DISCLAIMER: I don't own d.gray-man or its characters. Not yet at least….muahahahaha! jk, as if that'd ever happen. T T
A/N: I got reviews yay! Thanks and much love to KaraxLavi13 and MikuLuffsme for reviewing! You guys rock!!
Lavi carried Lenalee on his back as Mizuki and Mimi brought up the rear.
"I'm sorry," Lenalee apologized to Lavi again.
"Nah, it's all right. I'm always helping that old panda way more than this." (Doesn't this make you think of Lavi giving Bookman a piggy-back ride? Haha)
Mimi looked up towards the sky, "It looks like it's going to rain." Sure enough, droplets of rain began to fall quickly.
"Ouch!" A dirt rock fell and hit Mizuki on the head. She brushed some of the dirt out of her hair and looked up towards the canyon wall. More rocks trickled down as the rain softened the soil. "Lavi…"
He followed her gaze and his eyes widened. He shifted Lenalee slightly on his back. "Let's go." They quickened their pace to a slight jog.
"Lavi…I told you to leave me." Lenalee whispered.
"Lavi!" Ahead, water came rushing down the canyon, engulfing them all. As the water receded, Lenalee was leaning on a rock, panting heavily. Lavi crawled over to her.
"I'm okay," she said. Mizuki sputtered and coughed. Wiping her bangs from her eyes, she looked around. "Mimi? Are you all right too?" Mizuki turned around and saw Mizuki reaching for Lavi's hammer. "Lavi! Look out!"
He turned around quickly, "Mimi!"
She jumped out of his reach and waved his hammer around. "I've got your Innocence!" she waved it around tauntingly.
"I knew we couldn't trust you!" Mizuki shouted, running over to Lavi and Lenalee.
"You shouldn't let your guard down just because you're tired," she taunted. "Here!" she threw it to an Akuma just above them, which flew away with it. "Aw, it looks like your Innocence is going to be destroyed by Lulubell-sama" she stuck out her lower lip in a mock pout.
"Shit! Where did that come from?" Mizuki gritted her teeth, bringing out her weapon.
She brought out two huge iron fans from nowhere and smirked. "These fans make a very clean cut!"
"Lavi, we need to get Lenalee out of here and your Innocence back," Mizuki whispered to him. "Take Lenalee and run. I'll distract her." She took a step in front of the two protectively.
"I won't leave you here!" Lavi said angrily.
"Stop being stupid!"
"You're the one who's being stupid! You don't even know the extent of her power! What if the Noah is with her as well?"
He has a point. I'd have to fight her, the Noah, and the Akuma. "Ugh! Fine, I'll follow you two. Just take Lenalee and run. I've got your back."
He nodded, satisfied with her answer and picked up Lenalee, breaking into a run, with Mizuki following closely behind.
"You can't escape from these fans!" she sent an attack of two wind blades.
Lavi ran behind a rock, safely out of range (well, supposedly). Mizuki turned around quickly and spun her bō, sending them flying behind her. Mimi smirked and Mizuki turned around in surprise. The blades came back towards Lavi and Lenalee, who ducked, the blades slicing the rock cleanly in half. She went for another attack and sent four blades this time.
Mizuki jumped up, taking down three. She reached for the fourth, but it flew past her and embedded itself into Lavi's back. With a grunt, he fell forward, dropping Lenalee.
"No!" Mizuki shouted. She charged towards Mimi, who dodged quickly. She waved her fans, sending a couple at Mizuki, who evaded them. Mizuki gritted her teeth, glancing back at Lavi, who was slowly getting up. She ran towards him.
"I won't let you get away!" she combined her fans and threw them. They collided with the sides of the canyon, causing them to crumble, and cutting them off from escape and separating Lavi and Lenalee from Mizuki at the same time.
As Mizuki was dodging the falling rocks, Mimi attacked.
"Shit!" Mizuki yanked a blade from her shoulder. Thankfully, that one was shallow. She looked down to see one had embedded itself in her stomach as well. She clenched her teeth tightly shut and pulled it out slowly, blood pouring out of her wound. She grimaced at the warm metallic taste in her mouth. Coughing, she slowly got up and faced her opponent, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She leaned on her weapon, gripping it tightly. Her eyes wandered over to Mimi. She was standing on top of the wall, back turned. "Now's my chance!"
Ignoring the pain, she ran and jumped onto the wall behind Mimi. Wielding her weapon like a katana, she was able to land an attack on the surprised girl. Mizuki jumped down ungracefully and fell to one knee, clutching her stomach.
Mimi screamed and fell, landing on her face. One of her own blades then pierced her in the shoulder, causing her to scream in pain again. Lavi and Lenalee landed next to Mizuki.
"How does it feel to be stabbed by your own weapon?" Lavi asked, his voice unkind.
"Lenalee!" Mizuki walked over and looked into Lenalee's weak face. Dammit! She had to resort to using her Innocence because I wasn't strong enough! She winced as a new wave of pain shot through her body.
"Now it's the end!" Mimi summoned three large Akuma behind her.
Mizuki got into a defensive stance in front of Lavi and Lenalee. One hand held her weapon up towards the enemy and the other pressed against her wound to slow the bleeding.
"Mizuki…" Lavi said, surprised.
"I'm not going to let you guys die!" She ran towards the Akuma, but stopped in her tracks. Needles came raining down from the sky, piercing the Akuma, rendering them helpless. Everyone looked up. Bookman stood on a cliff, watching the scene from above.
"Bah! You picked a bad time to interfere!" Mimi said annoyed.
The old guy jumped down to Lavi. "So, you're still getting deceived by the enemy's appearance, huh?" He took a quick look at Lenalee. "This is bad! She needs treatment right away!" he turned back to Lavi. "And you! Be more careful!" he handed him back his Innocence. "You're lucky I happened to see an Akuma carrying it."
"Preach to me later, old man! Mizuki, let's go!" he activated his Innocence. They both charged as Mimi sent another blade attack. Mizuki sent the blades away with her own and jumped out of the way. "Lavi!"
"Hiban!" he shouted. The dragon flames shot down towards Mimi, but before they hit her, she jumped and flew out of sight into the sky.
"She got away…" Mizuki mumbled, falling to her knees, then falling to the ground, out cold.
"Gramps…help them," Lavi said weakly. He took one step towards Mizuki and stumbled, falling to the ground before passing out himself.
Bookman looked at the three unconscious exorcists. "Kids…" he said exasperatedly.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
He extended his arm out towards her. "Come with me," he said. She looked up at him. He stood, half in darkness, half in light, his arm an invitation. "Where?" she asked slowly. "With me, stupid. Does it matter where? Don't you care about me?"His voice was silk. "Of course I do…" As she lifted her hand towards his cautiously, his expression changed quickly. His eyes widened, a feral laugh threatening to leave his throat. She jerked her hand back. "No! I won't go with you!""But you want to. I can tell by your eyes. What do you think you can do? Save me?" he laughed wildly, covering his face with one hand, so only his cruel eyes were revealed. "Mizuki…" came a voice behind her. "Lenalee?" Lenalee was flanked by Allen and Krory. Spikes shot out from behind her, skewering her friends as they screamed. Their blood splattered all over her, tainting her clothes red. "No!" she turned around and fixed her tear-filled eyes on his. "You!" "It's your own fault, you know. You should have let me destroy you back then." He reached into his pocket and took out a small hammer.
Mizuki's eyes shot open. She was panting, her body covered in a thin layer of cold sweat. She tried to get up and winced slightly. Oh yeah. I was attacked. She gingerly poked at her stomach. "Ah!" Pain shot through her body. Not a good idea.
"I don't think you should do that."
She yelped and automatically reached for the weapon on her back, which wasn't there. "Where is it?" she asked, frantically scanning the room.
"Easy, easy…it's right there," Lavi pointed towards the table next to her bed. His arm was in a sling and his face was bandaged.
"How long was I out?" she said, glancing out the window. Mid-afternoon.
