~Wow. I went back through and read everything and realized I have inconsistencies. Sad news Jack…but I kinda like how I'm starting each chapter out with a quote now. Btw, there's a movie quote in each chapter from 7 till here on out.: D message me if you think you know what it is! I wanna see if there's any other movie buffs out there! Don't own D. Gray-Man.~

Chapter 8: Immortality Is Bloody Lips

"Fighting is essentially a masculine idea; a woman's weapon is her tongue."

-Hermione Gingold

The snow was bright and pure, enveloping the sleeping trees and the road they guarded.

Tsume and Lavi walked down the road, suitcases in tow and the snow underfoot. His footsteps, casual and steady; her's scattered and all over the place with her new discoveries.

She shivered as she settled into a steady pace beside him. "How long is it till our first destination?"

"Bout two days by foot." He stuck a hand deep into the pocket of his coat and lifted the suitcase over his shoulder. "Good thing the most likely destination is the closest, eh? We might just get lucky and not have to travel anymore."

Tsume nodded and silence fell between the two.

Lavi watched, amused, as she skipped over to investigate an odd looking tree. He shook his head and turned his eyes back to the road. It was like Christmas for her.

Tsume suddenly linked her arm with his. "Let's play twenty questions. You ask twenty and then I will."

He barked a laugh. "Oh that'd work! I'd ask you a question and you wouldn't be able to remember…you'd ask me a question and I wouldn't be able to tell you…"

"So you can't tell me your favorite color?" Tsume asked slyly.

"Green."

"Or your favorite book?"

"Read too many to have a favorite."

"How about your favorite song?"

"Anything you sing."

Tsume blushed and pressed her face into his shoulder. "That's cheating!"

He smiled his eyes straight ahead. "Not if it's true. You've got seventeen questions left."

Tsume smiled evilly, pulling her face out of his jacket. "Good. I've always wanted to ask this…" She took a deep breath. "Did you ask Kanda to save me from Harver and Leever that day in the cafeteria?"

Lavi froze. "Err…"

"You did, didn't you?" Tsume's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"I might have been involved in the…uh…final decision to uh…intervene…" He said awkwardly, pulling at his scarf. His ears were turning red.

"Well thank you." Tsume kissed his cheek and his entire face turned vermillion. She laughed.

He cleared his throat. "Sixteen more."

This went on for another hour or so, her asking questions and him answering to the best of his ability. They finally stopped for lunch when her questions dried up.

"My turn." He grunted as he shifted his suitcase over his shoulder and to the ground. "What's your favorite color?"

"Red." Tsume sat down and looked up at him.

He sat next to her. "Favorite food?"

"Coffee." She smiled.

He laughed. "Okay…can you dance?"

"That was random!" She laughed awkwardly and blushed a little. "I really can't…I mean…like the waltz and things like that…I just can't do it…"

"Never tried or never learned?"

"Never learned. You don't get people willing or able to teach that down in South America."

He stood and offered his hand. "Come on. Get up."

She blinked. "Wha…?" She took his hand slowly.

He pulled her up, grinning. "I'm gonna show you how to dance."

She blushed even more. "What??" She looked away and laughed awkwardly again. "Do you even know how to dance, Lavi?"

He paused for a second. "A bit…"

"I don't think that makes you able to teach."

"I can teach if you let me." He pulled her closer. "Now look, your hand goes here…" He placed it on his shoulder and grasped the other one. "…And the other one goes like this." He placed his hand on her shoulder blade and supported her right arm with his left. "See?"

She started chewing on her lip. "'Kay…"

"So then I start like this…" He stepped forward and would've stepped on her toes if she hadn't jerked them out of the way in time. "Sorry." He apologized, his eyes on his feet.

"No, it was my fault." She said quickly.

He led her through the steps of the waltz, counting as he went along. He paused afterwards, looking up at her. "See? Easy!"

She smiled shyly, looking up at him from under her lashes. She nodded.

"Want to try again?"

Another nod.

They started dancing again, Tsume's eyes on her feet and Lavi starting to hum a waltz absently.

Tsume concentrated on making sure she did everything right. She didn't want to screw this up for the world. She looked up in shock as they stopped, her partner's humming absent from the winter air. "Why did we stop?" She asked softly.

Lavi leaned in close so their noses were touching, his hand sliding down to her waist. "Because…" He breathed. "You distracted me." He kissed her gently, his lips just bruising hers.

When they broke away, Tsume reached up and brushed her hand over his cheek. "I like dancing." She murmured.

