A/N: I'M BACK BABY!
Sorry it took so long.
For those of you who haven't checked my profile page, I haven't been uploading new chapters lately because of college finals and whatnot.
My apologies. TT^TT
At any rate, here's the lastest chapter in the NFI saga.
Sorry for making you wait.
Hope you enjoy it.
Please R&R.
Chapter Eight
11:30 PM, The Previous night
After taking a shower, without Shinra, Celty put on her pajamas, logged onto her favorite forum and waited for the inevitable.
Sure enough, within a few minutes the name 'Kanra' appeared on the chat room screen.
(Kanra): Hello there~!
(Setton): Good evening
(Kanra): So~?
(Setton): So what?
(Kanra): So how did your little job go?
Celty braced herself, and entered private chat mode.
(Setton): Not well. Someone neglected to mention that my target wasn't going to come willingly and was a free runner!
(Kanra): Could've sworn I mentioned that in my email. Oops, sorry! XP Did you get her anyway?
(Setton): No, I didn't. I chased her down back streets for almost 3 hours until she finally managed to lose me.
Technically, this wasn't a lie. Celty had chased her for around three hours and Sora had lost her multiple times. The Dullahan just didn't mention the fact that she had found her again.
Or that she was currently asleep in her room.
(Kanra): Aw~! That sucks -)=(- Any ideas on where she is now?
(Setton): After a chase like that? Probably asleep somewhere. I'll look again tomorrow.
(Kanra): Okeydokey~! ^^
Celty "breathed" a sigh of relief. 'Wah…he believed me. Thank goodness.'
Sadly, her relief was short lived as a new message appeared on the screen.
(Kanra): Well~! Since you failed to bring me my guest, you'll just have to make up for it by doing another job. N~O~W~! ^^
The headless woman could practically see the smug look on Izaya's face as she thought, 'I should've known.'
(Setton): Fair enough Izaya. What's the job?
(Kanra): This one is easy. You'll be done in two hours, tops! ^^
'Yeah right.'
(Kanra): All you have to do is ride over to one spot, pick up a bag, then they'll tell you where to go next. Once there, pick up some stuff and drive it to where they tell you. Finally, you trade your bag for theirs and return to the first spot, and you're done! Simple, right? ^^
'Sounds straight forward enough….'
(Setton): All right. I'll do it.
(Kanra): Great! Here's the first address…
After writing down the address and signing off, Celty went to look for Shinra.
She found him in the kitchen, washing Sora's strange weapons in the sink.
Noticing her, the young doctor smiled and waved one of the soap-covered weapons in the air.
"I found them in her bag. I figured she would appreciate me cleaning off the blood. They're called tonfa by the way, a kind of weapon from Okinawa, usually wielded in pairs. This pair is old, but is in very good…condition... Is something wrong?" He asked noticing that Celty seemed to be bummed about something.
Bring out her phone, Celty typed, [Just finished chatting with Izaya. He bought my story about Sora, but wants me to go out on another job right now.]
"Ehhhh, that stinks," Shinra sympathized. "What does he want you to do?"
[Move some goods around. According to him, I'll be done in two hours.]
Smiling his crooked smile, her roommate replied, "Which is Izaya-speak for six, right?"
The Dullahan did her equivalent to a nod.
"So, I guess cuddling in my bed is out of the question right now?"
[Yep] Celty typed dejectedly, too depressed about leaving to even deck the doctor in the gut.
Wiping the soap off of his hands, Shinra stood with his arms akimbo and stated, "Alright. Then I'll just wait up for you to get back!"
Waving her hands back and forth, Celty replied, [You don't have to do that! Who knows how long I'll really be gone! You need your rest!]
Brushing off her worries, her roommate said, "Don't worry about it Celty. I need to stay up and look after our guest anyway, so it's no big deal."
About to type out another argument, the Dullahan stopped when she realized that it was a futile effort, and slumped her shoulders in a mix of defeat and guilt for making him stay up.
Taking a few steps towards her, Shinra wrapped his girlfriend in a hug and felt his heart race when she did the same.
"It'll be fine. You want to help this girl and you are. By doing this job, you'll satisfy Izaya and make Sora safe. That'll make you happy, right?"
Celty "nodded".
"Then I'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's okay. So don't worry about it." Pulling back slightly, Shinra planted a light kiss on Celty's right collarbone that sent shivers down the Dullahan's spine.
