Angel Sanctuary Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Dust ❯ Sanctuary ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: Damn, man, did you know that ferrets were domesticated in Ancient Egypt? Huh...

 

AN: That's what my coffee mug tells me, anyway. No, really. I feel so enlightened! Also, a Japanese culture factoid for those who don't know: `bento' is a box lunch, though traditionally a bit fancier than the typical American fare of PB&J and a banana, and it generally comes with strong implications of affection, especially towards a spouse ;) Oh, and one more thing - I'm sorry in advance for totally bastardizing Kira in this chapter... in fact, kinda in the whole story so far, nervous grin. I just think that, because he and Alexiel are both such headstrong people, it'd probably take stuff at least as major as what they went through together in the manga to make things work between them... under normal conditions, I just don't think it'd work. (corny excuses...) Don't worry, Kira will leave the story on a redeeming note, promise :)

 

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Chapter Six: Sanctuary

 

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In Setsuna's dream world, he woke up to the sun on his face and the sound of birdsong. In reality, however, he woke up to the sound of his alarm clock, slightly before dawn. After he switched the obnoxious device off, he lay back down on his bed, but his blood was pounding much too fast to fall back to sleep.

 

Yesterday night... had been a big mistake. Or a dream. A huge misunderstanding, at the very least. Though he could swear he could still feel his arms around her, and her heart beating against him... A very realistic dream, then. Yeah.

 

Eventually he managed to drag himself up, and he shuffled off to the bathroom first thing to splash his face in an effort to clear the hallucinations from his mind. He felt much better for it, and decided with renewed vigor that he would somehow have to put a stop to such dreams. Perhaps there was a pill he could take...?

 

And yet, when he made it to the kitchen and saw her standing there, already in her school uniform and doing something at the counter with her back to him, he found himself watching her quietly without even thinking about it. Soft hair - long legs - gentle grace... He sighed, and she glanced over her shoulder. She beamed to see him, and turned and held something out under his nose.

 

“Bento,” she said, by way of explanation. “I've never tried to make one before, but I think it turned out alright...” She blushed prettily. “You... don't think it's silly, do you?”

 

He took a deep breath. “It smells great,” he said, and his voice cracked, and he coughed to hide it.

 

She lowered the bento box, and they stared at each other for a long moment. They were so close that he could see her throat move when she swallowed, hard... Setsuna saw her glance left, into the living room, and right, even though there was no doorway on that side - perhaps she was afraid someone was spying on them through the window? - and then, blush deepening considerably, she pulled herself up to her tiptoes with a hand on his shoulder to kiss him quick.

 

They stayed that way for a few immeasurable seconds, lips pressed together simply and chastely, and then she hurriedly dropped her hand and started to turn away, stammering, but Setsuna silenced her by catching her up in a tight hug. He buried his face in that soft hair, grinning the biggest grin ever.

 

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That day at lunch, Alexiel did not sit with Kira for a second day in a row. Rosiel and Katan were not present, either, of course; she hadn't seen them since first period. Instead, she ate with Kurai.

 

At first she'd asked why Kurai wasn't eating with Sara and Setsuna like usual, and suggested that the four of them all sit together, but Kurai just smiled and gestured with her chopsticks to where the siblings sat together a few tables away. They sat rather closer than the crowd in the cafeteria required, noses practically touching when they turned their heads to speak softly to each other, giggling over something private...

 

“You mean, you think...?” Alexiel whispered.

 

Kurai smirked. “I know.” She jabbed a chopstick at them again. “See? She made him a bento. They went to a theme park together on Sunday...”

 

Alexiel chuckled softly. “And you're okay with all this, huh?” she said, just a little sarcastically.

 

She shrugged. “Yeah,” she said simply, and went back to eating.

 

Out of the blue, someone plunked a tray down on the table on Alexiel's other side. “Hey, babes. Long time, no see...” The voice was deep and dark, and the tone wasn't quite as playful as the words.

 

Alexiel found her heart beating too fast as she stared up at him with wide eyes. What was that feeling, anyway? Something inside her recoiled as he sat down close to her... He shoveled a few bites of food into his mouth before speaking again.

 

“You've been avoiding me,” he accused bluntly. “Are you really that upset, just 'cus I insulted your bastard brother?” Alexiel's eyes darted automatically to Kurai, and Kira grinned. “Ooh, sorry - virgin ears, huh?”

 

Kurai bristled. “What the hell?” Kira just sniggered.

 

Alexiel finally willed her mouth into working order again. “I need to talk to you,” she said coldly. “In private.”

 

He scoffed. “Yeah, whatever. Just lemme finish eating.”

 

She rolled her eyes, and stood. “Now.” She was distracted, though, as Kurai stood too. She frowned down at the shorter girl. “What...?”

 

“I'm coming,” she said firmly.

 

Normally, she would've thought the assertion to be totally tactless, and was about to open her mouth to protest... Then, however, she realized with unmistakable clarity what that look in her eyes was. Kurai was... afraid of him...

 

Afraid of Kira? Alexiel's lips parted slightly in surprise. She wasn't afraid of him, not exactly, she knew that for sure, but then what was that feeling...?

 

Kira stood with a loud sigh. “Alright, I'm coming...” He gave Kurai another amused look, but seemed to deem her below speaking to; she glared daggers at his back as he turned to lead the way out of the cafeteria.

 

They turned into the first empty classroom they found, and Kira sat on the teacher's desk. “This good enough?” he griped.

 

She frowned at him disapprovingly. “Yeah. Kira...” She took a deep breath, and let it all out in a whoosh, sounding tired. “I wish you wouldn't talk about my brother like that. He's got problems, I think... But he's still my brother.”

 

He shrugged, looking bored. “That it? I don't know why we had to come all this way... But whatever. If it bugs you that bad, we just won't talk about him.” Her frown deepened, but he flashed a toothy grin at her...

 

“That's not good enough!” Kurai blurted out. She seemed to pale when they both looked at her, but she continued. “You can't just not talk about it... I mean, you need to reach some kind of agreement...” She gulped when Kira glared at her.

 

“Hey, stay out of this. It's none of your business; I don't know why you're even here-”

 

“She's right,” Alexiel snapped. “I... don't think things are working out between us.” She shook her head impatiently at his skeptical look. “It's not just about my brother! We never bother to reach an agreement about anything. You just want to forget about it and screw around...” She grinned, or maybe grimaced. “And I'm not saying you're not good for that much... but I can't even do that... when I'm disgusted by you.”

 

Kira stared at her. “I disgust you, though your brother doesn't...?” He laughed unpleasantly. “So, what? Are you breaking up with me?”

 

His eyes challenged her, and she met them. “Yeah, I guess so.”

 

Both the room's other occupants gaped at her for a moment. Kira dropped to his feet. “You bitch-” He pulled back a hand to slap her, but she caught his wrist. He scowled darkly at her in surprise, and then abruptly stamped out of the room.

 

In the silence that followed, Kurai reached out hesitantly to touch Alexiel's shoulder, but she didn't quite manage to because Alexiel crumpled to her knees. “I-I really just did that, didn't I?” she commented, laughing shakily and holding her head. Kurai was relived to see that she wasn't crying, because she didn't think she could've handled that.

 

“Yeah, you did,” Kurai assured her with a smile, kneeling down next to her. Alexiel saw the open admiration in her eyes, and grimaced.

 

“Yeah, well, I couldn't have done it without you,” she insisted. “I don't know... I just always ignored it before...” She rocked back onto her heals with a bemused expression on her face, and absentmindedly drew patterns on the floor with a finger. “Though you know, it's really my fault that it came to this... I just don't attract the right kind of guys. I'm too rough for them, I guess. Nice guys, they want a sweet girl - someone to protect. Look at Sara and Setsuna.” She smiled at Kurai. “Nice guys want someone like you.”

 

Kurai flushed. “Nuh-uh!” she objected, shaking her head rapidly for emphasis. “I don't even know what you're talking about! I'm a tomboy!” Abruptly, her expression softened, and she grinned with embarrassment. “And anyway... sometimes, you look like you need protecting, too.”

 

Alexiel stared at her for a moment, and then she chuckled. “Now I don't know what you're talking about. You've got to be the only person who's ever thought that.”

 

As Alexiel stood to go, Kurai laughed, and grabbed her hand, and they walked out that way.

 

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Katan smiled slightly to himself, secretly enjoying the breeze as he followed Rosiel away from the school building as usual. It was nice to have some good weather at least one more day before winter set in...

 

All in all, today had just generally been nice so far. He'd had a moment of fear when he'd woken up and Rosiel hadn't been there, but just as he was about to go looking for him, the man had stuck his head in the living room door and thrown a pack of poptarts at him, warning that they were going to be late. During first period Rosiel hadn't looked up once, spending the entire time working a particularly detailed version of his favorite doodle... but after that, he'd seemed to be feeling much better than the day before. He'd kept fairly quiet, but when he'd had to speak, it had been with his usual cool sophistication, making all the girls (and some of the guys) blush. It was only when they were alone, like now, that Katan saw how his shoulders slumped... Nevertheless, he considered it to be progress.

 

His calm feeling was suddenly shattered as someone pushed him roughly aside from behind. All he could see was a shock of black hair pulled back in a loose pony-tail, as the stranger grabbed Rosiel by the shoulder and whirled him around.

 

“You!” he snapped. “You're sick, you know that? Do you have any fucking idea?”

 

“What...?” Katan heard the amusement in Rosiel's voice, and mentally groaned in worry. Something was telling him that this wasn't likely to end prettily...

 

“I know you want her,” the man hissed - and Katan recognized him now. Rosiel froze. “You sick bastard. She broke up with me because of you! Bitch's probably already with you, huh? You're both sick!”

 

Kira's eyes were just a little crazy... What really concerned Katan, however, was how Rosiel was slowly slipping a hand into his pocket. He suspected a knife but didn't rule out a gun, since Rosiel usually preferred them... He didn't give himself time to decide, however, before he grabbed Kira's arm and forcefully pulled him back.

 

“Leave him alone,” he said coolly. He met Kira's eyes, and held them. “Alexiel isn't interested in him. You know that, don't you?”

 

Whatever Kira saw in his eyes, he only scowled back for a moment or two, before wrenching his arm free and stalking away in the direction he'd come, deliberately knocking his shoulder into Katan's on the way. “Go to hell!” he shouted, but even though he stressed it with a middle-finger salute, it somehow seemed to be an empty threat...

 

Rosiel watched as Katan absently rubbed he shoulder, but he supposed that no serious damage had been done. He raised his eyes, instead, to Katan's hard expression as he watched the more violent man go. A thought occurred to him, and he found it rather odd, that Katan always seemed to, well, there...

 

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AN: (bouncing up and down happily) My cat found my pirate duck! Er, that's relevant, really. Trust me. I'll let you know when I figure out how. But it makes me happy :) Review, please?