Sorry for being MIA. School, life, all that fun stuff. :) Enjoy!
Reckoning
Chapter 5
cross my heart
"Just because you're a rookie doesn't mean I'll take it easy on you," Kanda called from across the field. I didn't reply, just readied the blade made completely of flames and narrowed my eyes at the Japanese Exorcist. "Alright, then."
He sprung at me and I leapt into the air only to come down behind him. Kanda noticed and spun around, slashing Mugen through the air and slicing my flame-blade in half. The fire found its other half and regenerated, leaving me with a newer blade. Kanda smirked and ducked as I swung my blade at him.
General Tiedoll and Marie both watched as the two of us swinging our swords at each other, ducking, swinging, blocking, and slashing. I finally conceded as I knelt on the ground, panting. My blade vanished into the air. Kanda stood up and sheathed Mugen with a smirk clear on his face. I glared up at him before picking up a bottle of water and taking a long drink. Kanda didn't even seem to need any water. He just sat down against the tree.
-ALLEN WALKER-
He really hated Akuma now. Lenalee had to fight herself, and now both of the Lenalee's were kidnapped. Allen and Krory were running after the spider-like Akuma while Lavi went after the scorpion. They just didn't know which one they were after.
-LAVI-
Lavi was going after the scorpion, and he was stuck playing Whack-A-Mole with the damn thing. Seriously, he was never good at that game, no matter how much fun it was. Lavi continued to swing his hammer over and over and over again at the Akuma. It kept dodging until he finally got in a hit, destroying the Akuma and getting Lenalee back from the Akuma.
Now to find out which one he got.
-ALLEN WALKER-
So he got the fake one. The real Lenalee would never choose to abandon a friend. And Allen had an idea of who the fake Lenalee was. Lulu Bell, another member of the Noah family. Krory walked up next to Allen as the two decided to see who the fake Lenalee really was. But an explosion created enough smoke and debris to allow her to get away. Now they were separated from Lavi and the real Lenalee, and there was no way of getting back.
-AKICHO LAMURIA-
I was on watch that night. It was easy for me, as I couldn't sleep. My dreams were haunted by the vision of the Millennium Earl. The missions he sent me on as a small child were running through my mind. I couldn't sleep. Sighing, I adjusted myself in front of the fire. I lazily gazed around the small clearing. Kanda was sleeping straight up against the tree, a peaceful expression on his face, much different from his usual scowl, Marie was lying flat on his back, his eyes pointed towards the sky, and the General was on his side, covered by his cloak. Smiling, I shifted again to poke the fire in front of me.
"Hey," a voice from my left said. Kanda was awake now. "You haven't slept in two days. Don't try to hide it," he continued, interrupting what I was about to say. "I can see the bags under your eyes. I guess even you Akuma need to sleep, huh? Well, why aren't you?"
I sighed again and looked back to the fire. "I can't sleep. I can't really explain why; I just can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see these… images of every horrible thing I've ever done. I just can't continue to do this to myself. Either way, it's torture."
A soft blue blanket slapped me in the face. Removing it, I saw Kanda setting himself up to begin his turn on watch. "Sleep. I'll wake you up if your nightmares seem to get really bad. You can't survive without sleeping." He seemed almost… worried about my well-being. "I mean it. Sleep."
Pulling the blanket over myself, I closed my eyes. This time, the nightmares weren't as bad. There were memories of the Order and my time with Allen, then more of my time with Kanda, Marie, and Tiedoll. Why were the nightmares going away with just a little bit of care from a comrade? It was like the high points in my life were flashing in my mind. A smile spread on my face as I watched it all.
The sunrise woke me up, flashing in my face. My eyes opened slowly to see Kanda fast asleep, clutching Mugen. Marie and the General were still asleep, too.
I giggled a little as I sat up. The fire had gone out, the embers still sparkling a bit in the ash. I took the blanket and folded it, then placing it next to the sleeping Japanese Exorcist. I knew there must be food from the last village in the packs that were next to Tiedoll. Opening one, I found a lot of soba noodles. I blinked a few times, looking through the other packs. Two were full of soba, and the other three were of normal food. Looks like I'd have to learn how to make soba in order to survive with these three men. I laughed a little bit and put all but one of the packs down. The soba was Kanda's, I guessed. Ah, he could murder me later. Emiko had made soba once or twice for us, and I learned a little bit.
-YU KANDA-
Kanda's eyes opened slowly to see the fire going and a metal pot above the fire. He stood and walked over, confused, to see soba being boiled in the pot. He raised one eyebrow and carefully picked out a single noodle. After eating it, he picked up the pot and drained the water, careful to leave the soba in the pot.
"Oh, Kanda. You're up?" He turned to see Akicho with four clean plates and a bunch of chopsticks. He looked down at the pot of soba. "Oh. Right, the soba. Sorry if it's overcooked; this is my first time making it." She laughed a little bit. "Here. You're going to need a plate to eat, right?"
