Day 28; Bus 3
There was, Naomi decided, some sort of cosmic irony in all of this. Not that she was trapped in a deranged and possibly other-worldly asylum with a man she'd idolized for years and a boy who was being investigated for - among other things - the murder of her fiance. No, at this point, those were perfectly normal occurrences. Rather it was the
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"Youth does not excuse you," Aidou hissed back, deeper than Allen, and more fierce. Older than his age, colder than ice, and more disgusted then he'd been in a long while. "Who do you think you are that you may withhold such information? Yes, it was horrid, and so what? You're only of many who has experienced the same thing - what gives you the right to put your emotions first and wallow like a pig in self-deprecation under these circumstances!? Your pain is not important. Your misery is not important. What is important is accepting the fact that you are only one person. Don't you dare think you are above the situation, don't you dare think you have the right to mock me, and don't you dare think you get to decide who is worthy of your attention."
How dare a child be so wrapped up in his own grief and think it was okay to remain like that? It wasn't! It just wasn't! Aidou tried, he tried to move past it every single time the tattoo throbbed, but here was this arrogant piece of filth who put his delicate little feelings on a pedestal.
If there was one thing he could critique about Kaname-sama, it was that. And Aidou despised seeing it reflected here. He could feel his heart pounding furiously.
When he finally released Allen, he didn't push. He just stepped back. Disgusting. