Cross My Heart
Chapter 19: Dustoff
Author's Note: So...it's been a lot longer than I seemed to have realized until last night. Time flies when you're in college, I guess. Anywho, 'tis a bit of a fluffy piece since the last three chapters involved lots of violence and bloodshed. Plus, I felt like I was beating up Kanda and Chloe too much. I might've spurred a mutiny if I continued down that path. No matter! All is well and the story has finally been updated again! Yay! I make no promises in getting another chapter out soon, but I shall do my best!
Reviews:
Melty-chan 93: I'm glad the battle's finally over too! I didn't know it was going to last quite so long, though...oh well. Thanks for reading and leaving your review!
Laytha: No worries about Chloe and Kanda. They're troopers. They'll handle whatever is dished out at them quickly and professionally...(ah, who am I kidding? This is Kanda Yuu and Chloe Bellerose we're talking about here!) Thanks for sticking with the story all this time, my dear! You too are a real trooper! Also, thank you for your reviews! They always make me smile (:
WolfLover17: I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner. College doesn't equal more free time with my major, unfortunately. I don't think I left you guys with a cliffhanger this time...tee hee! Thanks for your review!
ISeeClearly: Nope! This story has been with me since high school. I will see it through to the end, no matter what! Unfortunately, updates won't be forthcoming at a consistent rate because of my schedule and my tendency to value a few extra minutes of sleep instead of writing before class. I'll get that fixed one day. Anyway, I shall make more cliffhangers in the future, just for you (not that I haven't had enough of them already...)! Thanks for your review!
Kanda regained consciousness in slow degrees.
His thoughts were muddled and fleeting—one thought would only linger for a few seconds before another would force its way to the forefront. It was as if a thick fog had saturated his mind while he slept. When had he even gone to sleep? And why was he so disoriented? The only times he woke up in such a confused state was when he had been injured severely enough that he was brought to the infirmary and Matron kept him under with heavy painkillers so he could sleep through the pain.
He focused on trying to figure out what happened and began to push through the haze in his mind. His memories held glimpses of a drawn out battle that ended in intense heat and pain, along with a strong sense of worry. The last thing he really remembered was falling backwards into darkness as a wall of fire passed overhead. Someone else had been with him desperately reaching out to him as the flames licked at the edges of the void, and he had reached out to the person despite the heat bearing down on them. The inferno began to swallow them. Boiling pain raced up his left arm and along his side, and he heard a familiar voice cry out near him. The smell of burning flesh assaulted his nose a second later, and he would've been physically ill had the abyss not suddenly opened up and his descent was stopped by a hard, unforgiving surface. Painless unconsciousness claimed him soon afterward.
More memories began to solidify themselves in Kanda's mind after that: the second attack on Headquarters, fighting alongside Marie and then Lenalee, two Level 4s, Bellerose getting shot, the Level 4 self-destructing in front of him—all of it came back in a rush that left him breathless and even more worried than before.
Where was Bellerose? How badly had she been hurt? Was she even still alive? Why couldn't he remem—
"Matron, Kanda's awake!"
Matron would know where Chloe was. Kanda cracked open one eye and instantly regretted it. His vision completely whited out, and he heard a choked scream as pain raged through the back of his skull. Kanda vaguely realized he was the one that had cried out when his entire body began to throb in time with his rapidly beating heart and aching skull.
"What happened?" Matron asked.
"He was unconscious then he suddenly began to breathe rapidly and thrash about!"
"The painkillers must have worn off. Go get me another—,"
Kanda growled in frustration and opened his eyes, ignoring his throbbing head. He didn't want more painkillers. He wanted—
Kanda, calm down.
The Japanese exorcist froze at the familiar voice echoing through his mind. Bellerose…?
Let Matron help you, Cabrón.
His grip on reality started to slip again, and he clung to the shreds of consciousness as his body was filled with warmth from a combination of the painkillers and knowing his worry was in vain.
Sleep and forget for now. You can remember everything after you've healed.
The remaining tension rapidly seeped from his mind and body, and peaceful darkness enveloped him in its gentle embrace as the drugs finally kicked in.
The next time Kanda woke, the confusion and the haze were gone. His body still ached and his head hurt like hell, but at least he could think coherently now. Kanda carefully opened his eyes, letting the light in a little at a time, and blinked several times to bring the room into focus. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the Japanese exorcist noticed a black folder sitting near his right foot. Kanda stared at the folder for a while, wondering distantly why it was on his bed as well as considering whether or not to kick it off.
"You finally decided to join the real world, Sleeping Beauty?"
Kanda almost let out a relieved sigh upon hearing the familiar voice nearby. Almost. Had she not made a sarcastic comment (which would have been totally out of character for her and worrisome) the Japanese exorcist might have done it. He settled for slowly turning his head in the direction the voice had come from and blinking until his eyes decided to catch up.
"Took you long enough," Chloe said as she leaned forward in her chair and placed the packet of papers in her hands on the folder beside Kanda's foot. She grinned while tucking a pen behind one ear then said, "Now I have an excuse to get out of finishing my report."
"I'm not an excuse," Kanda said with a scowl. At least, that's what he tried to say. All that really came out of his mouth was garbled nonsense in a dry whisper.
"Water?" Chloe said while reaching down beside her chair.
Kanda didn't bother nodding and focused on sitting up. Unfortunately, the farthest Kanda could push his pain-ridden body was up on his right elbow. He tried to lift his left arm, but the burning limb refused to do anything but lie on the mattress. Chloe scooted forward some more in her chair and lifted a mysteriously produced glass of water to Kanda's lips.
"Don't worry about your manly dignity. No one else is here to witness your weakness, and I'm about the last person that'll go around telling," the red-haired girl said softly.
Kanda took slow, careful sips from the glass until Chloe pulled it away a few moments later.
"You can have some more in a little bit. No use in making you sick on top of everything else," the red-haired girl said while placing the glass down on the floor beside her chair.
"How long was I out?" Kanda asked as he slowly shifted onto his back again. Everything hurt, and no matter how much he tried to hide it, the Japanese exorcist could tell Bellerose knew, freaky mind-reading powers aside.
"Long enough that Matron was actually considering letting Allen and Lavi wake you up," Chloe replied with a grin. "Lucky for you, you decided to finally get up. They were going to set their first plan in motion this afternoon."
The Japanese exorcist scowled at the thought of being awoken in such a way by the two idiots.
"Speaking of your favorite idiots, they'll probably be coming by soon, so you should rest. In the meantime, I'm going to finish my report," Chloe said while reaching for the papers and the folder again.
She leaned back in her chair as she reached for the pen behind her ear. Kanda glared at the red-haired girl for a moment then let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He felt himself start to drift off before a thought had him struggling to open his eyes again. The Japanese exorcist pushed himself up on his right elbow again and waited until his head stopped throbbing so much to ask the question that was burning in his mind.
"Bellerose, how badly were you hurt?" he ground out through clenched teeth.
"Not as badly as you were, Kanda," the red-haired girl replied without pausing in her work.
Kanda sat up, ignoring the protests from his skull and the rest of his body, and grabbed Chloe's left wrist as she wrote. Chloe sighed while capping her pen. She put the pen on top of the paper and folder, tugging against the injured Japanese exorcist's surprisingly strong grip on her wrist as she moved, then placed the pile on the edge of Kanda's bed with a scowl. She didn't say anything for a while, and Kanda continued to hold her wrist while staring down at the red-haired girl.
"Three broken ribs on the right side, two cracked on the left. Through and through gunshot wound to the right side, just above the hip. Concussion. Bruised back. Second-degree burns from the knee down on the right leg. Stress fracture to the right fibula. Burned ear thanks to the damn wireless transmitter short-circuiting. Do I need to continue, or do you want to see for yourself like last time?" Chloe finally stated in a brisk, formal tone.
