Chapter 5: Waiting It Out

Kanda felt himself be pulled and then pushed on to the mattress. He saw, for a brief moment, Airi's frenzied blood-colored eyes, her mouth open, her fangs glistening, all in one instant before unbearable pain shot through his body. In one easy and effortless motion, Airi had ripped apart his shirt and was holding onto his bare shoulders tightly as her fangs sunk into the base of his neck, tantalizing and brutal.

A strangled yell sounded in the air, and only after a moment did Kanda realize that it was him, unable to contain a sound of pain and discomfort. Airi didn't seem to notice. Instead, she rolled on top of him, removing her mouth from his neck and staring into his eyes. Blood trickled from her lips onto his cheeks as her crimson eyes flickered from Kanda's face to the profusely bleeding wound. Kanda was already short on breath, his body aching with intensifying pain.

She abruptly put her lips on his, and it was like earlier that day, back in the classroom. He felt his heartbeat escalate unwillingly as Airi trailed a finger down his neck, bringing a track of red with it, down his chest. Kanda shuddered, breaking off the kiss as he looked to the side, panting.

"Don't do…stupid things," he said harshly.

"As you wish," she said, breathing ragged, as she brought her lips to the base of his neck and drank, wrapping her hands around Kanda's waist and propping him up on the headboard of the bed. He could feel his eyes begin to shut with a heavy and somber weariness, the strength slowly being sapped from his body…

All he could see was the color of Airi's irises, all he could feel was the cold touch of Airi's fingertips. Unconsciousness then claimed him.

******************

Airi walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Lavi and Tyki were sitting in the dark room on the couch in front of a roaring fire. The redhead looked up at her entrance.

"Done?" he said without a trace of sentiment as he eyed the blood splattered all over her blouse.

"Yes. I'm going to go clean up," she said quietly, heading for the bathroom.

"Good," said Tyki, golden eyes still staring at the fire. "Bookman, take the human home."

"Let him stay," said Airi coolly. "He's weak right now."

"I'm not going to have a human in my house, Airi," said Tyki coldly in return. "Take him back."

"Leave him. I'll take him back once I'm done."

"You're staying over tonight," Tyki said.

"Excuse me?" Airi said frigidly. "I think you had enough fun for today, Tyki."

Tyki turned his head slowly. Their eyes met for a brief second, and Airi felt a chill run down her spine.

"Bookman. Take him back."

Lavi stood up, sighing.

"It's better this way," said Lavi. "It's not safe leaving him in the home of vampire royalty, though I'm sure you have Kanda's best interest in mind, Airi…surprising as that is."

Lavi walked away into the room that Kanda rested in. In a flash, the door reopened, and Lavi reemerged, Kanda on his shoulder.

"Thought I shouldn't carry him bridal style," he said with a wry grin. "That might be a bit awkward. See you two later."

He left in a blur; Tyki's main door opened and closed with a thump, welcoming in a breeze of cold, midnight air.

"Sit down," said Tyki, once again turning his attention to the fire.

"I'm going to go wash up—"

"Sit. Down."

Airi let out an angry hiss and obeyed, walking over to him, about to sit down beside him.

"No," he said suddenly. He patted his lap. "Here. Facing me."

A look of revulsion passed over Airi's face, but she deemed it wise not to push Tyki's thin patience and again obeyed, sitting gingerly on Tyki's knees, facing him.

"How is your wound?" he asked, bringing one hand around her waist and the other to her collar. He began to unfasten the buttons.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth.

Tyki's eyes flitted up to her face, warning her to control her tone, and then back down to her chest.

"I didn't mean to hurt you badly," he said serenely, "but it seemed like I needed to discipline you a bit more…"

Her blouse now unbuttoned, Airi stared down at the scar that ran over her heart. Tyki gazed at it too, making a tutting noise.

"It hurts me to mar your beautiful body," he said, bringing a hand over her neck and pushing her down towards him. His lips touched the wound, sending a jolt of pain through her body. "It will heal in due time, though…but I must say that you must control yourself better."

His other hand crawled up her back, unfastening her bra strap.

"You can't be serious," she said, jerking back. "You're more than satiated, Tyki—"

"I'm not going to drink any blood," he said, pulling her back to his chest. "I would, however, like to have sex."

She stared at his blatant statement. "That amounts to the same thing—"

"Airi, shut up."

He pushed her down on the sofa, gold eyes gleaming.

"How does that Kanda's blood taste?" he inquired, leaning down to the blood still smeared on her face. "Looks like you've been eating messily…was it hard not to kill him?"

"Was that your goal?" she snapped as Tyki licked her bloodstained cheek.

"No…ugh, disgusting. Human blood…I'd forgotten the taste of it. And you know my goal, Airi…" his fingers caressed her thigh gently, causing her to shudder. "To watch you suffer…like I watched your parents."

Her eyes flashed. "Don't—"

Tyki cut her sentence off by kissing her, putting his full weight on her as his hand continued its hike up her skirt. She felt the shivers of repulsion and disgust run down her spine; she moved her face away, but Tyki only caught it and pulled it back to him. Surprisingly enough, Tyki's desires were truly only physical and not related to feeding. Airi occasionally felt his emotions rise, his gleaming eyes scanning her body with incredible lust…

"How do you want it tonight?" he breathed by her ear as his shirt fell to the ground. "Slow and torturous, giving you every bit of the pleasure you want?"

"Shut up—"

He abruptly stuck his fingers in her mouth, silencing her. It was all Airi could do not to bite them out of pure spite.

"Or fast and rough?" he smirked, noting the defiance in her onyx eyes. "Or I could give them both to you…you should be so grateful that I could please you to this degree…"

He began his ritual enticingly, his deft fingers slithering over the most sensitive areas with unneeded slowness. Airi could feel her body unwillingly react, responding to everything that Tyki did. She felt her breaths come short as the fingers in her mouth thrust themselves deeper. She shut her eyes, trying to separate her mind from her body but failing miserably; her body was not under her control when it came to the physical temptation. She could not help but react.

"Stop…" she barely moaned when Tyki finally retracted his fingers from her mouth.

He licked them seductively in front of her as his other hand continued its business elsewhere.

"Stop what?" he said.

"Just…stop…"

"Well, I'm not stopping until I finish," he said softly. "So let's pick up the pace, mm?"

He suddenly brought both hands to Airi's shoulders and pulled her onto the floor, causing her to wince from the impact, his fangs prominent in his twisted smile. And quicken his pace he did, as beads of sweat entangled in the strands of hair falling from his ponytail. He caught her lips, his tongue intruding into her mouth as her head spun with unneeded delusion. She could not think…

An agonizing hour passed, and Tyki finally detached himself from her. He dressed, simply sliding his pants back on and leaving his chest bare. Airi, not quite in her right mind, felt herself be lifted from the floor and placed on the couch with surprising tenderness.

"I'm hungry," she heard Tyki say.

Her eyes flitted open at the sentence, almost in alarm.

"I said hungry, not thirsty," said Tyki, striding to the kitchen. "And get dressed—unless you want another round."

She heard the refrigerator open and shut with a thud. Airi opened her eyes blearily and dressed slowly, her fingers shaking slightly and her body aching. She was still in this bloody blouse…

Tyki walked back to her and offered her a martini glass.

"It's wine, not blood," he said in response to her blank stare. "Drink. Alcohol has interesting properties on the mind."

She took it in her hand but did not bring it up to her lips. Tyki sat down beside her, setting his own glass on the table beside the sofa and bringing a plate of stir-fried cuisine in front of him.

"Do you want some?" he asked, obviously in a good mood.

Airi shook her head. How could the bastard still act so calm and normal…knowing she was always severely shaken after such events…

"I often think that humiliating you this way would cause your ego to deflate," he remarked in a way that most people would remark about the weather. "After all, there's nothing more degrading for a woman than being her nemesis's slave, is there?" He grinned at her icy glare, continuing as she remained stonily silent. "But whenever we finish, you still have that haughty tilt in your chin, and that fiery flash in your eyes…if you would just humble yourself a bit, Airi, just obey me willingly…you wouldn't have to go through this…torture, I suppose, as often."

