Before this chapter I have some stuff to address really quick, gommen!
Well, I have learned something from the last chapter. I suck at Moe-fluff and should stop. XD! Based off of the reaction to the last chapter which mainly focused on IA and IO, I feel like I need to apologize to you and them! Because I read the scenes myself and realized how... terribly the past chapter came out, I'm going to give you a brief explanation of what I had wanted it to turn out like.
I know that IA came off as a little... bratty and whiney, but keep in mind, she's a young girl who just learned of a horribly tragic death of her first, and maybe only, normal friend. Her behavior was a little bratty and obnoxious but who can really blame her after her very sudden and terrible loss? IO also is only really concerned for IA's happiness, and his "stop making her sad so I can make her happy" quote was meant to sound adorable, but sadly, it didn't turn out that way. It's not that he doesn't like Len, but that he is upset at him because IA thinks he is the reason why she's sad, when she really isn't, but is just sad that her friend has died and nothing can be done about it.
Hope this helps, not that I disagree with any of you, I actually agree with everyone who said they came off as bratty after reading it myself. I just wanted to explain where I was coming from with this so that no one hates poor IA and IO for my suckie writting! I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but you'll see why at the end. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thanks for all the great reviews as usual!
~Tiruneko ;3
X~53~X
"Gumi!" Gumi's eyes snap open to the sound of a harsh whisper calling her name. The second her eyes fly open, she's greeted with an immediate wall of darkness, then, a pair of clear blue eyes dangling almost inches in front of hers. A strong weight pushes down on her arms, pinning them across her chest, a hand is cupped over her mouth. She can feel the sweat on her face.
She instantly panics out of instinct of similar past situations. Her hands struggle and claw at Yuuma's fingers, and when he suddenly pulls away and yelps, an instant sense of guilt hits her.
"Jesus…" Yuuma whispers, now sitting cross legged on the bed, rubbing his scratched up palms. Gumi sits up, the white sheet of the bed bending with her. She leans against the head board, pushing her hair out of her face and holding it there for a moment.
"Sorry." She mutters softly, exhaling. The two sit in silence for a moment. Gumi relaxes onto the brown headboard, her eyes trailing her own arm in the darkness. She reaches out her other hand and tentatively traces one of the larger lines in her skin from under the fabric of her shirt. She doesn't need to look to know where it is.
Yuuma crawls back up to his side of the bed, also finding himself leaning against the head board and picking at the dirt caked under his nails.
"Was it a bad one?" Yuuma asks softly.
"Yeah." Gumi responds factually and somberly.
"Are you okay-"
"Yeah." She cuts him off abruptly, finishing before he asked.
"Have you ever talked to anyone else about it?"
Gumi waits a long moment before replying. "No."
"Why me?" Yuuma asks, slightly intrigued.
"Because you wouldn't let it go." Gumi pops one of her knuckles and forces herself to stop stroking the scar. She pulls the sheets up over her shoulder and turns, letting her back face Yuuma again. Yuuma lies down, facing upwards on his pillow, listening to the soft gusts of wind outside for a while.
"You're not going to sleep."
"I know."
"You should at least try."
"No. I don't want to go back there." Gumi contemplates asking him why he cares so much. She is so absolutely frustrated at Yuuma's blatant concern. She doesn't care what he thinks, doesn't care about his opinion in how she should be coping. She's done this her whole life and doesn't need any advice now. She seriously contemplates snapping, demanding to know why he cares. Then, after a moment, she bites her lip. She's already figured out the answer herself and sure as hell doesn't want to hear it from him.
In the other room, Len can't sleep. After much arguing, Oliver won in the fight over who gets to take watch. Len would have rather known he can't sleep and couldn't if he wanted to, then know that he can sleep and can't.
When the group was deciding on beds earlier, IO made a suprising move. Instead of him in the middle and IA and Len on opposite ends, he silently insisted on taking the end opposite from Len, forcing IA to sleep in between. Len has no idea why, even now, but he is thankful either way.
It's been too long since he's listened to her soft breath at night. IA seems to have the most peaceful dreams out of everyone and being close to her while she sleeps becomes contagious. It's like when one person yawns, everyone else in the room yawns. IA radiates calm when she sleeps.
But of course, the one night when Len needs to sleep, his good luck charm is having a nightmare. IA has been frowning in her sleep since she fell asleep, and now, in the very corners of her eyes, tears are forming. She hiccups lightly, but doesn't wake up. Instead she rolls onto her side, unintentionally burying her face into Len's side. He inhales sharply, then exhales deeply, almost exited.
He puts the top of his hand incredibly gently on IA's head and rubs his fingers through her scalp with a feathery light touch. Len dips his head down close to her ear and whispers her name in a tone so unbelievable soft, it would have been nearly unrecognizable to anyone but the few that have heard it before.
"IA. You're okay."
Almost instantly she calms.
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
"Ready?" Rin mutters softly, staring at Oliver from her peripheral vision. He nods from the other side of the hall way leading into the hotel's lobby. Rin peeks her head around the corner, and silently signals to Lapis, who steps out onto the marble floor and stops a bellman toting a luggage cart loaded with expensive looking bags.
