A/N: Hey guys! I know you all want to kill me for the late update, but I tried to make up for it with a Lavi-filled chapter! (Since he hasn't really been in the last couple) But anyways, here you go!!! Thanks to everyone for reading/reviewing/alerting/favoriting/being patient!

Disclaimer: I don't own -Man or its amazing characters!

There seemed to be no way out of this. She was too weak to escape and to be honest, she didn't really want Lavi and Lenalee to pop in for a visit at the moment. Especially not after she'd seen what he did to Allen. Tyki Mikk was in a good mood. And that's a dangerous thing. And if that wasn't enough, she'd just discovered that there was something about her the Earl found intriguing.

"He's interested in…me?" Mizuki said slowly. Her throat suddenly went dry. What could the Earl of Millennium possibly want with me of all people?An exercise video?

He gave her a serious look. "Yes. If you recall, you have my blood running in your veins."

She rolled her eyes. As if I'd forget something like that, she thought back to that ever-so-exciting day. Did he think she was stupid? Well, if she were smart, she wouldn't be tied up to a tree and having a lovely conversation with the man she wanted to kill, right?

Tyki paused to smoke. Then he cleared his throat and continued. "Well…there were two options that could have happened when our blood mixed. One: you could have died on the spot. Or two: you could have died slowly and painfully." He ticked off the options on his fingers.

"How pleasant," she drawled. "So I'm guessing option three won out?"

"It would appear so, but there's one teeny tiny problem," he held up one finger.

"And what's that?"

"There was no option three."

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean there was no option three? How am I alive then?"

He shrugged. "That's what we'd like to know." He took another long drag and eyed her curiously.

She stopped to think for a moment. Yes, she did indeed have Noah blood circulating through her body. But it's not like it's ever affected her in any way since then. Except for when it first came in contact with her and she passed out, she hasn't felt any different. What was going to happen to her? Would she eventually die? Or worse, turn into a Noah? She shuddered at the thought.

"Well, I suppose if nothing's happening right now, it doesn't matter." Tyki dropped his cigarette on the ground and stood up. He stomped the butt out and stretched his arms.

"Wait," Mizuki looked up at him, perplexed. "That's it? So you brought me here to make sure I haven't been having frequent seizures or something…and since I haven't, you're just going to wait until I do?"

"Not really." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at her. "The Earl's more curious about how you're alive rather than the effects of our blood in yours. So he sent me on a little investigation."

"I never knew he was so caring. How kind of him," she said sarcastically. "Well, if I spontaneously burst into flames or something, you'll still be the first to know."

He let out a soft chuckle. "Glad to hear it." He bent down and patted her on the head endearingly. She tried jerk out of the way and ended up doubling over in pain once again. She coughed up some blood and her body quivered. She tried to take in slow, deep breaths to ease the pain.

"Here, I'll help you with that," Tyki offered. He bent down and brought his hand to the back of her head.

"What are you going to do?" she asked uneasily. Was he going to kill her now?

"Remember…we'll be keeping an eye on you." She gasped when she felt her whole body go numb. Tyki's grinning face swam in front of her and she disappeared into darkness.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Mmmm," She was clutching something soft. It felt like she was sleeping on a bed. A bed. A really comfy bed. She smiled and hugged whatever she was hugging closer, burying her face in it. Was it a stuffed animal? Then she heard a sort of choked, stifled noise. Without opening her eyes, she furrowed her brows and tried to turn onto her other side, trying to bring whatever she was holding with her.

But there was something wrong.

Whatever it was, it didn't want to go with her. Was it stuck? She pulled at it, and she heard the noise again. All of a sudden, she yanked really hard and felt something nearly fall on top of her with a strangled "OW!" Her eyes shot open and a hand covered her mouth muffling her scream. Shapes swam in front of her eyes as she tried to focus them in the darkness. There was something large hovering over her, pressing her body down against the bed.

For some odd reason, Lavi's face was less than an inch away from hers; their noses were practically touching. He was propping himself up with his free hand, which was next to her head. His eyes were wide with apprehension and he was panting very slightly.

Okay, so there was something wrong with this picture. She somehow found her way into a bed that certainly did not belong to her, and she was alone in the room with a man. Who was on top of her. On a bed. And hmm…yeah, looks like it's nighttime.

As she stared wide-eyed at him, she found a strange mix of emotions running through her. Relief, happiness, confusion, irritation, and something…else.

She was so aware of his hand covering her lips, callused from fighting, yet gentle. His breath on her face coming in quick, short pants. His eyes that were wide and brilliantly green, as always, and full of worry, relief, and surprise all at the same time.

It might have taken anywhere between a couple of seconds or minutes to register what was going on, time seemed incomprehensible at the moment. And even when she did register it, she still had no idea what was going on. She blinked twice, making sure what she was seeing was real.

"Um…uh…I…," Lavi stammered, his face turning beet red.

"Mm mmm mmm mmmmmm?!" she said from behind his hand.

"Oh! Sorry," he said quickly and removed his hand.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she half-yelled.

"Shhh!" he shushed her and quickly put both of his hands over her mouth this time, leaning on his elbows. This brought his face even closer to hers. He stole a furtive glance behind him at the door and turned back to her. She narrowed her eyes and tried to look calm despite the heart that threatened to jump out of her chest. He could probably feel her heart beating out of her chest, he was so close to her.

"Everyone's still sleeping, so please, if you're going to hit me, do it quietly," he pleaded.

Unable to respond verbally, she nodded. Breathing out a sigh of relief that gently blew the hair out of her eyes, he removed his hands from her face. But she could still feel his touch linger; her lips tingled.

"I'm not gonna hit you, you idiot," she mumbled, the heat from her face not just from his hands. "Now get off of me before somebody sees us." She put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him backwards so he was sitting on his knees. She got up slowly and carefully. Lavi opened his mouth to protest, but she put up a hand, which silenced him immediately.

She leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. When she opened them, Lavi was looking at her with an odd expression on his face.

"Any particular reason why you're ogling me?" she tilted her head to the side and pulled her knees to her chest tentatively so he could sit more comfortably across from her.

"Oh! Uhh…," he turned his head so he was staring at the wall. "Sorry." Stupid, stupid! He mentally smacked himself.

"Hey," she reached over and tugged on his sleeve. He turned back and met her gaze. "You seem a bit…edgy. Is something wrong?"

"I…," he paused and exhaled sharply. "I thought you were dead." His voice came out slightly strained. "When I saw what he did to Allen…I thought he'd done the same to you."

Mizuki's head shot up. "Allen! Is he – "

Lavi shook his head. "We couldn't find him," he said solemnly.

She looked down and bit her lip. I was there. But I couldn't save him.

"It's not your fault," he said sternly, reading her thoughts.

"I know. I just…wish I could've done more to help him." She wiggled her toes and looked up. She looked at Lavi with a glint in her eye. "He's not dead, though."

"Mizuki…," he trailed off. "We saw what happened. Timcanpy recorded the whole thing. Suman's dead; Allen's arm was destroyed."

"But," she held up a finger, "Allen was alive. Tyki could have completely obliterated Allen if he wanted to. But he left him there at least half-alive. That means he didn't touch Allen's body after he knocked me out. He must have left him there. And since you didn't see his body when you found me, that either means Allen just got up and walked out of the forest, or someone took him. And I don't think Allen was in any condition to be walking around." She folded her arms and grinned.

Lavi returned her grin with a crooked one of his own. "Maybe."

Her smile slowly faded away, and she looked down at her palms. "But Suman…"

"There's nothing we could have done, Mizuki."

They sat in silence for a while, awkwardly glancing around the room. Then Mizuki spoke up, "Why were you in here anyways? And more importantly, what were you doing when I woke up?" she asked suspiciously.

He laughed nervously and scratched his head. "Um, well, you see, I sort of carried you in here and…maybe you were dreaming, but you sort of grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go. And I didn't really want to wake you up, so…yeah," he finished awkardly

"So…I pulled you on top of me?" her face blanched.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," the expression on his face was very smug.

Her eyebrow twitched. She reached over and grabbed the front of his shirt. "I take it back. Maybe I will hit you."

"Aw, come on," he whined, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I was only joking!"

Suddenly, she released him and brought her hands to her stomach. She could feel the bandages beneath the shirt she was wearing…which she just noticed didn't belong to her. "Why am I bandaged?"

"Well, we weren't going to let you just bleed to death…you were a mess when we brought you in."

"Who bandaged me?" she demanded. It was imperative that she know.

"Lenalee and I did," he said happily.

"Lenalee…and you?" she cocked an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Oh!" his face flushed. Why was he so nervous? "Umm well, Lenalee sort of…undressed you, and I dressed your wound, then bandaged you up. But I didn't see anything, if that's what you mean!" He looked away as he said the last bit.

She let out a sigh. "No, I trust you."

His eyes slowly traveled back to her. "You do?"

"Of course I do you idiot!" she punched him playfully in the arm. "I wouldn't have left my Innocence with anyone else. Speaking of which, where is it?" she glanced around the room.

"It's right there," he pointed across the room to the dresser. Her bō lay there, looking no different than when she had left it.

She made a motion to get up, but Lavi stopped her, "I'll get it." He hopped off the bed and grabbed her weapon, being careful not to make any noise.

He walked up to the side of the bed and held it out for her, bowing as he did so. "For the lady," he winked.

Why is he so charming all of a sudden? Wasn't this annoying before? She thought as she rolled her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the weapon.

It was like a hot iron was put to her hand. She dropped it with a loud "OW!" as a stream of profanity left her mouth. What's going on?

More A/N: Thank you for reviewing and reading my story guys! You guys are what keep me going!

KinKitsune01 - thanks for the encouragement! It really helps! haha and tyki is TOTALLY sexy!

Cassiel Lorna - thanks for the support! Yeah, I'll definitely be incorporating a little more Tyki into this story, I'm glad you like it!

Celedeen Takarona - haha I'm glad the chapter satisfied your fanfiction needs at the time!

bellaXmonster - thanks for the review! yeah, i'm trying to keep it a little bit suspenseful

nellchan0013 - Ugh, skin is gross! but I guess a topless kanda is worth it, right?

Kouyan - I'm glad you found the chapter amusing haha

KaraxLavi13 - yeah lavi's got an AMAZING laugh and he can SING!

Zeyva - Mizuki's past will be revealed in due time, don't worry!

ayumidream - thanks for reviewing!

Marika-Uchiha - i'm glad you like the story! lavi and tyki are awesome characters!

bwatasha - thanks for reviewing!