Smiling, the doctor continued, "Now, hurry up and go, because the sooner you leave, the sooner you can be back."
Shyly, Celty typed out, [Okay] and went to change out of her pajamas in her room. Before she left the kitchen she turned around and typed, [Shinra?]
"Yeah, lovey?"
[Thank you]
"Always," Shinra grinned.
As she hung up her clothes in her closet and summoned her shadow suit, the Dullahan checked on her sleeping guest.
Her skin looked a shade paler than it should have been, and there were bruises on the patches of skin that Celty could see. After having her hair tie taken out of her ponytail, Sora's hair was spread out all around her head, looking tangled and messy. Her eyes, although they were closed, darted about like she was having a dream, but by the look on her face, it wasn't a pleasant one.
As she laid sleeping under a comforter with her arm sticking out for the IV tube, Celty couldn't help but notice how fragile Sora looked.
'Not too long ago, this girl was practically larger than life; taking my heedlessness in stride, fighting an entire gang by herself...but now she…. she seems so small.'
Crouching down next to her, Celty watched Sora's face and every twitch she made while asleep.
Not knowing what she was doing, the Dullahan's hand reached out and, ever so softly, brushed some of Sora's hair off her forehead. From there she gently smoothed her hair back, as if she was petting a cat.
At her touch, Sora had tensed up for a split second, before relaxing with a sigh and a small smile. Her eyes stopped darting about and her twitching eased up.
As she petted Sora's hair, Celty was amazed at how soft it was. She had thought that since her hair was so curly, the strands would stay up and poke her hand: but instead the curls went down easily as her hand went over them, before popping right back up in a amusing manner.
Looking at her sleeping guest, the Dullahan was filled with the need to protect her, although why and from whom she did not know.
Straightening up, Celty placed her helmet on her neck, and headed out the door to her next job.
3:50 AM
Shinra was bored.
True to his word, he was staying up waiting for Celty to return, watching TV in between checking in on his house patient. So far the progress was good. Last time he had checked, her color had been returning and her breathing had clamed down.
BUT STILL!
"Sigh-I know I told Celty it would be no problem, but I didn't expect there to be no problems!" the young doctor moaned as he sat on the couch watching some show.
"Shinobu-san's body is accepting the blood, she doesn't seem to be in any serious pain, and she's sleeping soundly… All of this should make any doctor feel good. Sigh- but then again, most doctors weren't intending on using their patients to pass the time waiting for their beloved to return." Shinra said as he glanced at his watch.
"Speaking of patients, it's time to check on mine."
Getting up and stretching, the glasses wearing man made his way to Celty's room.
Checking Sora's vital signs, Shinra decided that she no longer was in danger of dying of blood loss, and removed the IV drip. Taking the stand and empty blood bag out of the room, Shinra had just finished putting it away when his cell phone rang.
Pulling it out of his coat pocket, he answered, "Moshi moshi."
"Ah, Kishitani-san! Sorry if I woke you up, but some of my boys are in need of your assistance," a man on the other end replied.
"Oh? What happened?"
The man growled, "I wasn't there when it happened, but apparently one of my idiots decided to mouth off the guy who was delivering some goods to us. From the sorry state my guys are in, the delivery-guy didn't appreciate it."
"I understand. I'll be there soon." With that, Shinra flipped his phone closed and sighed.
"Well, I did say I was bored."
Making sure Sora was tucked into her futon; Shinra grabbed his medical bag, turned off the TV, and headed downstairs to hail a taxi. On his way down, the doctor couldn't help but think about what the man on the phone had said.
"'-The delivery guy didn't appreciate it' huh?" he smirked.
"Now who does that sound like?"
10:45 AM
'What a miserable night,' Celty griped as she rode the elevator up to her floor.
She mimics Izaya, 'It's an easy job, Celty. Shouldn't take more than two hours, Celty!'
'Yeah right.'
Izaya's "easy job" ended up taking her all over Ikebukuro. Twice!
First she had to ride over to the address the information broker had given her. When she arrived, the men there had given her an empty black briefcase and gave her a new address on the other side of Ikebukuro. When she asked why it had to be this briefcase, they actually gave her a lecture on how the briefcase had to be just right, and this and that, and a bunch of other stuff that she didn't quite understand.