Kanda didn't reply, but he did relax his grip on her wrist a bit. Chloe didn't try to pull away and slowly met Kanda's gaze after a few moments. Her eyes were filled with concern, pain, and something else the Japanese exorcist couldn't identify right then.
"Your injuries were a lot worse than mine," Chloe said softly. "Don't worry about me right now, Kanda. You should rest before Matron kicks my ass for riling you up."
It was then that Kanda figured out what else he was seeing in the red-haired girl's eyes—guilt. The Japanese exorcist let out a "Che" then tightened his grip on Chloe's wrist and pulled her toward him. Chloe let out a surprised squawk as she tumbled unceremoniously onto the bed, sprawled half on the bed and half across Kanda's lap, and the Japanese exorcist quickly released her wrist and wrapped his arm around her back before she could start protesting. With a sigh, Chloe leaned her forehead against Kanda's good shoulder and carefully slid an arm around Kanda as well.
"Bellerose, I don't know why you're feeling guilty, but that's gonna stop right now. It's not your fault I'm hurt, you idiot," Kanda said after a few moments.
"It is, though," Chloe whispered. "I hit you hard enough to give you a concussion and break your cheekbone, and yeah, it helped you come to your senses, but…"
"Makes us even for me stabbing you a while back," Kanda said with a chuckle.
"I know I did the right thing—,"
"Damn right—ow! Did you just—?"
"Listen, Cabrón!" Chloe hissed while tightening her grip on the lock of black hair in her grasp. "Just like you felt guilty for stabbing me way back when, I'm allowed to be upset for causing you head trauma," she said. "Maybe I knocked some sense into you—ow!"
Kanda smirked as he twisted the long strands of red hair between his fingers. Chloe lifted her head from the Japanese exorcist's shoulder a few moments later. She placed the back of her right hand against Kanda's forehead and frowned.
"No fever. I guess you can't blame your strange clingy behavior today on that, then," the red-haired girl said while lowering her arm.
"Clingy? The hell're you talkin' about, Bellerose?" Kanda said in confusion.
Chloe grinned while tapping the Japanese exorcist on the nose with a finger. "You have yet to stop hugging me—in public, I might add—and you are the one that forced me to sit in your lap, my dear Kanda. While I do appreciate the gesture to make me feel better—it has worked splendidly, by the way—it astonishes me that you're being so open with your affection today. I guess I hit you too hard after all. A few wires may have gotten crossed, not that I mind or anything."
Kanda sputtered and blushed, and Chloe laughed when the Japanese exorcist resorted to glaring at her when he couldn't think of a proper response. Luckily for him, Matron strode toward the bed a minute after that, so Chloe carefully released Kanda and shifted until she was partially leaning on the bed and partially standing on her left foot.
"Hello, Matron," the red-haired girl said.
"Hello, Chloe," Matron said with a smile. "Taking care of the patient for me?"
"Thoroughly."
"Splendid. And how is the report coming?"
"Despite being distracted for a while, all I have to do is sign it and take it to Komui. Do you have any—,"
"I put some crutches by your bed."
Chloe reached over and grabbed the pile of papers and the folder before straightening up again. "Thanks, Matron. And don't be too hard on him. I think he's still suffering side-effects from the concussion," she said while taking a quick hop out of Kanda's reach.
Kanda scowled in an attempt to hide the redness of his face, and Matron shook her head while watching as Chloe hopped on one leg over to the bed across the aisle from Kanda's.
"You two are a riot," Matron said as Chloe began slowly crutching her way toward the exit. "Now, let's have a look under those bandages, Kanda…"
After a week passed, Kanda and Chloe demanded to be released from the infirmary. Well, Kanda demanded loudly while Chloe asked politely. Kanda's burns had mostly healed, and the only thing that bothered him now was the stiffness and soreness in his left side and arm that was fading day by day. Chloe had healed enough that she no longer required multiple bandage changes per day, but she was still going to need crutches for another week at least. Matron grudgingly decided to release the two exorcists since she had no reason to keep them under her care any longer.
"Don't look so smug, you two," Matron said as she finished taping a clean square of gauze to Chloe's back. "You may be getting released today, but that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Especially you, Chloe," she added while giving the taped square a good slap to make sure it would stay in place.
Chloe let out a strained laugh as she reached for the crutches leaning against the bed. "Thanks Matron. I'll keep that in mind when I'm thinking of doing something stupid," she said as she pushed herself up on her left foot with help from the wooden crutches.
"Chloe, no training until your leg heals. I want you to come back in a week and we'll see about getting rid of those crutches. Komui and I agreed that you will not be going on any missions for at least another week," Matron said while moving across the aisle to Kanda's bed. "Now you, Kanda," she said as she gently prodded the boy's slightly swollen side, "I don't recommend training for another few days. Komui won't be assigning you missions for another week either, so don't try to train again until the soreness and stiffness go away, understand?"
Kanda scowled but nodded when Matron poked his stiff left arm especially hard.
"All right, you two, get out before I change my mind!" Matron said while placing her hands on her hips and stepping into the aisle.
"Get a move on, Bellerose. I'm starving," Kanda said as he stood up and pulled on his shirt.
"Crutches only have one speed, Kanda-sama, and that's slow," Chloe said while hobbling around her bed. "Besides, Jerry wouldn't let anyone else touch your precious soba whether you get to the cafeteria in two minutes or ten."
Kanda scowled at Chloe's retort, but he fell into step beside the red-haired girl as they headed for the exit in search of food. Jerry let out a joyful noise when he saw the two injured exorcists walk (or in Bellerose's case, crutch) into the cafeteria. The Indian man quickly began making Kanda's customary soba and green tea, along with some Spanish dish he insisted Chloe would just love. After a few minutes, Kanda and Chloe made their way to a table with their food (the Japanese exorcist had grabbed the red-haired girl's tray before she could try to grab it) and sat down on opposite sides from each other. Kanda dug into his soba with a hint of a smile—Matron only allowed infirmary patients to eat a strict diet, and they had been confined for almost over three weeks with only the bland provided portions of food at mealtimes. To say that he missed the taste of soba was an understatement. Sure, he ate it all the time, but at least the noodles had flavor.
After a surprising lack of interruptions during the meal, Kanda and Chloe mutually decided it was a good idea to continue avoiding any acquaintances for the remainder of the day. Chloe led the way to a deserted part of the building, ducking through hidden passageways and a confusing number of hallways until the two exorcists reached a pair of heavy wooden doors at the very end of a corridor. Kanda pushed open one door and instantly paused to examine what lay beyond the threshold. Considering the fact that the building was supposed to have been abandoned before the Order moved Headquarters there, the Japanese exorcist was thoroughly astonished to see a large, well taken care of garden on the other side of the door. The room had probably functioned as some sort of conservatory judging by the amount of glass paneling surrounding the garden on all sides except where Kanda was standing, but almost all the glass was missing, sending a warm, gentle breeze through the garden and its animal and floral inhabitants. There was even a small fountain gurgling away in the center of the garden, along with several conveniently located stone benches that looked extremely sturdy despite being exposed to the elements for so long. The garden with its beauty and simplicity exuded tranquility as well as a sense of privacy the rest of the building lacked.
"I found this place by accident the day before our last mission," Chloe said after a few minutes. "I thought you'd like it."
Kanda nodded in agreement then frowned since Bellerose couldn't see his face. "What were you doing before you found it?" he asked.
"Wandering around. I couldn't sleep," the red-haired girl replied quickly. "Go on in, Cabrón. Daylight's wasting," she said while nudging the Japanese exorcist's shoulder with her head.
It was a lame attempt at avoiding the topic, but Kanda consented to the unsaid plea and strode into the garden with Chloe at his heels.
