Yaayyyy, here's another chapter (cause Lord knows I haven't posted much in the past year *shame*)
So you all get two chappies for the July long weekend :D It's Canada day here. Woohoo!
I love you all! Tell me whether you like the Lucky flashback or if it needs more :P Peace out!
- Love from, HA15
. . .
Chapter 11 : Baby, It's Cold Outside
. . .
~~ FLASHBACK ~~
"Lavi. Lavi, come down, I have another chore for you."
The young rabbit NECO, whipped around at the sound of his Master's voice, his hand in midair from where he was shelving books. Although he was only 14, as he jumped off his ladder and landed on the carpeted library floor, he towered over his mentor.
… Then again, Master Bookman was barely 5' tall and Lavi himself was approaching 5'8. The redhead was tall and lanky, but Lavi was happy with his newfound growth spurts in the last few months. He could reach the books he loved so much easier as he got taller, and he could jump clear over Panda Jiji's head now. He used to run back and forth, jumping like the rabbit he was, tauntingly over his Master's curl of hair. He thought it was a fun game but he stopped doing that after Jiji karate-chopped his knee one time and he went flying into a door.
His forehead had been red for two days.
"What's up Jiji?" he quipped, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat, scowling at how puberty was ruining him.
The old man, dark circles under his steely eyes, did not respond to the rabbit NECO. Instead, the older man merely turned his back and walked out of the private library. Lavi took that as a cue to follow, and he regretfully dropped his books on a nearby desk cluttered with ancient scrawls.
"Did you complete your Latin and Swahili translations?" Master Bookman asked. Lavi grinned widely.
"Yup!"
"And have you re-shelved all the books you took out this morning?"
"Except for the two you just interrupted me from –" his Master shot him a glare but Lavi kept grinning, "Yeah, I've shelved them all. Alphabetically, by author's last name, except for the history section which is by topic and date of the war it covers."
Bookman gave a small nod and a brief tilt of his mouth – a smile.
"Good. I need you to do something else for me."
"Awww Jiji, do you need help getting something off the top shelf again? Awww" Lavi cooed. He expected a smack over the head, and jumped a step back in preparation, but the redhead was surprised when the old man just scoffed. His long red ears went back in concern. It was unusual that Jiji let him get away with his teasing.
"Don't be snappy," Jiji replied, "I need you to go out and grab wood for the fireplace. It's damn cold out there and I'm not getting it."
Lavi cast a look out the large glass windows as they passed into Bookman's large, spacious study. Ornate rugs from all over the world were splayed across the walls and a large Persian rug covered the floor. Out the window, snow came down in furious lines, parallel and unrelenting. A pile of snow up to Lavi's knees had already built up outside and the trees surrounding their house were moaning in protest at the wind.
Lavi pouted, already dreading the cold – he hated being sent out in the cold just cause Jiji wanted to pay him back for being snappy. The rabbit NECO turned to his Master, ready to complain "You may have bought me but I'm not going out there, you old Panda" but stopped, the words frozen on his tongue. Bookman's hands and his face, the only parts of skin revealed under his thick clothes, were pale. Lavi also noted a slight shiver in the man's gait. Lavi's long red ears perked up and Lavi hurried to pull Bookman's chair closer to the soon-to-be-roaring fireplace.
Bookman raised a suspicious eyebrow at the gesture and Lavi just stuck out his tongue, playfully skipping out of the room and running to grab his outdoor boots. A frown once again marred his young face. He resisted the urge to look behind him and check on his Master.
Bookman didn't like to talk about how old he was getting or how easily he got sick now. Lavi couldn't bring it up either – he knew Jiji would just deny it. And Lavi couldn't fathom discussing Jiji getting sick and never getting better.
All Lavi knew was life in a cage, waiting for a Master. A cold, white-walled, steely past. After Jiji came along, everything got better – warm and full of books, knowledge, language, travelling and laughter. A nice bed, daily chores, and company to talk to everyday.
What would life be like without that warmth? Jiji couldn't live forever. Nothing did. Still, Lavi pondered if there was a way to make Jiji live forever. He would trade his soul for that.