Finally getting them to shut up, she headed to the next address. The people there then filled her briefcase with something and got all huffy when she tried to see what it was. They rudely told her the next location and said that she should trade the case for 650,000 yen.
Carrying a much heavier package now, Celty rode over to the new address, which turned out to be the middle of the park. When she got there, some unruly looking gang members greeted the Dullahan.
Taking the briefcase and looking through its contents, the leader of the group stepped forward and said, "Looks like everything is here. What's Iwagima want for the whole lot?"
Celty typed out the amount the guy had told her.
"SIXTY-FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND! That's freaking highway robbery! Forget it! We're not paying!" the gangster yelled.
Not really caring either way, the faerie simply shrugged and went to take the case back-
But the gangster had other plans.
"Ohhh~no! You're not taking the goods back with you!"
'I'm not?' Celty wondered and cocked her helmet.
The gangster leaned close to her visor.
"You're gonna ride your pretty little ass back over to Iwagima and tell him we ain't paying a yen over four hundred. And if he don't like it, then he can come over and suck my dick!" his eyes suddenly roved up and down Celty's body.
Licking his lips, he then said, "Come to think of it, how's about you suck on it too? You'd like that, right?" With that, the gangster grabbed Celty's ass with his right hand.
He didn't even have enough time to give it a squeeze before the pissed off Dullahan grabbed him by his collar and flipped him through the air into a tree.
The rest of the gang, after seeing their leader try to fly, and fail, had the idea that they should kick the ass of the one who threw him.
And everything went to hell after that.
Beating up the gang members didn't take more than five minutes, but within that time some Good Samaritan decided to call the police and inform them of the of the gang war that was going on in the park.
Celty had just knocked the last gangster out when flashing blue and red lights appeared behind her.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite monster."
A shiver went down the Dullahan's spine.
'Oh no!'
Turning around, the faerie was confronted by a sight that frightened her deeply.
Parked in a row were five traffic cops on motorcycles.
Seated right in the middle was a guy with an x-shaped scar on his right cheek and a scarf around his neck.
'Kinnosuke Kuzuhara!'
Arms folded over his chest, Kinnosuke began to explain how someone had reported gang violence in the park.
"And what do I see when I arrive here? A monster beating up some poor, innocent smucks."
'Poor? Innocent?'
"By the authority invested in the traffic police-" he pointed at her and smirked,
"-YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"
As if a switch had been thrown, the once stationary cops jolted into action, all five of them swarming around Celty.
Waiting until the last second, the Dullahan jumped into the air, letting the bike cops pass right under her.
As soon as her feet hit the ground again, she was off, snatching up the case on her way to Shooter.
Reaching him, Celty jumped on and hightailed it out of the park.
Kinnosuke and friends soon gave chase-
And didn't stop for four hours!
It was dawn by the time she had lost them.
Hiding out in an alley to "catch her breath", the faerie decided that it was high time she knew exactly what she was risking her neck for.
Laying the case on the seat of the bike, Celty popped the lid to find it filled with-
'Video games?'
Sure enough, the briefcase was packed with video games. Ones' that weren't due to be released for another few months.
Although Celty didn't know this part, nor did she care.
All she knew was that she was going to slug Izaya the next time she saw him.
Closing the case back up, the Dullahan rode across town to the previous address.
She explained to the guy there how the punks had refused to pay the price.
He hadn't been happy about it.
After retrieving his goods, amongst many curse-riddled complaints about "kids these days", he gave her the briefcase back and told her to return it to the first guy.
So she rode across Ikebukuro, again, and did just that.
He also hadn't been happy about the situation.
And to add insult to injury, only paid her half of her fee since she "did only half the job".
She didn't really need the money, but Celty prided herself on always doing a good job.
To make matters worse, as she was leaving the man's place, Kinnosuke found her again, and chased her for yet another four hours.
And so, a job that was supposed to take only two hours, ended up taking eleven.
'ELEVEN!' Celty mentally screamed as the elevator finally reached her floor.
As she walked down the hall, she continued to grumble.
'Damn that Izaya! Him and his easy jobs!' she seethed.
Reaching her door, the Dullahan took a deep "breath".
'Calm down, calm down. It's over,' she unlocked her door, 'now Shinra and I can-!'
Celty smacked herself on her helmet.
'I forgot all about Shinra! That idiot probably stayed up all night waiting for me to get back. Idiot…' the faerie thought with a mental blush.