"Feel free to look around. I'm going to sit down," Chloe said before crutching past the Japanese exorcist toward the benches surrounding the fountain.
Kanda made his way through the garden, starting at the section by the doors and working his way around at a slow gait. He had never been that interested in plants or animals, but he impressed himself when he found a plant or animal he could identify as he walked. By the time he made it to the fountain, the Japanese exorcist was exhausted yet strangely curious at the same time—he was too tired to tour the garden anymore, but a part of him desperately wanted to know what the unknown plants and animals were. Bellerose was right; he did like it here, even if he couldn't fully enjoy it at the moment.
"Do you like it?" Chloe asked as Kanda sat down next to her on one of the benches.
"Yeah, I do," the Japanese exorcist replied softly.
"I'm glad." Chloe leaned back and rested her head against the back of the bench while closing her eyes. "I've got to ask since she somehow managed to cast a spell on you through an akuma, but have you been hearing the song again?" she asked.
"Nope," Kanda replied. I just have nightmares almost every night where I watch you get shot and fall over and over again. No big deal.
"That's a big deal, idiot."
Damn you and your mind-reading abilities, Bellerose.
"Actually, I didn't read your mind until just now," Chloe said with a hint of a smirk. The smirk dropped as she continued, "For weeks after the Noah tried to kill you again, I had nightmares every night. Most of the time, I would get to you in time to watch you die, but other times…nevermind. You get it." The red-haired girl opened her eyes and carefully sat up. She turned to face Kanda then hesitantly reached out and grabbed one of his hands with both of hers, which was something that wouldn't have seemed possible for the two exorcists to do three weeks before. "I know how bad the nightmares can get, and you helped me when mine got the better of me, so is there anything I can do to help with your nightmares, Kanda?"
Kanda smirked and gently squeezed Bellerose's hand in return. "So, if I asked you to sleep in my bed with me to help me with my nightmares, would you do it, Bellerose?"
"Well, I'm in your debt again, so I suppose I would have to. Plus," Chloe said while leaning closer to the Japanese exorcist, "it's not like we haven't shared a bed before. And, if memory serves me right, I remember waking up the next morning to you trying to—,"
"—That was your fault, Bellerose. You tried to punch me in your sleep—,"
"—who knows, you probably deserved it—,"
"—and you were the one that threw us off the side of the—,"
"—You were being a pervert, admit it!"
"—then got us tangled up in the—Hey! I'm not a…"
Chloe laughed as the conversation finally pieced itself together in Kanda's mind. "Took you long enough, Kanda-sama."
"Laugh it up while you can, Bellerose, but expect payback in return," the Japanese exorcist said with a playful glare.
"Oh really? I won't enjoy this retribution of yours, will I, Cabrón?"
Kanda slowly reached up and tucked a stray lock of red hair behind Chloe's ear. It was a new experience for him to be making such loaded jokes and initiating physical interactions with someone outside of training or missions, and scarily enough, he liked it…a lot. "You'll absolutely hate every minute of it," he replied.
"Oh no." A stricken tone coupled with a mischievous grin that made his heart pound and his chest grow warm with each passing second. It took all of Kanda's willpower to continue the banter any further.
"Is that a challenge, Bellerose?"
Her grin widened and turned positively wicked. "What do you think it is, Kanda-sama?"
'Twas the straw that broke the camel's back—Kanda lasted only another second and a half after Chloe's last comment before he finally leaned forward and kissed her as he had been itching to do for a while now. The kiss was nothing more than the simple slide of lips over lips, but the sensations were oh-so-new and so…so amazing. Kanda couldn't put his feelings into words but could easily express them in his actions. Chloe responded to everything with equal fervor, and the garden watched silently as the two exorcists forgot everything else in the world but themselves for a few precious minutes.
No new translations this week. I'm a lazy bum, I know. Anywho, feel free to review! The author likes to go back and read them in times of writer's block for motivation! (: