A/N: It's been a few weeks, but here's chapter 16. Finally. I've actually done a lot of writing in my brief absence, it's just that none of it was on stories that I'm actually posting. -_-
Anyway, as I said a few chapters ago, this chapter is the last of Allen's convalescence.
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The day after Neah's spontaneous visit was spent training with Marie. Just him and me alone, like I had been hoping for with the previous day's session. Miranda went with Kanda on his daily mission, and my other friends had dispersed to their own duties.
It was weird being alone with Marie. Though that awkwardness faded once I finally figured out that he didn't know that I knew Kanda's past. He warmed up to me after I explained that I knew all about the Second Exorcist Project.
While I trained, he asked me all sorts of questions about my relationship with Kanda. They were embarrassing, he did know that we were sleeping together after all, but for the most part it felt like I was talking to Kanda's brother. Marie was probably one of the very few people at the Order who actually liked Kanda, and he didn't judge me at all for falling in love with him, something everyone else would have called me crazy for.
It was surprising how much training my heightened senses helped me adjust to being a neko. After two days of walking around blindfolded, my awareness of my cat parts had faded. I no longer jumped when I saw my tail out of the corner of my eye. The feel of it moving behind me no longer weirded me out either. It had all become second nature to me. Even seeing in the dark seemed perfectly natural now.
Kanda's day with Miranda didn't go quite as well, but then he had an off-putting personality and she scared easily. He was incredibly frustrated with her by the time they got back. I was perfectly fine with him taking his frustrations out on me. Lenalee's comment from a couple days earlier still nagged at me, but I decided that I liked the sex too much to stop for the offhanded chance that it was hindering my recovery.
For my third day of training with Marie, he decided that I needed a sparring partner. And so he made Kanda stay home. It was hard fighting with him now that I no longer wanted rip his guts out. But fortunately being blindfolded made it much easier to focus.
I got so into the fight that I didn't even notice what I was doing. And it wasn't until afterwards, as I was pulling off my blindfold, that anyone said anything to me about it. Miranda was giving me a strange look. "What's wrong, Miranda?"
"Nothing's wrong... It's just that... I thought you said that you can't activate your Innocence..."
I frowned at her. "No, I said it's draining me more than usual, so I can't activate it for very long. Why?"
Kanda snorted. "Could you really not tell, Moyashi?"
"'Tell' what, Bakanda?" I nearly shouted the words, Kanda's tone had clearly indicated that he thought I was an idiot.
"You had your Innocence activated for that whole last round, Allen."
Marie's words stopped me in my tracks. Had I really...? Yes, I had. I'd been fighting with my Innocence activated and hadn't even noticed. Even now, I didn't feel anywhere near as drained as I had the last time I'd activated it. It felt... normal. "Oh. No, I hadn't noticed."
Kanda scoffed at me, but I ignored him. I was too concerned with what was happening with my Innocence. "I guess it's back to normal now?"
"Is that a question or a statement, Moyashi?"
I stuck my tongue out at him, then I stalked back to the center of the room. If my Innocence was truly recovered, then there was only one way to find out. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Then I grabbed my wrist and drew my sword.
It looked and felt exactly like it always had. Despite Hevlaska's assurances, part of me had still been afraid that it wasn't going to work anymore. Seeing it now was an amazing relief.
And better still was that it wasn't excessively draining me. The last time I had activated it, just five days earlier, it had taken so much out of me and I hadn't even done anything with it.
I felt free. And in a sense I was: with my Innocence back to normal, I should be allowed to resume my exorcist duties. I would no longer be stuck at headquarters.
Deactivating my Innocence, I thanked Marie for all his help, and then I sprinted to Komui's office.
.x.x.
I couldn't help laughing at the way the Moyashi ran from the room. He was so excited that he was literally bouncing with each step he took. It made his ears shake, and that was adorable. I don't know where he got the energy from, I hadn't gone easy on him while we were sparring.
Feeling someone smirking at me, I turned to face Marie, my smile fading into a scowl. "What?"
He smiled brightly at me, and that only made me scowl more. "I can't remember the last time you were that happy, Kanda. And I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before. You're actually serious about this thing with Allen, aren't you?"
"Che. Don't ask stupid questions, Marie."
He laughed again. "That's not what I meant, Kanda. I know you love him. But I was under the impression that this was a fling that you would eventually get bored with. But now I wonder... You actually see yourself spending the rest of your life with Allen, don't you?"
It was a loaded question coming from the one married man I knew. I clicked my tongue. Damn Marie always went straight for the difficult, emotional questions. And he wouldn't let me dodge the question either, he was too familiar with my evasion tricks. That didn't mean I wasn't going to try though. "I don't think I'll ever get bored of the Moyashi, he's too unpredictable."
"And...?"
"Che. We've only been together for a few weeks, it's too soon to talk of the rest of our lives." Never mind that given our high risk positions 'the rest of our lives' had the potential to be even less than 'a few weeks'. But that wasn't something I wanted to think about.
"Kanda."
Damn Marie. "... Yes."
I was immediately wrapped in a tight hug. "Come on, Marie. Let go."
He didn't. In fact, he was still hugging me when Teidoll walked into the room just minutes later. He had come to fetch Marie and Miranda to get back out in the field, but he was not going to pass on an opportunity to fawn over me, even if he had no clue why Marie was so excited. The old artist started making a fuss the second he saw us. He joined the hug, and I could do nothing but stand there until he decided to let go.
When I finally escaped, I headed for the cafeteria. I had no idea where the Moyashi had run off to, so rather than wasting my time and energy on searching for him, I went to get dinner. He'd show up again when it was most convenient for him.
I got roped into sitting with Lenalee and a few of the other exorcists who were at headquarters. Someday I would have to learn how to say no to her. But then again, the Moyashi would want to sit with his friends, so if I wanted to sit with him, I'd have to sit with them. I half listened to their inane chatter, not really interested in what they were saying but not having anything else to do.
I noticed something was wrong with Allen the second he walked into the cafeteria. That enthusiasm he'd had earlier was completely gone. Sure he was hiding it well from everyone else, but I saw through it. He came and sat with us after he'd ordered, his usual fake smile on his face.
Forcing my best disinterested face, I took advantage of the fact that he couldn't use food to ignore the question. "What's wrong, Moyashi?"
He hissed at me. "Nothing's wrong, Bakanda!"
Lenalee snorted and choked on her mouthful of spaghetti. Allen tried to help her, but stopped when he realized she was laughing at him. "You're lying, Allen."
"What?! I am not! I'm fine!"
Lenalee shook her head at him. "You're not fine. I can tell. Your ears are giving you away."
The Moyashi has a tell? How come I didn't notice that?
Allen frowned. "You're making that up."
"I'm not. Lavi and I noticed it about a week ago. Whenever you lie to us your cat ears twitch." She gave him a stern glare. "I'm a little offended that you lie to me that often."
The Moyashi immediately turned red. I snorted. "Not that I care," a lie but I hid it well, "but the Moyashi doesn't like to make people worry. The idiot is lying to you because he thinks he's protecting you by doing it."
"Hey! I do not do that! Keep your opinions to yourself, Bakanda!" Now that I knew about it, I easily caught the twitch Lenalee was referring to.
She saw it too and wrapped Allen in a hug. He glared daggers at me. "Aww. Thank you for worrying about me, Allen. But you can stop now. I'd much rather have the truth, ok?"
He frowned and shoved her away. "Any other embarrassing habits I should know about?"
The question was sarcastic and that made it easier for me to comment on the neko trait I had noticed. "You play with the tip of your tail when you're nervous."
Allen froze. He was across the table from me, so I couldn't see him doing it, but I knew from his expression that he had just become aware of what his hands were currently doing. He slowly and deliberately placed his hands up on the table. "That was rhetorical, Bakanda."
Lenalee placed a hand on his shoulder. "Allen. Just tell us what's wrong and we'll stop trying to embarrass you."
He frowned deeply. "Fine. But you have to promise not to tell Lavi."
Lenalee nodded vigorously. He leaned in closer so that only we would be able to hear him, and waited a moment before he spoke. "I ...shrunk."
"You shrunk?" Lenalee was obviously confused.
Allen sighed. "I just had a physical. I'm an inch shorter than I was when I first became a neko."
Lenalee put her arm around his shoulders. It made my possessive side angry. I was also jealous that she could touch him like that in public and I couldn't. "An inch is no big deal, Allen. You're still growing, you'll get it back."
He shook his head and dropped his gaze to his lap. I knew he was playing with his tail again. "That's just it. Komui says I'm not. The stress of becoming half cat stunted my growth. This is as tall as I'm going to get."
His food arrived then, and he threw himself at it. It was obvious from his body language that interrupting him while he was eating was a death sentence.
I finished my soba, lost in thought about what I'd just learned. Allen was officially short. He couldn't blame it on me being tall anymore. That wouldn't stop him from trying though. I was a little sad because I knew how much it bothered him, but mostly I was glad. We fit together so well physically, and I no longer had to worry about him having a growth spurt and changing that.
Done eating, I stood up to leave, but was stopped by the Moyashi. "Kanda, don't leave yet."
"Why not, Moyashi?"
He flinched a little at the glare I gave him. "Ah, umm, Komui wants to see us both in his office after dinner."
"Let me guess, now that you're all better he wants to put us on a mission together." I scowled at him, though I was nowhere near as angry as I was pretending to be.
"Probably." Allen frowned and turned back to his food.
"Perfect." I continued to walk away, but I didn't make it far. Lenalee grabbed my elbow. I growled at her, but I couldn't shake her off like I wanted to.
It was the Moyashi she was focused on though. "Wait, wait, wait. You're better?! When did this happen? And why didn't you say anything?!"
Allen blushed in embarrassment, his ears pinned back against his head. "Sorry. Umm. Yes, my Innocence is back to its normal strength. We figured it out during training this afternoon. It kinda got forgotten because of the whole ...shrinking thing."
Not wanting to stay while Lenalee guilt-tripped the Moyashi, I moved my arm to try to get her to let go of me. But that only turned her irritation on me. "And you knew about this, Kanda?"
"Che. I was there when it happened."
She immediately released me. "Oh. Ok."
Apparently she wasn't upset with me, she was upset because she thought the Moyashi told me instead of her. She really needed to let go of that crush she had on him. But I didn't dwell on that, I had other things occupying my thoughts.
I put my tray away and left the cafeteria. I didn't go far though; I knew Allen was nearly finished eating and he'd be catching up to me soon. Not even five minutes later, he found me where I was waiting in the next hall. We walked towards Komui's office in silence.
At least until the Moyashi decided to break it. "You're awfully quiet, Yuu. Is something bothering you?"
I shrugged. "Not really. I was just trying to figure out how Lavi and Lenalee noticed that thing with your ears, but I didn't."
He laughed a little as he smiled. "That's because I don't have to lie to you, Bakanda. You didn't notice it because you don't see it as often as they do."
Before I could question what he meant by that, he sighed. "I'm going to have to figure out how to control it if I don't want to give away our relationship."
.x.x.
As Kanda had predicted, they were being sent on a mission together. But it wasn't quite what either of them had expected:
Kanda was to accompany Allen to the Asian Branch the next day, and observe a fight between Allen and Fou. Kanda, as the General most familiar with Allen's fighting style, would then have the final say as to whether or not Allen was truly recovered enough to return to missions.
.x.x.
It took Fou all of five minutes to figure out that Kanda I were sleeping together. She teased us mercilessly about being gay while we sparred. It even took precedence over me being half cat, though she had taken to calling me 'Kitten'. It was irritating, but it was Fou. It was more or less what I expected from her.
The homophobic slurs were a little much though. I knew she didn't mean any of her sharp words, she always stopped whenever someone came to check on us, but they were still hard to take.
And I had no choice but to suck it up and take it; I would hear worse if my relationship with Kanda ever reached the rest of the Order. It was an unbelievable stroke of luck that everyone who knew so far was accepting of us.
Sparring with Fou felt great though. It was nice to go all out and test the limits of my strength and flexibility. And by the time we were done, I was more excited than I already was to be getting back to missions.
Fou congratulated us on our relationship before we left. I turned bright red when she told Kanda, "You better take care of your kitten or face my wrath."
He scowled at her for the way she said it, but I could tell that he was happy. His possessive side was thrilled that someone else thought of me as his. And after three weeks together, I had to admit that I liked it too.
.x.x.
Kanda's report of "the Moyashi didn't die, so he must be fine" didn't exactly thrill Komui. But the Supervisor knew that if the samurai didn't truly believe that Allen had recovered then he wouldn't have okayed the younger's return to active duty.
That didn't keep Komui from worrying about the neko though. Not when protecting the exorcists was his purpose in life. Allen may have been ready to go on missions again, but the Supervisor wasn't ready to send him on any. But he couldn't do that without cause, and there was none.
So after some thought, he came up with a way to do both. There was, after all, a certain General who was a creature of habit and returned to headquarters every night to sleep in his own bed. It would be really easy to order Allen to accompany said General for a week or two until Komui was satisfied that he truly was back to full strength.
Although, ordering Allen to accompany Kanda might just endanger the neko's life even more than an actual mission would. The two seemed to hate each other more than ever now that Allen was half cat.
On the other hand, Kanda was still looking for the ever elusive General Cross Marian. And Allen was regarded as the expert in that arena; the duo had already successfully located the man once before. Sending them out together could end up killing two birds with one stone.
As Komui expected, the pair didn't take the news of their mission well. Though if he had known Allen's tell, the neko's ears would have completely given away the teen's true feelings. Instead the Supervisor had to send them off thinking that being on a mission together was the last place either of them wanted to be.
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A/N #2: School starts back up on Monday. I'm going to try to get Chapter 17 finished and posted in two weeks, but I make no promises.