Opening the door, she thought, 'Well, I'd better not keeping him waiting any longer…'
Stepping into her apartment, the first thing Celty saw was her roommate and lover passed out on the floor.
'SHINRA!' she cried as she darted over to his side, tossing off her helmet on the way.
Cradling him in her arms, Celty checked his vitals and almost cried when she found he was still alive.
Looking him over, she immediately found the lump on his right temple, which was already started to bruise.
She gently shook him, trying to get him to open his eyes, all the while calling his name.
'Shinra? Shinra! Shinra, please, open your eyes! Shinra!'
As if he had heard her, the young doctor slowly woke up, and opened his eyes.
Seeing Celty's neck and smoke taking up his entire field of vision, Shinra smiled and said, "Welcome home."
Overjoyed that he was awake, the Dullahan hugged him tightly, causing him to hiss in pain. Instantly loosening her grip, Celty whipped out her phone and typed faster than ever, [Sorry! Are you ok?]
Sitting up as best he could, Shinra answered, "Hai hai, I'm fine. You just hit the bruise on my stomach is all."
Not waiting for his consent, Celty yanked his shirt up to find that a bruise was indeed on his stomach. It hadn't fully formed yet, but she could clearly see that something the size of a soft ball had hit him.
Hard.
Turning back to Shinra, the Dullahan typed, [Who did this? What happened!]
Putting a hand to the bump on his temple and wincing, the doctor tried to remember.
"Let's see…. a few hours after you left, I got a call for some guys who had gotten beaten up by a delivery guy," he smirked at her, and she cringed at the memory.
He laughed, "I thought that might've been you. You really did a number on those guys. It took me until nine o'clock to finish treating them," his face scrunches up in concentration, "I got back here around ten. I went to check on Shinobu-san…and she wasn't there!"
'WHAT!'
Gently propping her beloved against the back of the couch, Celty dashed to her room to find that it was, indeed, empty.
Returning to Shinra, she confirmed that Sora was definitely gone.
Nodding, the doctor replied, "Not only that, but I just remembered that she was the one who knocked me out."
At this, the Dullahan froze, before she began to quake with something akin to rage. How dare a mere child, whom she had helped to save, attack her friend, roommate, and lover?
Fists clenched and smoke billowing out aggressively, Celty thought darkly, 'When I get my hands on that girl….'
Shinra waved the hand he wasn't holding his head with at her.
"Calm down, Celty. I think it was a misunderstanding."
'A MISUNDERSTANDING?' Celty roared, 'HOW IS THIS A MISUNDERSTANDING?'
He waggled his finger at her, "Inside voice, please. I'm just saying that when Shinobu-san woke up, she found herself in a strange room, in an unfamiliar apartment, and was half naked to boot. That's enough to make anyone confused about the situation, let alone a teenager who had just been seriously wounded and possibly in shock. For that reason, when she saw me, a stranger, she assumed I was an enemy, and thus knocked me out," he winces, "Very effectively I might add."
The faerie's rage simmered down a bit.
'But still…'
Shinra smiled, "Look, I get the feeling that if Shinobu-san had really wanted to hurt me, or worse, then she would have done so."
'That is true. She does seem to know how to handle herself,' Celty thought wryly as she remembered the girls fighting prowess.
Grabbing the back of the couch, the young doctor hoisted himself painfully up.
"At any rate, my patient is out wandering the streets with a hole in her side and too many stitches to count," he winced as he straightened up but kept smiling nonetheless, "You need to find her and get her back here, quick."
Celty agreed, her anger more or less gone; but she was hesitant to leave Shinra alone. Especially since he was injured.
He waved his hand at her, guessing her thoughts.
"Don't worry about me, Celty," he said with his trademark smile, "Shinobu-san hit me just hard enough to knock me out. Aside from what are going to be some colorful bruises, I'll be just fine."
The faerie wasn't fully convinced, but she knew from experience that Shinra generally knew what he was talking about.
Making sure her lover was comfortable on the couch with an ice pack on his head, Celty headed down to the garage, hopped on Shooter and began her search for Sora.
For the second time in as many days.
A/N: Well?
Was it worth the wait?
I apologize for the language but it fit the moment and the guy's personality.
What did you think of the Celty and Sleeping Sora scene?
Too much mushiness? Too little?
Toss me a bone!
Please R&R ^^