He walked over and took the plates from her along with the chopsticks. "It's not overcooked," he told her shortly. "Wake up Marie and the General." She laughed happily as he knelt down to scoop the soba onto the plates.
When the other Exorcists were woken up, they all began to eat. Kanda had to admit; it wasn't half bad. Not as bad as the rabbit's attempts, at least. "Well, Kanda?" Said man's head snapped up as his master smiled at him. "Did Akicho's soba live up to your standards?" Kanda looked away, to his left, away from Akicho and Marie. Tiedoll laughed. "I'm guessing that it did."
"Che." Kanda stood and put the plate in the now-empty pot. "She's as good as a normal restaurant."
Marie smirked somewhat. "I guess you could call it a compliment, coming from Kanda." Akicho nodded and put her plate with Kanda's. "Kanda, I still need more practice. Could you spar with me again?" He nodded and followed her to a clearing.
They'd been practicing like that for days. They were now in the middle of Italy, still traveling south. Kanda always won, but Akicho was slowly getting better. She was gaining more control over her Innocence and her abilities. Akuma were still going after Tiedoll, and they were still losing big time. Akicho was now having no remorse for destroying Akuma, no matter what. Kanda's respect for the young Akuma was rising from zero to around… ten, out of a hundred.
As the two Exorcists continued to spar, Kanda didn't notice that Tiedoll and Marie were appearing to watch them. As Kanda jumped back, he noticed something in the distance. A mass of level two Akuma was speeding towards them. "Be on your guard. There's a bunch of Akuma coming," he warned the girl as he readied Mugen for battle.
Akicho nodded and created a long spear of fire in one hand, another of ice in the other hand. "Let's go." Marie and the General both activated their Innocence, too. The Akuma were less than ten feet away when they started to attack. Akicho was the first to take action, hurling her spears and arrows in every direction. Kanda proceeded to slice several in half, while Marie cut through one Akuma after the other and the General destroyed dozens at once.
Kanda growled; there were so damn many of those things! He kept doing his best to cut them all down, but every time he got rid of one, it seemed like two more replaced it. How was it possible that so many Akuma were created? He sliced again, cutting down three in one hit. He looked over to Marie, who also seemed to be struggling, and his master. His master was doing just fine, it seemed. But Akicho also seemed to be struggling a bit. He yelled, "Underworld Creatures, First Illusion!" A large swarm of supernatural bugs swarmed around the clearing, destroying the last of the Akuma attacking Kanda. He turned to Marie; he was almost done. He turned to Tiedoll; he was watching the battle. He turned to Akicho; she was surrounded.
"Why don't you guys just give up?" Kanda heard her shout, destroying another three or four Akuma. "Ugh, now I remember why I hated fighting with you guys…" She sent several large chunks of ice at a number of Akuma, successfully destroying all of her targets. She continued to fight, oblivious to the one Akuma sneaking up behind her, aiming its guns.
Kanda jumped up and sliced the Akuma in half before it could get to her. "You owe me one," he snapped, quickly turning to her before turning and destroying the rest of the Akuma. He just missed her soft smile as she continued to defeat the Akuma.
After around three minutes, Kanda sheathed Mugen. The battle was over, and everyone was relatively unhurt. Akicho was panting slightly, and soon enough she fell onto the ground, out cold. Kanda looked at her, then proceeded to pick her up and drag her along with him back to their camp.
Tiedoll and Marie were already there, Marie bandaging his wounds. Tiedoll looked up at Kanda, who was holding the unconscious girl around her waist. "Is she okay, Kanda?" Marie followed his master's gaze and his eyes widened. "Marie, take care of her." Said Exorcist nodded and took the girl from Kanda.
Marie looked her over, checking her for wounds. He looked up, relief in his eyes. "She'll be okay. She's only exhausted."
Kanda scoffed. "Typical Parasite-types." He looked down at the girl's face and glared a little. "You are so troublesome, you know that?" he demanded of the girl. Tiedoll watched with an unreadable expression on his face while Marie bandaged her head.
He looked up to the sky; they were almost out of Europe, near the ship to Asia they were going to catch. They had to get there in time.
This chapter is damn short. Dx But oh well, at least it's an update, huh? xD
It took me a while, but I finally decided how to finish this story. :'D It's not a very good ending for you guys, but hey, not a lot of DGM stories are supposed to have happy endings. ... Right? Dx Anyways, I'm around 19/30 chapters into the story, and I might have to take a hiatus on both this story and Rainbow Shooter to finish it, plus the fact that I have school. D:
Sorry bout that guys, but I'll put a notice out if I do actually need to. :)
For every review, Allen gets Mitarashi Dango! :D