He paused, waiting for a response. Airi retained her silence. He sighed.

"I suppose that's why I'm so interested in you though," he said, biting into a piece of chicken. "I mean, if you were just submissive and all, I guess…I would've killed you that night as well."

"The only reason you were interested in me was because I was a tool for you to use to kill my family," she said very suddenly. "And if I had not found you interesting in the first place…that things would be very different right now."

"True," he chuckled. "I'd be the slave, wouldn't I?"

"I never treated you the way you treat me now."

"Perhaps," said Tyki with a simpering smirk. "But you seem to have a bit of a masochistic trait as well—after all, why would you enjoy what I do to you so much?"

Airi downed the rest of her drink and stood up, slamming the glass with unintended force on the table. It shattered into pieces.

"I'm going to go take a shower," she said frostily.

She was halfway to the bathroom when Tyki spoke abruptly.

"Road called when you were feeding."

Airi halted and said nothing, simply listening.

Tyki took a long draught of his glass before speaking again. "I'm leaving to England."

"When?" she demanded.

"Day after tomorrow."

"For how long?"

"Two months or so."

For once in a long time, Airi felt relief wash over her.

"My absence should be enough to keep the Hunters off your back," he continued. "The usual rules apply: don't attack humans. Control the area's vampires; you should have enough power left to do that. Don't plan conspiracies. Ah, and I have a last rule."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"What is it?" she said, humoring him.

"That Kanda kid…don't sleep with him."

Airi whirled around, incredulity lining her face.

"Are you out of your mind?!" she said almost frantically.

"No. You seem to like him a bit more than your other Donors. And be forewarned, if anything explicit happens between you two, if your relationship becomes any more than that of a Donor and Hunter…I will kill him."

Airi moistened her lips at Tyki's warning.

"And me?" she asked. "What of me?"

"Well, I have to marry you, so I can't kill you. But seeing as we can live for centuries and centuries…I will make each and every day of our married life hell. You'll wish you were dead."

Tyki smiled as he faced her.

"Now go wash up. I'll be waiting in the bedroom."

******************

Airi dunked her head under the burning hot water, her brilliant obsidian eyes wide open as the droplets ran down her face. Tyki was leaving. For two months.

Excellent.

She scrubbed her body with soap, trying to get the feeling of Tyki's fingers out of her system as her mind whirred, thinking. A month was a shorter time than she had been hoping for…but it was good that the Hunters were already in the city. That would save her the amount of time it would normally take to seek them out. And with Tyki around less, no one would take her blood. As long as she fed sparingly, Kanda's blood would be enough to bring her back to maximum power…at least, the most power she could achieve without feeding on vampires like a royal.

It would be better for her simply to stick to Kanda's taste for now, though she supposed she could bite Lavi occasionally. Or the Hunters. That Allen Walker looked delicious. He seemed to be a younger one…prime of his youth, still innocent. Ha.

Airi showered leisurely, letting the fog accumulate in the room. Road had called…whimsical Road, sadistic Road…like her brother. The royalty was having a gathering, a meeting. Airi was glad she had not been invited. Invited meaning forcefully pulled there.

Two months. Perhaps it could work.

As long as she could convince the Hunters to work alongside her, and a few other vampires as well. Perhaps Lavi? The man hated her like none other, but it wasn't like he was fond of Tyki and the other Noah either. Airi grinned wryly as she thought of Kanda. Now he wouldn't be of any use…unless he was a vampire…and Airi knew very well how delightfully strong Kanda would be if he really were a vampire. Kanda exhibited a sense of intelligence and strength not commonly found among humans. But no, that was just a passing thought. There was no way Airi was going to condemn him to this life.

She turned off the showerhead, shaking the water out of her eyelashes. Kanda. An interesting character. She remembered the sight of him earlier that night, bloodied and weak…she felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps he wouldn't come to school tomorrow…maybe she'd visit him or something. Send him flowers. Ha, now that would evoke a classic look on the kendo captain's face.