"About a week."
"A WEEK?!" she struggled to throw the blankets off, but ended up groaning and clutching her stomach instead because of the quick movement.
He laughed with tears in his eyes, pointing at her. After composing himself, he grinned. "Just kidding. It's only been about a day."
"I'll KILL you!" she grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"Aw, come on, it was funny! Besides, you shouldn't be moving around so much in your condition."
She huffed and let go of him. Her eyes softened when she eyed his bandaged wounds. "So how are you feeling?" her voice was still slightly irritated.
"I'm fine." He smiled and scratched the back of his neck with his good arm. "I was actually more worried about you."
"Me?" A faint blush found its way to her face.
"Yeah, you lost a lot of blood back there." He leaned forward, bringing his face closer to Mizuki's. She leaned back slightly.
He looked at her for a moment and his eyebrows knitted. "Hey, are you okay?" He brought his hand to her chin and inspected her closely. She could feel the heat rising in her face. "I-I'm fine!" she waved her hands around to convince him.
"Are you sure? Your face has a bit of color to it." He brought the back of his hand up to her forehead. "And you're a little warm. Do you want Bookman to have a look at you?"
"I said I'm fine!"
He gave her a skeptical look, but decided to let it go. "By the way, were you dreaming before?"
She gave him a confused look.
"You were mumbling a lot in your sleep."
She laughed nervously, "Oh, it's nothing. Just a stupid nightmare. How's Lenalee doing?" she said, changing the subject quickly.
"Bookman's treating her as we speak. She'll be fine in a couple of days."
She perked up at this and swung her feet off the bed, her face twisted in pain. "I'm going to go see her," she grunted.
Lavi got up as well, blocking her. "No. You need to rest right now."
"I don't see you resting," she retorted. "Out of the way, eye patch." She pushed him aside and strode over to the door.
There's really no arguing with this girl, he thought exasperatedly. Lavi sighed and followed her into Lenalee's room.
Mizuki walked in to see Lenalee lying in bed, her complexion much improved. "Lenalee! How are you feeling?" Mizuki asked worriedly.
"I'm fine now, thanks to Bookman." Mizuki followed her eyes over to the elderly man standing in the corner of the room. He was short, and had wispy hair that defied gravity and large black circles encompassing his eyes. She walked over to him quickly and bowed. "Thank you so much for helping us. I apologize for having caused you trouble."
"It's all right. Just be more careful. With the number of exorcists dwindling, we can't afford to lose any more." He closed his eyes. If only the idiot would act like this more often, he thought wistfully.
Lavi laughed. "You don't need to be like that for Panda, Chibi-chan."
She whirled around with an evil glint in her eye. "Want me to take out that other arm for you ero-seinen?"
"What? I think it's endearing." He shrugged, but backed away slowly anyway.
"Idiot," Bookman muttered under his breath. He left, closing the door behind him. Lavi and Mizuki drew up chairs by Lenalee's bed.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, Lenalee." Mizuki's smile faltered. She fixed her eyes on the bed. "I'm sorry. You guys got hurt because I wasn't strong enough." she balled her hands up into fists, digging her nails into her palms. Her voice shook with either anger or sadness, they couldn't tell. Maybe both. "I can't save anyone I care about…why?"
"Mizuki…" Lenalee put a gentle hand on her knee. "Don't apologize. You helped Lavi bring me all the way here. And when he lost his Innocence, you protected us both. If anything, I should be apologizing for causing you so much trouble."
"Lenalee's right. You're not weak," Lavi continued. "And I've got the bruises to prove it," he rubbed his head involuntarily. "Besides, you were the first one to be suspicious of Mimi. I was –"
"No. You guys don't understand. This is completely my fault. Next time, I won't let something like this happen. I'll get stronger," she said determinedly. If I find out this has something to do with him, I'll kill him.
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More A/N: So, you guys got a peek into Mizuki's inner turmoil! I think I have a real direction now…well I sort of had one, but it was tentative. Anyways, I'll update as soon as I can! I'll try to make the next one longer!