He chuckled and kissed her again, lunch and journey momentarily forgotten in this moment in time.

-

There was no light in the sky as Lindy and Kanda approached the building the mayor had dragged Allen into. The sun had gone down a while ago and with it, the last hope Kanda had of making a quick getaway.

Lindy smiled evilly and lifted a hand as they approached the front. "Shall I take off the door?" The item in question shuddered in the door frame as if possessed.

"No." Kanda said sharply. "They'll all rush out and occupy us while someone makes off with Bean sprout. The best chance we have is to wait and watch and steal him when we get the chance." He growled. "This is idiotic…! They kidnap him for some ludicrous legend?!"

Lindy flashed him a smile. "It's a vampire, sweetie. I'd give anything to fight one of those."

Kanda opened his mouth to say something but cheers from inside the building sent them crouching against the wall underneath a window.

Orange light spilled onto the dark blue snow as the door burst open and villagers flooded out with Allen in tow.

"Where are they headed?" Kanda muttered.

"Probably up that hill over there to that ominous looking castle." Lindy said dryly and pointed at the place she had just described. She gave him a 'you're a moron' look and stood to follow them.

He blinked then glared at her. "Shut up!" He stood and strode off after her.

Lindy started to skip, a smile on her face again. "You still owe me a kiss, Kanda."

"I owe you nothing!" He said coldly. "I didn't ask for the information you gave me!"

Lindy scowled. "That's not very nice…" She sounded angry.

The swordsman glared. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not very nice." He walked faster as Lindy slowed to a stop, ignoring her now as he traveled up the hill.

To give Kanda some credit, it only took him a few seconds to realize he was no longer walking on the ground. "Wha…?" He reached his fingers towards the snow, only to realize he was being lifted higher into the air. "Lindy!" He turned, livid.

Lindy put a strawberry sucker in her mouth as she looked up at him. "You can come down when you learn to be nicer." She started walking again, an angry, cussing, floating Kanda following.

-

The sky was dark gray with clouds in the evening sky. If it snowed, it would dust the old building Lavi and Tsume had found for that night, the dilapidated roof threatening to cave as it was.

Lavi stared up through a hole in the ceiling, watching smoke from the embers beside him curl against the chill of the winter air. It was freezing, even with the heat source almost against his ribs. But that wasn't the reason he was still awake. He turned on his side and shifted his gaze to Tsume.

She slept peacefully, her pale complexion taking on a gray ashen look in this light. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she was dead.

Disturbed at the thought, he sat up and looked around for a stick, throwing the blanket off himself. What was his problem? He'd seen her dead before. The natives killed her down in South America and on the ship she was practically torn to pieces. He grabbed a stick and poked the embers with it, stirring it to a healthy blaze as he wrapped his arm around his legs and laid his head on his arm. He closed his eyes and put the stick down, enjoying the heat on his face. He'd never been so happy, yet so sad. This was all happening and it was wonderful, but it'd end sooner or later. Seeing her in his arms earlier, the new fallen snow clinging to her dark lashes and black hair; seeing it melt on her face as she looked from him, to her feet…It made him wish this would go on forever.

A light touch brought Lavi back to reality. He felt her hands place a blanket over his shoulders.

"You'll die of exposure out here if you're not careful." She said softly as she sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"And you won't?" He placed an arm around her waist, pulling the blanket up to cover the both of them.

"No…Not really." Tsume replied quietly.

He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. "Did I wake you?"

"No." She exhaled sleepily.

There was a comfortable silence.

He hesitated, then said, "Is…Is it possible that you can be mortally wounded…? I mean as in it really hurt."

She paused, thinking. "I was when Kanda hacked at me." She said softly. "For some reason, he'd kept his innocence sheathed and just split me open with brute force the first time but…" She shifted from underneath the blanket's protection and slid the collar of her dress over her left shoulder. "It left a scar. I never scar."

Lavi touched the ugly pink mar on her otherwise perfect skin. "He could've killed you…?" He whispered, feeling horror and anger bubble up from the pit of his stomach. It was uncomfortable. For all Kanda's faults, he'd never been angry with him for anything until now.

Tsume shrugged. "I guess."

"How can you be so carefree about it?" Lavi demanded. "He almost killed you, Ro! You wouldn't have come back after that!"

"Because I almost killed him!" She shot back. "You didn't seem to be concerned when I almost ate him alive!"

"That's because I didn't care so much about him!" Lavi snapped. "I was worried about you!"

She looked away and he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. This was ridiculous. "You should've been more worried about him…He's your friend, Lavi…"

"You're my Ro." He smiled apologetically.

She smiled a bit back but said softly. "I won't always be here, Lavi. Your friends will. I…can't stay with you forever…"

He stared into the fire, thinking. He took her hand and she turned to him, her eyes sad. He drew closer, cupping her face in his hand as he rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "If I tell you I love you…" He whispered. "…Can I keep you forever…?"

Tsume's eyes widened and then she smiled sadly, putting a hand over his. "You know it doesn't work that way…"

"I want to pretend it does tonight." He pressed his forehead against hers. "Please let me…" He breathed.

Tears streamed down her face as they kissed softly, the unfair world and the judging stars the only witnesses to their desperate encounter in the abandoned snowy wilderness.

-

"The second I get down there, your ass is mine!" Kanda hissed.

"Promise?" Lindy smirked, looking up at him.

He crossed his arms, growling. It was like a constant power struggle with her, neither one wanting to give an inch. "Just put me down!"

Lindy chuckled, and then froze. "There're people coming." She raised a hand and brought Kanda down on his feet into the snow. "Hide."

They ducked behind the trees as the villagers who kidnapped Allen ran past, screaming bloody murder.

Lindy popped up out of the bushes after they were gone, her amber eyes sparkling. "I think they just saw the vampire! Let's go!" She jumped onto the main road.

Kanda followed. "Did you see Allen anywhere in the crowd?"

"Nope! He must've been kidnapped…" Lindy wiggled her eyebrows. "…by the vampire…!"

"You sound overjoyed by this." Kanda said flatly, tramping through the snow towards the castle.

"Maybe I am." Lindy stuck her tongue out at him.

They walked in forgivable, blessed silence the rest of the way.

At the large open doors, they looked up at the castle before them. It was huge, foreboding, and gave one the sense of dying on the inside.

"Well." Lindy turned to Kanda, sticking another sucker in her mouth. "Should we separate?"

"No, I-"

An explosion shuddered out the side, causing a cloud of dust to envelope them.

Kanda held up an arm, narrowing his eyes against the airborne grit. "I'd bet anything that was Bean sprout."

"Let's find out, shall we?" Lindy started jogging towards the rubble.

They found Allen digging up what looked like a grave.

"Of all the stuff I caught you doing…" Lindy joked, leaning on the cross that served as a grave marker.

Allen smiled. "Hey guys! Just in time! There's something weird going on here."

Kanda ignored him and looked around, hand on the hilt of his sword. Something about this place made him uneasy…

"You mean besides the vampire?" Lindy said dryly.

"Yeah. Help me dig this up." Allen dug his shovel into the dirt.

"What's 'this'?" Lindy shifted away from the marker and wrinkled her nose. "Smells funky."

"That's because it's a dead body." Allen said impatiently.

Lindy, looking interested now, raised her hand.

The ground shook as something started to force its way out of it. Like a shot, a coffin burst out of the dirt and floated over Allen's head.

Allen yelled and the coffin wobbled precariously, as if frightened by his shouts.

Lindy grimaced and clenched her hand into a fist.

The coffin lowered to the ground beside Allen and the lid slid off.

"Don't you come in handy?" Kanda said condescendingly from beside her. "Do you open cans too?"

"No, but I open people up…" She jabbed him in the stomach where Tsume had torn him open.

He grunted and leaned forward, his hand digging into the flesh around his now inflamed scar. It burnt almost as bad as when she'd first sliced him.

Lindy smirked, nose to nose with him. "Get my drift, baby?"

He glared at her. "Keep pushing it, ho."

"Hey guys! This guy was an akuma!" Allen interrupted.

They turned their heads.

"What?" Kanda snapped.

Allen rushed over to one of the other graves as the beheld the partially decomposed demon. "Look! There are pentacles on the dirt on these graves too!"

"Which means…?" Lindy frowned.

Allen blinked, looking stunned. "I don't think the count's a vampire…I think he's one of us."

"I'll show you a vampire, brat!" Something hissed from the shadows of a tree.

Lindy and Kanda blinked in surprise as a man grabbed Allen and bit into his neck, tearing some of the skin and cutting through his white hair. He pulled away as quickly as he came, leaving Allen on his knees holding his neck. He laughed. "How's that for a vampire?!" He emphasized the last word by throwing Allen back through the wall of the castle. The vampire then turned to the other two and hissed like a heathen.

"Great." Lindy drawled. "A vampire with an identity crisis." She turned away, starting to walk towards the large hole in the wall. "You fight it, Kanda. I'm bored of it already. Let me know if it decides if it's a bloodsucker or not."

"Where're you going?!" Kanda yelled, Mugen in front of him between him and the vampire.

"I'm gonna go find the boy!" Lindy yelled back. "I am so pissed…" She muttered as she stepped past the rubble. "Why can't something go right, just this once?" She looked around, peering through the dusty gloom. "Allen? Allen!"

SLAM!

"I won't let you take him away from me!" A female voice yelled.

Lindy blinked. That was new. Count Moron had a girlfriend? She pressed herself against the wall, looking towards the light and the shadows lengthened from their owners to the wall. "Whatever Vamp's girlfriend is, she sure isn't human…" Lindy wrinkled her nose.

"Who's there?!"

Lindy froze. She didn't mean to be that loud. Might as well come out and try to grab Allen. She held up her hands and put on a sarcastic smile. "Hey there…" She stepped into the light. "I'm just here for my lunch you stole over there." She gestured to Allen.

She was beautiful, her blond hair in pig tails that lay over her shoulders. She was wearing a short skirted nurse's outfit with high heeled boots. She would've looked completely human, if it weren't for the crazed gleam in her eye and the axe in her hand. She was standing over Allen and it looked like Lindy had saved him from getting hacked apart. "Who're you?" She hissed, her voice sounding slightly demonic.

"The bigger fish on the food chain." Lindy smirked. "Give me my boy."

The woman laughed the sound screeching and no longer pretty. She stepped away from Allen, turned now to engage Lindy. "Aren't you cute, sweetie? You humans are all the same…"

Lindy gasped as the axe thudded into her abdomen with a sickening crunch. The woman had thrown it.

"…You don't think out your rescue missions." She laughed again.

Lindy giggled the sound sick because of the liquid beginning to bubble up in her throat. She grabbed hold of the hilt of the axe and with a twist and a jerk; it came free of her flesh. "Who said anything about being human…?" She emphasized the last word by throwing it back at her attacker.

The woman turned, the blade barely clipping a strand of her hair. "Wha…?"

Lindy grabbed her arm and flung her into the wall opposite of Allen. The unconscious boy's best chance was if she got Count Moron's creepy girlfriend away from him. "And stay there!" Lindy called out, walking up jauntily to the collapsed woman.

She growled and pulled herself out of the rubble.

Lindy slammed a boot down next to her head and the woman froze. "What did I say?" Blood trickled out of her mouth and she licked her lips, staining them red.

"What are you?"

"You're worst nightmare." Lindy pulled back her fist and slammed it into the woman's face, her body bent in half with her leg still planted against the wall. She put her foot down and grabbed the woman by her dress and tossed her down the hall.

The woman's body skidded down, crying out with each thump against the stone or carpet.

Lindy licked some blood off her fingers, jerking her other hand. There was a sound like metal screeching and her fingers elongated into characteristic Jonah claws. "Let's dance, little girl."

The woman stood, glanced around, and grabbed a sword from a suit of armor nearby. "You're lucky I don't want to transform all the way and ruin my perfect look." The woman's eyes were black with gold pupils.

"You're lucky you're not dead by now." Lindy smirked.

The woman charged with a yell and Lindy met her head on, sliding back a few feet from the pure force. They disengaged and the woman lobbed at Lindy's deformed arm.

Lindy pulled her arm away and round house kicked the woman in the stomach.

She flew back a couple feet, her back slamming into a wall. She ducked as Lindy smashed her hand into the wall.

Lindy cursed as she tried to pull it out. It was stuck. She'd have to transform more to pull it out.

The wall shuddered when she yanked.

The whole castle was coming down anyway. She'd kill Bean sprout like this. She grimaced and glanced around for the woman.

Lindy gasped as pain shot up from her abdomen. She looked down, gaping, as a sword forced its bloody way out of her body and tapped the mortar in between the stones of the wall she was stuck to. She slumped, groaning as the sword sliced further up into her chest area.

"And stay there." The woman's mocking voice was the last thing Lindy heard before another sword was slammed through her body and she passed out.

The woman laughed and brushed her hands together, as if brushing off dust. She turned her head in the direction she was walking, then gasped and stopped. "You…" She said, shocked. "You were…unconscious… how did you…?"

"I can see." Allen spoke softly but his voice reverberated through the walls. Both of his eyes were open. "I can see that black and white world."

The woman snorted, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Whatever. I guess I'll have to transform to get rid of you." Her face separated and her entire body stretched out like a centipede.

Allen held up his arm and took a shot.

She bended her body into an O and the shot passed harmlessly through the hole. She laughed. "You're gonna have to try harder!"

Lindy's breathe rasped back into her lungs. Shakily, she stretched an arm behind her and reached blindly for the hilt in her back. She licked her lips, coming back with a blood coated tongue. She grasped the handle and took a deep breath as she pulled it out, gasping as the last of it came free. She shuddered as she stumbled back a few steps, and then yanked her arm out of the wall. Who cared if it came down? She could save Bean sprout before he died. The building groaned but didn't collapse as she had feared.

There was an explosion to her left and she weakly turned her head. There was a hole in the wall, the dust just setting. Bean sprout must've taken on the girlfriend.

Lindy gripped the hand and dragged an arm over her lips. She stumbled towards the hole in the wall and stepped out on to a partially destroyed balcony. She leaned over the edge and saw Allen and Kanda trying to fend off a large man eating plant while a creature blew bubbles at the vampire. One of the bubbles hit a piece of the plant and sucked all the water out of it. She frowned, tongue in cheek. She had to get Allen and Kanda out of there somehow. Lindy stumbled again, almost going over the edge. But she was still so weak. There was no way she'd be able to get down there and save them. She could levitate them to where she was. Trying the smaller of the two, she lifted Allen out of the snarling pit of vines and carnivorous flowers a few feet. The flower noticed and dragged him back down with a snarl. She needed a distraction.

The sword!

Lindy stood, gripped the hilt with the blade down, and flung it at the biggest flower about to eat Kanda.

The vines shook and loosened enough that the exorcists started to fall.

Lindy grimaced and started to lift them, beads of sweat breaking out all over her body.

The vines realized its prize was gone and started for the exorcists.

"Hurry up, Lindy!" Kanda yelled.

Lindy snarled in reply and lifted them up the last ten feet at an alarming rate. She couldn't hold them anymore and let them collapse on the balcony beside her as she fell to her knees, gasping for air.

"'Bout time!" Kanda snapped, standing up and brushing himself off. "What took you so lo-?!" He paused as she got down on her hands and knees and threw up blood. "Allen, did you shoot her?"

"What…" Allen asked, dazed.

Kanda grabbed Allen by the collar of his shirt, angrier then usual. "Did. You. Shoot. Her."

"No!" Allen yelled, struggling angrily. "Eliade, the akuma, stabbed her! She was unconscious last time I checked!"

Lindy grabbed Kanda's pant leg, her cheek pressed to the blood covered stone floor. "He's telling…truth…Kanda…"

Kanda pushed him away. "And you!" He rounded on Lindy. "I didn't asked to be saved—I didn't need to be!"

"Leave her alone, Kanda!" Allen yelled at him.

Lindy stood up as he screamed at her.

"You almost killed me with your half-ass rescue mission! What the hell is your problem anyway?!"

Gripping her stomach, she smirked. "You owe me two kisses now."

"Like hell I do!"

"I understand." She shrugged, wincing. "Most men don't have the balls to do it.

Kanda growled.

"That's right." She was nose to nose with him now. "I just said you were ball-less. Are you made because it's true?" She smiled and said softly. "You're just mad because you're afraid…"

"Of what?"

"That I might mean more to you then you hoped."

Her lips were so close. Her breath raised the hairs on the back of his neck. She was right. She did mean more to him then he originally thought—then he had originally hoped. And he hated her for that.

He grabbed the back of her head, her short black hair knotted between his long fingers as he smashed her lips against his.

She responded to his kiss, grabbing the front of his uniform, making a small noise in the back of her throat.

He broke away, focusing his smoldering black eyes on her golden ones, blood smeared across his lips.

She stared back. "That's one." She breathed.

Allen, who was in shock, whistled. "And I thought you were gay, Kanda."

Kanda whirled around, looking murderous.

And that's when the rain started.

They all looked up.

"What's going on? Is it raining?" Allen blinked.

"I think it might be from the monster down there…" Lindy spoke thoughtfully, holding onto Kanda's sleeve. "She was shooting bubbles that sucked up all the water out of the plant just a bit ago."

"So if this is the water from those bubbles…she must be…" Kanda said thoughtfully.

"Arystar!" Allen yelled and jumped down.

Kanda turned. "You tricked me into that."

"I did." Lindy smiled her eyes bright as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "And you liked it."

He frowned. "I did—"

She cut him off, kissing him roughly. "You did like it. Trust me." She trailed a finger down his chest to his abdomen. "I can tell."

-

Heheh…I'm a terrible person. CLIFFHANGER!!