There was a knock at the door.

"Sweet?" said Tyki. "Hurry up, I'm growing impatient."

Airi stopped dead in the process of drying herself up.

"Impatient for what?" she said uncertainly.

"I figured that since I'm going to be gone for two months, I might as well make the most of the time I have left with you. Another round, perhaps?"

Airi opened her mouth furiously to argue, but her conscience already knew it was useless to do so. She shrugged, an action startling even to herself. Forget it. Only two more days of this hell, and she'd be free for two entire months.

******************

Kanda literally had to drag himself to school the next day.

He had woken up in the morning in his own room, surprisingly, his head groggy and his body ridded with pain. He had overslept by a few hours, and when he got to school, he was looking none too pretty. (Really, was that even possible? The Kanda Yuu looking ugly? Not really.) Well, none too pretty by his normal standards.

The girls immediately crowded around him at lunch, asking and pestering about his condition, his unnatural pallor, whether or not he was okay.

"I'm fine!" he finally snapped. "Leave me alone for a while."

Aki opened her mouth, worried, to retort, but another voice interjected.

"Kanda-san looks like he could do with some rest and quiet," said Totsuka Airi almost gently.

She walked over to the crowd; the masses parted as the seemingly mature and beautiful classmate approached Kanda, a beatific look on her face. She brought a hand up to his perspiring forehead.

"Kanda-san, you're running a high fever," she said kindly. "You should go to the infirmary."

"Yeah, you should," called Lavi from across the room. "Airi—"

"I'll take him there," she said sweetly, though Kanda could see the flash of warning in her dark eyes.

"I'm fine," he said. "I'll get there by myself."

Thankfully, Airi didn't protest.

"Very well," she said simply as he stood up shakily. "Though you're not looking too well on your feet there—"

As if on cue, Kanda stumbled, catching onto Airi's shoulder for support. He let go immediately.

"Perhaps I should take you there," said Airi innocently. "Or, I'll just bring your bags?"

"You—"

"Well, let's go then!"

This was all too strange. He could tell that this was the wonderful classmate Airi, the perfect child Airi, the weird much-too-nice Airi. He knew the temptress, the lioness, the huntress that remained beneath the surface. For some reason, he did not feel angry at it…her.

"Airi-chan," said Mayu anxiously. "I—"

"Please, Mayu-chan," said Airi with her most seductive smile. Half the guys in the general direction fainted. Even Mayu went red. "I just want to talk to Kanda-san for a moment."

Kanda walked out of the room without another word, followed closely by Airi. The halls were thankfully empty, with most students in their class eating or outside. They walked in silence for a moment.

"Forgive me," said Airi, her eyes closed as she walked. "I…took much of your blood last night, which is most likely why you're still feeling repercussions. I hadn't intended that to happen."

"…Che."

"Strong and silent one, aren't you?" said Airi dryly as they turned down a corner. "All the same, I also must apologize for terrorizing you yesterday by threatening to kill Lavi, and almost doing so at that, and then having you meet the wonderful Hunters—"

"Oi! Ba-Kanda!" a voice called down the hallway.

Kanda immediately stiffened, a vein throbbing in his temple as he turned around.

"Moyashi, call me that again and I will—"

"Oh, you're with the…bloodsucker," grinned Allen as he neared them, lowering his voice significantly for the last word.

"Walker, was it?" said Airi. "Don't make things so obvious in public."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Why are you here?" asked the vampire.

Both males looked at her, surprised.

"He's a student here," Kanda grumbled. "An annoying one at that…he's a year below us."

"Ah."

"Of course, Lenalee and I took a few weeks or months off because Shishou called us back for…" Allen glanced around to see if anyone was watching, then answered, "training."

"Yeah, I figured that out by myself," said Airi with a bit of amusement. "Where's Cross…I mean, Marian?"

Allen looked a bit suspicious that she had accidentally used his teacher's first name, but answered none the less.

"He's applying for a teaching position."

"Oh, he'll get one," smiled Airi. "Tell him to apply for…hm, what does Tyki teach again? Home Economics? Or was it European History?"

"Oh…okay," said Allen, slightly confused.

Kanda coughed suddenly, his lungs suddenly acting up as a result of his weakness. Airi turned his attention to him.

"Oh. You're alive?" she said with a twisted grimace. "Well, I gotta get this kid to the infirmary, Walker, so—"

"Kid?" sputtered Kanda in disbelief.

"Well, I am only about three hundred years older than you…"

"What the fuck?"

"It's not surprising," said Allen. "Mikk's like…four hundred?"

"Somewhere along those lines," replied Airi. "Well, good to meet you, Walker, I'm glad our relationship is not overflowing with animosity. Let's go, Kanda."

Kanda simply shot a glare at his kouhai before staggering the rest of the way to the infirmary. The nurse took one look at Kanda and gestured to a bed. Airi, still playing the role of the sweet student, was allowed to stay by him, much to Kanda's displeasure.

"How's your neck?" she inquired very softly as he lied down on the mattress.

"Hurts like hell."

Airi drew up a chair and sat by him, her fingers trailing over to his collar, untying his tie.

"What are you—"

"Letting your wound breathe a bit," she said, opening the first few buttons of his shirt.

He thought he saw her wince at the sight of his wound and felt some sort of vindictive satisfaction. It was grotesque, really, the gaping two holes each a centimeter in diameter…still raw from the recent attack.

"Again…I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Forget it."

A silence.

"Tyki is leaving for two months," she said, not wanting to be overheard.

"What?"

"To England. He's been called back for a gathering."

"…Really."

"Yes. So I will not have to find you so often. This last two days have been…most out of the ordinary."

"You can say that again," he mumbled, eyes closing.

He heard the scraping of steel against tile, and knew that she had stood up.

"Well, I'll be going now. Sweet dreams."

Kanda was asleep before the door shut. For some reason, he still didn't feel angry at her.

******************

"Airi-chan," said Mayu glumly as school ended.

Airi turned to her human "friend."

"Yes?"

"Are you and Kanda-san…"

"Oh please. No. You know, he's probably still in the infirmary. Why don't you go check up on him?"

Mayu's eyes lit up. How easy to please a human girl.

"You don't mind?" she said excitedly.

"Of course not," smiled Airi. "You might want to hurry, though. He's probably the type to leave right after the bell rings."
"Thanks, Airi-chan!"

"No problem," Airi said, waving, smile still in place.

Mayu raced for the door, almost bumping into someone else who was there.

"Oh!" she said with a little cry, almost skidding out of the way. "Mikk-sensei!"

The Portuguese man looked down on her with a smile.

"Careful, now. Don't want to see your pretty face get hurt."

Mayu blushed to the roots of her hair.

"I-I heard you're leaving tomorrow. Is that true?"

"Alas—" (Really, Airi thought, who the hell used 'alas' anymore?) "—I am. I'll miss you terribly, of course."

Again, Mayu blushed deeper.

"T-that's nonsense. A-are you here to see Airi-chan?"

"I am, as a matter of fact."

"Well, then, I'll leave you two alone!" said Mayu. "Bye, Airi-chan!"

"Bye," said Airi, smile as prominent as ever.

The door slammed shut, and the smile literally melted off her face.

"Ach, I remember the days you used to smile at me like that," said Tyki, approaching her. "What happened? You only look at me with such…disgust now."

"I wonder why. Are you here to walk me home or something?"

"After I have a little fun."

"Are you joking?!" said Airi, taking a step back. "That can wait until we are in private—"

"And I'm slightly thirsty."

"You're lying, you're not thirsty at all."

"Don't try to refute me; I'm the one who decides whether I'm thirsty or not." He appeared in front of her and propped her up on the teacher's desk. "Oh, isn't this a suggestive position, hm?"

His hands crawled to their usual positions, one up her skirt, the other behind her back, as Airi gritted her teeth, hands itching to strangle him.

"Well then," smirked Tyki, "let's see how long you can last without attracting too much attention with your seductive cries."

******************

"Kanda-kun, are you feeling better?" queried the annoying girl beside him.