With his tall black boots successfully buckled, Lavi threw on his thick black and white coat. His tail twitched at being contained. With a deep breath, and tucking his ears as close to his skull as possible, Lavi threw himself out into the snowstorm.
Squinting through the oncoming white flakes, Lavi jogged to the back of the house and to the tiny blue shed they had. The wood he had chopped last summer was stored there, and Lavi hoped there was still enough to last through the winter. He didn't want to chop wood in the snow. Yuck.
With a squeak, the blue doors swung open to clang against the side of the shed. Lavi ducked in to avoid the snow and began scooping up large logs of firewood. He could already picture the warm fire –
Lavi's tail twitched again and the fur of his ears went stiff. Lavi froze, sensing eyes on him. Terrified, and knowing he had no weapon and knew none of the karate that Jiji did, Lavi swallowed his courage and threw his head up.
The shed was empty. Nothing but wood lay inside and no dark shadows seemed out of the place. He froze, still feeling uneasy. With his eyes still trained on the inside of the shed, he grabbed as much wood as he could, threw it up on his shoulder, and ran.
Safely inside the house, he dropped all the wood on the welcome rug and locked the door.
"Lavi! What are you doing? Did you just drop all the firewood?"
'Nothing Jiji! And yeah, my hands uhhh slipped."
"You left the shed open."
Lavi winced. Shoot. He had forgotten to do that in his mild panic. He already knew that Jiji would order him back out again – the wood would get wet and snow-ridden if he didn't, and they wouldn't be able to burn it if that happened.
Jiji made a noise then. "Ahh. Never mind, looks like its been taken care of."
Lavi ears quirked in confusion. Had the wind done his job for him? He looked up, peering out the glass doors again.
He came face to face with a tanned man with bright golden eyes starring in at him.
Lavi screamed like a little girl (he would later blame it on his changing voice and puberty)
The stranger opened the door, holding up a hand innocently.
"Sorry querido, I didn't mean to startle you. Are you alright?" the man talked. His voice was smooth, and his eyes never left Lavi's face. The rabbit NECO felt like prey under those eyes. He scrambled back then realized that this man was in their house. Jiji was sick.
Lavi's single green eye turned steely. "Who are you and what are you doing in our home?"
The man gave a charming smile, dusting snow off his top hat and his jacket.
"I closed your shed for you. I noticed you left it open just as I was coming up to your home. I'm afraid I'm lost. I only meant to ask if you had a bed to spare for the night? I can pay you handsomely. If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I merely ask for some directions back to the nearest town. I took a country road and I got lost."
Jiji appeared at Lavi's elbow then, and the rabbit struggled between his desire not to disrespect his Master or order Jiji to sit back down before he caught a draft and got even sicker.
"Come in. You can stay in the guest bedroom next to Lavi."
The redhead's jaw dropped. WHAT! Jiji was putting this guy next to him?
Lavi looked between the two, looking for any trace of recognition between them. He saw none – the man's smile was too polite and not near friendly enough. Jiji was steely eyed and walking tall, as if trying to appear more intimidating than he actually was.
"Take off your shoes, sir. Join me in the sitting room. Lavi will stoke the fire and we can all chat in there."
The man bowed lowly. "Thank you so much for your hospitality sir. You and your charming NECO."
Gold eyes looked at Lavi again, a warm glow in them. The rabbit glared back, refusing to let the intensity in those gold eyes make his ears flatten.
Jiji turned his back and lead the man out of the hall, leaving Lavi with the shoes and a floor littered with large logs of wood. It wasn't until later, much later that evening, that Lavi would realize that Jiji never asked the man to remove his coat or his top hat for a reason. Lavi would realize that for a man dressed in such fine clothes, he had not mentioned having a carriage and that his shoes were covered in dirt and snow.
Lavi would soon realize that Jiji had known along that this stranger at their door, Tyki Mikk, was a NECO in disguise. And as only Jiji's kind heart and sharp mind could catch, he knew that Tyki had come to them for a reason.
~~ END FLASHBACK ~~
"Lavi?... Lavi?... Querido?"
The redhead's eyelashes fluttered, hearing his lover call him gently. Forcing his eyes open, Lavi realized it was dark, the stars glittering above them between the dark foliage of the trees above them.
Turning his head, Lavi spotted his wolf NECO had him wrapped in a tight embrace. Lavi closed his eyes and buried his head in his lover's shoulder again. He received a chuckle and a kiss to his hair, followed by a low talk of Portuguese in his ear.
Lavi tried to ignore the voice, the smell of Tyki's shirt, and just fall back asleep. It failed. He groaned, throwing his arms up and around Tyki's neck.
"If you're trying to turn me on by speaking Portuguese, its working."
He could feel Tyki grinning above him, and leaned up to kiss those smiling lips.
"Why is it so dark? Did I fall asleep?"
"Yes, querido. After we grabbed those cinnamon rolls and bread we found the river, remember?" Tyki jerked his head, and Lavi heard the running water now and could feel the moisture in the air.
"Ahh right," the redhead murmured, ears perking and flicking around in interest. "We all dipped in the river to get rid of our scent, well we bathed Allen anyway, and then had dinner, and you told me to take a nap while we waited for Allen to wake up and eat."
Tyki nodded. "I'm afraid I fell asleep too, Must've been more tired than I thought after carrying Allen's heavy, heavy body all the way here, all by myself,' he taunted.
"Heeyyyy, you said Allen was light!"
"Maybe, still, do I get a kiss as a reward?"
"Hmmm, you can get more than that as a reward if you'd like," Lavi purred, nipping at Tyki's throat. Tyki growled lowly, happily.
"My my, what has my little rabbit so excited? I usually have to grope you more than this to get you in the mood. If you're already horny that takes the fun out of my job."
Lavi felt Tyki kissing up his neck now. He leaned back, giving his lover more room.
"I was dreaming about the first time we met – at Panda Jiji's house, the snowstorm, you scaring the shit out of me when I saw you at the door."
Tyki chuckled, kissing his rabbit on the lips in apology. With a lick at his lips, Tyki ran a hand through vibrant red locks.
"What was your first thought when you saw me, querido?"
"….Hmm… I think it was 'Holy shit, there's a serial killer at the door'. I mean who else shows up at a cabin in the woods in the middle of a snowstorm?"
Tyki whined, and then kissed the redhead again. "Do you want to know mine, in all honesty?... I thought 'That is the most handsome boy I have ever met." You were stunning. Handsome and young and I knew I had to have you."
"I was 14, you pervert."
"Mmm-hmm, and I was 20, you sly rabbit. Mmm, seducing an older man, you should be ashamed you little vixen."
Tongues entered the play now, mouths glued together and hands wandering, both NECOs loosing themselves for a moment in the heat of a past memory.
After the parted, and before Tyki's hands wandered too far below his belt, Lavi cast a look over their surroundings to ensure Allen wouldn't be too scarred. Their bags lay at the base of a tree trunk and a collection of strewn clothes was where they had laid Allen to wake up.
But the rumpled padding of clothes was empty.
Perfect, Lavi thought, looks like Tyki and I have some time to ourselves. He grinned devilishly.
He turned back to Tyki, only to see that the Portuguese man was now looking around wildly, checking behind them, and peering off into the trees and back to the river.
"Hey, relax, looks like Allen is gone so we can have some time alone," Lavi purred.
"Did you see Allen?" Tyki snapped, eyes wide. Lavi's ears fell to his head and his eyes rose.
"What? No, didn't you see Allen before I woke up?"
"Allen was right there when I fell asleep beside you. I haven't seen him since. I woke up just a minute ago, querido. Didn't you see him when you woke up?"
Lavi felt his pulse quicken. "No, no… I just woke up now too."
"Fuck, the food is still there too. Allen didn't eat anything."
Lavi and Tyki shared a horrified look.
"Don't tell me Allen is missing. We're on the run from whitecoats, Yuu is God-knows-where, and there is human town behind us. Allen has to be here somewhere. He can't have run away to find Yuu, right? And he can't have been kidnapped! I mean, we would have been kidnapped too right? Maybe he just wandered off somewhere…. Right?... right?..."
Tyki said nothing, but Lavi could see the worry in his eyes
Yuu ran as fast as he could, branches whipping past his face as his feet pounded a hard rhythm into the earth. In zigzags and crosswire paths, he leapt over logs and pushed past the greenery as it became a game of dodging oncoming branches.
He ignored the way his chest was burning with every inhale, how his muscles were tight and trembling from running so fiercely, and the hot, sticky, wetness of blood running down his stomach.
It would heal soon enough. That was one good thing his genes had given him – a remarkably fast healing complex. Still, his other injuries had yet to fully heal, so his stomach would take longer than normal.
Those fucking scientists from the Rejection Center had actually sent a Fighter NECOs after them.
Motherfuckers!
Yuu was familiar with Fighter NECOs - they were NECOs who were designed and trained specifically for combat, often for military uses or just human entertainment depending in their breed. They were as normal in society as any other NECO.
Yet the ones Yuu had fought had been a hell of a lot stronger and a lot more savage than most.
Fighter NECOS were designed to be cold, impassive, and calm beings. They fought and killed because it was their duty, not because they liked it. It had been unnerving as hell to fight one again, especially since it had been years since Yuu had needed to and his skills were rusty. But Yuu had other priorities so he kept fighting, determined to end the brawl quickly so he could go and join his Moyashi.
The paleness of the moon through the trees ahead acted as the Japanese NECO's only real guideline in the blur of dark green, black, and brown as he dashed deeper into the woods. Yuu felt his chest constrict and he couched, feeling blood well up in his mouth and spill past his lips. He spat it out and kept running, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
He passed a strip of white cloth, a human marker for a hunting trail, and pushed onwards. He had seen Tyki and Lavi go this way, dragging Allen with them as they fled from the house.
Allen.
His Allen.
His precious moyashi.
He was – for once, Yuu admitted – glad Lavi had dragged the wolf-NECO into their home three years ago. The man was a pervert and a bastard, but he knew what was necessary to survive.
Yuu had seen through his peripherals how Lavi had tried to tell Allen to run away. The midnight-haired NECO had been both proud and pissed to see his mate shove Lavi and keep coming towards the house – towards the danger.
Baka moyashi. He could've killed himself…
It was the thought of Allen getting hurt, let alone killed, which had momentarily distracted Yuu during the fight. That had earned him a painful flight into the wall and a broken wrist.
When that happened, the stupid, loyal, moronic, beautiful, fucking idiotic moyashi had actually called out his name – Yuu. And in doing so, his moyashi had unknowingly drawn the attention of one of the Fighter NECOs that was sent to capture them.
Tyki had been the one to fucking take charge, Yuu saw, as the Portuguese man knocked the moyashi unconscious and then ran. Yuu was thankful to see that (though he would never admit it), because in doing that, Tyki had removed all the distractions from Yuu's mind so he could properly focus on the fight.
And hell, Yuu hadn't been the best Fighter NECO in Japan for nothing.
Yuu was the best - before his Master had sent him to the Rejection Center because the old bastard said he had 'anger and obedience issues.'
Che, Yuu would've showed the fucker 'anger and obedience issues' if he'd been given the chance. He was not some fucking toy that could be thrown into fights left and right just because his Master wanted some cash and to gain a fucking reputation for his fucking dirty human company.
Yuu had no Master and he obeyed no-one but himself.
Himself, and his moyashi -
Because he loved the boy.
Yuu would do anything for his moyashi's smile and to see those beautiful silver eyes to look at him with trust and love. Anything.
Allen, I'm coming, Yuu swore.
Another bout of blood welled up in his throat, and Yuu spat it out on the forest floor, ears pinned to his skull as he stared at the next white marker up ahead. He took off running again, blurring his surroundings into another smudge of green, brown, and black, determined more than ever to get to his lover.
So, there you are. There's a little piece of Yuu's past and some Lucky action for y'all.
I hope it was cute to read. I really enjoyed writing it.
Anyways, until next time, buh-bye!
=)