Rin can see Lapis talking to the bellman, who eagerly steps away, being falsely polite and doing his job. The blonde haired girl walks with Oliver close to her side. Oliver splits off and distracts the main worker at the counter while Rin unzips a laptop bag.
"Bingo." She whispers as she draws out a silver laptop and charger. Quickly she moves her finger across the zipper, drawing it shut silently and nodding to Lapis, who begins to wrap up her conversation as Rin and Oliver slink out of the lobby and cram themselves into the elevator, waiting for the blue haired girl.
"That was easier than I expected with more people." Lapis smiles. "Usually my pick-pocketing schemes involve fireworks." Her eyes light up with a rather disturbing look.
"Wow… you really like fire." Oliver raises an eyebrow. "By the way, why did we even take this in the first place?"
Rin slaps herself in the forehead, groaning. "You helped us steal without even knowing why?"
Oliver smirks. "Well?" He repeats as the elevator chirps with the number of their floor appearing on the display.
"Because, Gumi and strawberry head are hiding something. I want to know, and Lapis won't tell." Rin shoots the neon haired girl an accusing glare. Lapis frowns, blushing slightly.
"It's not my place, but whatever we find out together out of common interest is totally fine. Technically. 'Cos I haven't told you anything. Technically."
They slink back into their room, the one with two beds, and pass a still sleeping IA and Len and IO, still on the same bed together. Miku's face lights up as they enter the room. Rin nods in a silent confirmation, holding up the laptop. Lapis sits with the silver device in her hand, a widespread search engine open. Miku is on her right and Oliver and Rin on her left.
"Try Yuuma, first." Rin suggests, whispering. A page with a list of names pops up, but none their Yuuma. "That was stupid. I guess Demon's Crow citizens wouldn't exist on the internet, huh? Alright, then I guess our only option is Gumi."
Lapis fingers fly across the keyboard and once she hits enter, instantly thousands of related pages pop open. Oliver's, Miku's, Rin's, and Lapis' eyes widen in absolute horror.
"That… couldn't be her, right?" Lapis clicks on the first article and no one dares to breathe. A gallery of crime scene and media photos is tagged at the bottom of the news report and the very first picture, plastered as clear as day, is Gumi, only about seven years younger. Without being able to resist Lapis' now shaking hands click the next picture, a photo from a crime scene. And the next. And the next. Until the noise of a sharp gasp comes from behind them.
With agonizingly slow movements the group of four turn to find the green haired girl staring over their shoulders, and a pink haired boy behind.
Miku can't tell if Gumi is about to puke. Or sob. Or scream. Or maybe all of the above. Her fists sharply clench and her fingernails press with such force into her palms that a very small speck of blood forms in both hands. Her shoulders shudder and she dips her head, obscuring her eyes with her hair and a heavy shadow. Yuuma steps forward as Gumi simply shakes her head, her mouth peeling into a very small and twisted smile.
"You people can never just let it go, can you?" She laughs dryly.
"Gumi we-", Gumi silences her instantly with the unbridled mixture of hurt, rage, and just plain sadness swimming in her eyes. The group watches in silence as Gumi's gaze falls onto the picture that automatically moved onto the screen.
It's an image of a kitchen, one with pretty white shiny tile and gleaming white appliances and warm oak colored cabinets. Painting the floors are literal pools of blood. If Yuuma was standing in the picture, it would cover his toes. Sitting nearly drowned in this pool is a black pistol smothered in small, bloody handprints. Next to this is a plastic evidence card marking the gun as item number one. The back side of a body is blurred out with a black strip, too graphic to release to the public. An overturned chair lies across its body, with shattered and splintering legs.
Suddenly Gumi's eyes widen with an absolutely unreadable expression and a sharp intake of breath escapes her lips. She flings herself forward, slamming the bathroom door behind her. The sound of pained retching comes from the bathroom.
Yuuma can hardly believe what he's staring at.
The story Gumi had told was so graphic sounding but the images were even more petrifying and horrible than he could have ever imagined. Without another word he slowly moves towards the bathroom and pushes open the door she hadn't had time to lock before the wave of sickness had overtaken her.
She's still vomiting. Her goggles have been pulled down over her eyes, hiding her expression and what Yuuma assumes to be tears. He silently closes and locks the door behind him out of respect.
He moves over, bending down behind Gumi and taking the two long strands of her hair in his hands, pulling them over her head so they don't get caught in her bile. After a minute she stops and reaches up, fingers flailing miserably for the flush handle. Yuuma gets it for her and watches as the now very lightheaded girl collapses to her side, letting her temple rest on the side of the hotel bathtub.
Her mouth is slightly open and her head lolls gently, relying entirely on the porcelain tub for support. Her shoulders move ever so slightly and gently with each absolutely silent cry, entirely hidden by her goggles. Yuuma raises his hand to remove them and Gumi's hands snap upwards, almost slapping him away rather violently.
"Don't. Touch." She whispers threateningly. Yuuma complies wordlessly, letting her continue this small fit of emotion like no other.
After a long moment of silence, Yuuma cranes his head forwards. Gumi notices his stare and pushes herself up off of the side of the tub, her glare still visible through the smudged up lenses of her glasses, steamy with warm tears. Her glare radiates off of her, even without Yuuma even seeing it. She staggers to her feet and steps over Yuuma, still on the floor, and stands in front of the mirror.
"Turn around." Gumi orders gruffly. Yuuma stands and looks away as Gumi pulls her goggles off of her eyes.
It's been a long time. Gumi thinks to herself, holding her bangs out of her face with one hand and reaching for a hand towel with another. Crying still feels the same. She runs cold water and dips the edge of the towel in the water, rubbing it on her eyes. Freaking terrible.
She pulls another dry towel off of the rack and dries off the last of the water. Her eyes look better, with barely any traces of her "episode."
Gumi turns around, looking at Yuuma, still facing the wall quietly. Idiot. She thinks bitterly, picking her goggles off of the counter and adjusting them back onto the top of her head as normal. "Turn around now." Gumi glares at him harshly when he turns around. Somehow Yuuma looks more torn up than she does. "What's with that face?" She nearly seethes. "Don't look at me like that."
"You have every right to be upset-"
"Don't say anything. I don't need it right now." Gumi throws open the door and upon walking out is immediately greeted by a room of red and blue and amber eyes. Lapis is the first to stand up, dropping the backpack she had been hurriedly packing.
"Gumi-"
"Can we not do this?" She cuts them off instantly and reaches for the bag closest to the bathroom. "We're leaving soon, right? I'll take the bags out."
IA rushes over from the other corner of the room, cradling a pink stripped backpack in her arms, blissfully unaware of the tension and rabidly eager to help. She holds up the bag with both hands, grinning. Gumi gives a fake smile back, placing a hand on IA's head and taking the bag. IO comes up behind, holding a Ziploc bag full of water bottles. He also hands the bag to Gumi. His red eyes follow Gumi's blue ones until his mouth opens into a tiny frown. Gumi takes the bag from him and IO gives a look to IA, as if he's noticed the emotion in the atmosphere of the room.
As Gumi leaves the room with the bags Len sends a glare at Rin. "What did you do?" He asks, scowling. Yuuma enters the room, a dry expression on his face. "Yuuma?" Len asks quietly. IA moves over to the pink haired boy, reaching for his hand, having noticed his expression.
"Why did you do that?" Yuuma asks, confused. Rin sets down the last bag, her eyes filled with defensive anger.
"We didn't know who she was, Yuuma. We looked you up too. Len was just saying yesterday how he was so sick of us not knowing each other, right?" She snaps.
"What?" Yuuma raises an eyebrow, shocked and almost slightly hurt.
"N-no, Rin…" Len sighs, "That's not what I meant!"
"Regardless, you had no right to-"
A very soft thud hits the floor above their room. Out of pure instinct, everyone silences nearly instantly. IA whimpers softly in agonizing anticipation. IO pulls an arm around her arm and his shaking eyes dart from Yuuma to Len simultaneously.
"It was probably just someone on the floor above us…" Len says softly as Miku's eyes brighten to a burning red, crimson and furious.
"Len." She turns to him, nearly shaking like a leaf, eyes so bright they might swallow her pupils. A loud and sharp ringing hisses through her ears with the sound of a blood curdling scream. Her fingers rip at Len's hand, gripping it with such a strength Len can't help but flinch, just barely. Her eyes shake and seem to throb with each passing second.
Without any warning IO's hands fly to his ears and he collapses to the floor, gasping for air. "Make the sound go away!" He nearly screams. IA gasps as the noise hits her and she too begins to quiver with terror, her eyes darting immediately to Len.
"Len-" Miku says in an absolutely terrified tone. "They're coming."
With that a large explosion rocks the building and flames burst from the ceiling above, heaps of plaster and pipes crashing to the floor with a noise like no other. Gumi watches from the parking lot bellow the hotel, fists clenching around the handle of Gumo. Her fingers move the lenses of her goggles over her eyes and a soft scoff escapes her smirking lips.
"Just what I needed."
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
"Master Yowane?"
"Yes?" Haku leans into her hand, propping herself up with her elbow over her desk, running the end of a pen through her coffee cup. Akaito enters her office, holding a letter in his hands, face stoic.
"You have received a letter from our… sister company."
"Lily?" Haku groans inwardly, tapping some keys on her computer and holding a perfectly manicured hand out for the message, bringing the cup to her lips and inhaling the cold and bitter liquid. Akaito steps forward.
"No, Master Yowane. This is a message from Master Hiyama."
Instantly all of Haku's features tense and she leans forward over the desk, her eyes flaming with an emotion Akaito has never seen before. On anyone. Regardless on a woman as composed as Haku Yowane.
"What is the reason for his message?" Haku demands coldly.
"It states it is in regards to the last prisoner in Demon Crow's possession. The Akuma with red hair."