Kanda let out a sigh.

"I'm fine."

"…We were all worried about you."

"Is that so."

The two of them fell into awkward silence as they walked back to the classroom. School had ended a quarter of an hour ago. He'd woken up randomly, only to see Mayu peering over him, flushed. Damn, now pictures of him sleeping were probably going to be circulated through all the girls' cell phones by tomorrow morning…

They neared the classroom when they heard voices inside.

"Oh, are Mikk-sensei and Airi-chan still in there?" the idiot girl said, bringing a hand to the doorknob to slide the door open.

Kanda acted reflexively and pulled her hand away, blue eyes flashing as they both stood in silence, listening. Airi was speaking…haltingly, as if she were panting with effort.

"Would you…stop?" she said harshly.

"No," answered Tyki, his voice low. "You're obviously enjoying this."

"Shut…up. And…don't bite—"

They heard a sound, half way between a moan and a yell. Kanda knew instinctively that Tyki's fangs had pierced Airi's neck, though it sounded probably a bit more suggestive than that. And honestly, it really was. The idiot vampires, didn't they know that students were still in school?

Mayu turned scarlet.

"How…" she struggled to find a word.

"Indecent," said Kanda, repulsed. "Damn, my books are still in there…"

"Well…er…perhaps some other classroom has some…"

"…You can go home. I'll look around. And…it's probably best not to tell anyone about this…"

"Y-yeah, I know," said Mayu, still flustered. "Well then…see you, Kanda-kun."

He nodded in goodbye, watching Mayu leave. A few minutes passed, and Kanda realized that the noises from inside the room had finally stopped. He was about to knock like a gentleman when it slid open in front of him. Tyki stood there, his shirt half opened and his tie wound messily around his neck while his lips were parted in a self-satisfied smirk.

"Kanda," he greeted.

"Mikk."

"Sensei," the teacher added. "Well then, Airi, meet me at my house, will you? After you've had your meal?"

Behind Mikk, Airi was doubled over on the teacher's desk, clutching her stomach and neck. Her eyes were still black, though showing a tint of red. Kanda frowned.

"I thought you drank yesterday," he commented in an effort of nonchalance.

"I did. But I'm not like Airi. I can't contain myself for those one, two, three wonderful weeks she can."

Kanda made a movement to walk past him, but was stopped.

"Listen here, boy," said Tyki, golden eyes glinting. "I'm going to be going to Europe for two months. Be sure to be feeding Airi properly."

"Hell, no."

The grip on his shoulder intensified to a point unimaginable for a human to muster. Kanda looked up at Tyki's eyes, spotting a glimmer closer to insane sadism.

"Yes, you will," Tyki said calmly. "And also, don't you dare fall in love with her."

"That's impossible," Kanda said automatically, appalled.

"Good. Well, see you later, Airi."

The fiancé left, positively humming down the hallway. Kanda approached Airi cautiously.

"Damn him," she said wearily, still looking at the ground. "Damn…"

Kanda couldn't think of any appropriate words to say except for,

"Are you…all right?"

"Been better…and worse," she answered, finally lifting her head up and removing her hand from her neck. It was covered in blood. She offered it to him. "Want some?"

He shook his head fervently.

"Of course not…you're such a good guy," she said, licking it off himself. "Don't worry. I'm not going to feed."

His eyes met hers, sensing the promise in them, and then traveled down to her neck. Two large punctures, larger than the ones he sported on his own neck, resided at the hollow of hers.

"Ah. Now you can see why I don't fancy piercing at the base of necks," she said mildly, her face white with perspiration. "After what that man puts me through…"

"Why?" Kanda asked.

He thought he saw Airi smirk a bit.

"Why what?" she asked, buttoning the topmost button of her blouse so that it semi-covered up her wound. "Why do I put up with it?"

"…Yeah."

"Because it's the law, Kanda. It's what they've ordained. He is the royalty, the prince. All nobles, all commoners…we listen to them."

Airi stumbled off the desk, landing unevenly. Kanda unconsciously caught her, letting her go quickly.

"Thanks," she murmured, bringing a hand up to her head. "Agh…"

"Bookman said…something about you falling from glory, or—"

"You don't want to know. I'm leaving…are you?"

"Wait, I want to know—"

"Are you?"

Kanda held his tongue, sensing the rise in her annoyance and at the same time weakness. She was tired. She could attack any moment.

"Fine," he conceded. "Next time."

"Not going to happen, but let's leave you with the delusion that it will. Come."

She placed an arm around Kanda for support.

"We're two victims," she said with a wry smile. "Bloody hell…I'm just going to wait out the rest of the day…all I have to think is tomorrow, and I'm free."

Kanda looked at her apprehensively.

"Tomorrow? Free from what?"

She laughed softly. "Tyki's tyranny."

******************

They were gathered at the airport. Tyki, impeccably dressed and well-fed after his numerous draughts of Airi's blood, was standing in line to approach the gates for departure. Surprisingly enough, a good number of girls and classmates had come to see him off. Airi stood off at the corner, dressed in jeans and a white blazer, frowning. What did they see in him…oh wait, they didn't see anything because what they saw wasn't him.

"What the hell am I doing here?" said Kanda off to the side.

Airi saw Lavi simply pat the kendo captain sympathetically as the two of them watched the girls squeal over Tyki.

"Sensei, come back soon!"

"I will."

"Sensei, email us!"

"Komui-sensei won't like that very much."

"Please?"

"Neither would my fiancé," said Tyki, looking over at her. Airi felt her stomach clench. "Airi, I'm leaving."

Biting back an acerbic response of "Good riddance, I hope your plane crashes," she simply nodded curtly. A smirk crawled up to his lips.

"A goodbye kiss, perhaps?" he said.

"Not in this lifetime."

Golden eyes flickered. He was annoyed.

"Airi…" he said with a tone of plead mixed with warning.

She sighed, knowing that this was the last thing she'd have to deal with, and walked up to him. He leaned his head down towards her.

"No," he said after a few seconds, "I want you to kiss me, not the other way around."

Airi grimaced.

"Fine," she snapped.

Standing on the tips of her toes, she brought her lips swiftly to Tyki's, her eyes open all the while, and made a movement to break it off immediately. Tyki, however, caught her chin and forced her to stay in place, dragging the kiss out for a few more seconds.

"Aw…" said the class, most of them blushing.

"Goodbye," Tyki said to the irate fiancée, tousling her hair. "Be good."

"Goodbye," she said through gritted teeth.

He gave a final wave, his eyes in Lavi and Kanda's direction, and turned around. The class remained together, watching his figure disappear amongst the crowd. They broke up, one by one leaving for other engagements or appointments. Mayu was obviously flustered when she was addressing Airi in goodbye—Airi supposed the result was expected. She'd thought she'd smelt Mayu's presence outside the room the day before…

And finally, the remaining figures were only Lavi, Kanda, and Airi. She turned around, smiling.

"Whoa," said Lavi, taking a step back.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"You're…smiling."

"I am."

"Like…really smiling. I haven't seen that…in ten years."

"Indeed. So! Tyki's gone," she said, a tint of evil planning growing in her voice.

"So he is," agreed Lavi anxiously.

"Hm," she said. "What should Totsuka Airi do now?"

"Spit out whatever you're talking about," said Kanda snappishly, wary of her good mood.

"She's going to go visit the Hunters," she announced quietly but rather excitedly, her onyx eyes flashing with anticipation.

"…What the hell are you planning?!" said Lavi, grabbing her by the collar. "You're crazy, this is—"

"Treason," she smiled, shrugging off his hand. "Correct, Lavi. I'm planning a coup de tat."

Free Talk:

I've been contemplating this story for a while...it's much too dark, much too...sadistic, really. I don't know. =\ But I think it's interesting? I hope. And now that Tyki's gone, there will be more Airi and Kanda alone time.

Bad ending. I'm sorry.

But thank you for the reviews! :) I appreciate it!

And please review again! REVIEW!! :DDD

Love, -m.n.-