kitchen staff were dozing. She giggled. "Eh, it really did take me a long time," she whispered, gazing at her masterpiece.
It was a chocolate cake for Fran's birthday, which was tomorrow. She was able to extract this juicy piece of information from Fran himself due to her constant pestering. The cake had a generous amount of intricate sweet icing. If any guy were to receive this, that person might faint with gratefulness, and deliciousness. Aoi was super pleased with herself. She carefully placed the cake inside a box she was to carry later on.
The cook was watching her do this in half-closed eyes. She sighed. Girls really would go out of their way for the person they love. Who would've known that the Cloud Guardian of the Varia would fall for that blank faced green-haired illusionist? The world is still and would still be full of surprises. She smiled as Aoi hummed the tune of "Juvenile" by Kagamine Len.
"Ah," Aoi said as she noticed the cook looking at her, she gave her a smile.
The Cloud guardian checked her watch and noticed the time, "Ah yabai! It's already eleven o'clock! I gotta go!" she gave the cook a goodbye grin. Aoi then ran out of the kitchen, making sure that her present for Fran was safe and sound inside its box so it wouldn't bounced around as she sprinted away.
The prince was twirling one of his knives in boredom. That brat hadn't returned yet. Fran probably went to his room to get some shuteye. Just as he was about to stand from his seat and return to his room to take a nap, he heard footsteps going to the conference room. He laid some knives on the floor and innocently sat down again; chuckling to himself at the revenge he planned for his first uncute kohai.
The door creaked open. "Ah," Aoi said, dismayed that Fran wasn't in the conference room. Then again, she had left her boyfriend and Bel bickering at each other hours earlier. She walked towards Bel. Her intention was to ask him where Fran went while attempting to hide the cake behind her back.
Bel was eyeing the mysterious package Aoi was holding. Interested with its contents, he let Aoi approach him a few steps.
"Bel-senpai," Aoi adopted the way Fran referred to the Storm guardian of the Varia, "Have you seen Fran?" she asked.
"Hm?" Bel said, so that box belongs to that brat."No, but I think he's hiding somewhere in this room," he answered.
Aoi narrowed her eyes, Bel must be tricking her. Oh well, it didn't hurt to look. Fran sometimes had the tendency to hide himself whenever Aoi was searching for him. Concentrated on her thoughts too much, she didn't notice Bel stick out his foot on her direction. The result? She tripped and fell down (hah! The classic prank still works even on an elite assassin!), the cake skidded on the floor and stopped in front of the door. Aoi was about to get up when she felt pain and blood running down her right arm. Agh. Her arm was broken by the elbow because of the stupid prince. Was he even a real one anyway? As far as she knew, and heard, Fran had always called the sly storm guardian a fake.
She gave Bel a glare. A glare so evil that the he felt chills on his spine and cold sweat running through his skin. Uh oh. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to do that.
Before Aoi could start badmouthing the 'fake' prince, the door slammed open yet again.
"VOOOOIII!" Squalo shouted, his feet making squishy sounds.
"Oh my, Squ-chan, you're as noisy as ever," Lussuria entered, his feet made squishy sounds too.
"Didn't I tell you not to call me that annoying nickname?" Squalo replied.
"Demo –" Lussuria started to answer when he saw Aoi in a panic-stricken face with a pool of blood gathering on the floor. "Aoi-chan?" he said in a questioning manner.
"Th-the c-ca –" Aoi stammered, stopping herself in time to point on the squished, trampled and flattened food smeared on the floor. She sucked in a deep breath, "This is bad," she muttered.
"What?" Lussuria, Levi and Bel strained to stare on the brown stuff covering the flooring. It smelled of chocolate. Tap. Drip. Tap. Drip. Tap. Drip. Startled with the noise, all three guardians present turned around to locate the origin of the sound. It was Aoi running out of the room, blood still dripping off her arm. They watched as she shoved aside Levi and ran past Xanxus. Both of them raised their eyebrows at the sight of the only girl in Varia fleeing. Xanxus went directly to his room/office as if he didn't see anything.
Aoi ran straight to the kitchen, banging the door open. (Yup, the doors slammed and banged a lot in the Varia HQ) The cook woke up to the intensity of sound.
"A-aoi-sama!" she stuttered at the sight of Aoi's ghastly wound, "We have to treat your arm!"
"There's no time! Help me make another cake! We only have forty-five minutes left!" Aoi snapped.
The cook was wise enough to obey the irritated Cloud Guardian's orders. "But Aoi-sama, we used up almost all of the flour! There won't be enough for a cake as big as the previous one!"
Aoi stopped in her tracks; she was struggling to put on her pink, flowery apron with her injured right arm. "Then what are we going to do?" she asked in panic.
"We can make several chocolate cupcakes with the materials we have left, oh, it would only take about thirty minutes" the cook replied. Without waiting for Aoi to give her an order, she started mixing the flour, and well, the ingredients to make cupcakes. Aoi smiled in relief. She joined in, her fingers getting tiny cuts in the process.
In the span of the said time, the cupcakes were ready. But the design wasn't as intricate as before. Aoi was right-handed, not left. It was a nuisance to have her right arm broken.
She sighed. "Well, it looks cute, arigatou!" she smiled at the cook and left once more. Only ten minutes left to locate Fran. If he isn't in the conference/lounging room, he had to be in his bedroom. She navigated through the labyrinth of hallways, not minding the pulsing pain in her right elbow. She stood in front of his door, trying to fix her disheveled appearance before knocking. She tied a hanky around her wounded arm, to stop the bleeding; with much difficulty (she was using her teeth and left hand to do so).
Knock. Knock. She rapped the door with her pale left hand knuckles. Without receiving an answer, she went ahead and opened the door. Lo and behold. There was Fran, sleeping. His right arm covering his eyes, frog cap off. Aoi didn't bother to switch on the lights.
She shook him awake. "Fran, Fran," she said his name repeatedly. The blood was starting to soak her hanky.
"Ungg… what is it Aoi?" Fran mumbled, somewhat annoyed at his girlfriend leaving him a while back.
Aoi plopped down on the bed, beside Fran, the box was on her lap. She grinned at him as he sat up.
"What's that?" Fran asked, pointing at the mysterious object.
"Happy Birthday!" it was already five minutes past twelve midnight. Aoi smiled even wider at Fran's shock. They were both getting used to the lighting in the dark room.
"Aa.. I didn't think you'd remember," he muttered.
"Of course I'd remember, I'm your girlfriend right?" she replied, in high spirits.
"Ne, Aoi," Fran said.
"Yes?"
"Let's eat it together," he continued.
"Hm? No way! It's all yours!" Aoi refused, putting her hands up in defense and then winced in pain.
Fran suddenly noticed her bleeding elbow and bandages around each of her fingers but he decided to remain silent. An idea came rushing through his mind. "Okay then," he took a bite and chewed a bit then swallowed. "It's good!" he praised.
Aoi grinned, pleased with herself. Before she could snap herself back to reality, Fran grasped her chin, in no way asking for permission. Then he kissed her full on the lips, long and hard. She was unprepared for what Fran did next. Using his tongue, Fran slipped a morsel of the chocolate cupcake from his mouth to Aoi's.
Fran broke the kiss and grinned. He only ever showed facial expressions he was alone with Aoi. That's the privilege of being his girlfriend. Aoi's face was a mixture of shock, happiness and extreme embarrassment with the extremely close contact with Fran's mouth.
"So, how did it taste like?" he teased.
"S-sweet," Aoi muttered, "Really sweet," she rephrased, still blushing.
"Oh my," Lussuria suddenly exclaimed from the door that Aoi carelessly left ajar. So that's the reason why the room wasn't as dark as it was supposed to be!
Aoi and Fran turned around and saw their teammates staring at them, snickering cheekily.
"Eeeh? What are you guys doing here?" Aoi gasped.
"I wanted to treat that arm of yours," Lussuria grinned, activating his animal box weapon to straighten out Aoi's injuries.
The rest of the Varia (except Xanxus who was on the phone discussing details with a new client) followed suit as Aoi continued to take blushing to new heights of red.
End (really really for real now! I'll give you a pinky promise.)
*cough sniff cough sniff* I still want to write another chapter though…
School's officially starting tomorrow! (OAO) *gasp* wish me luck!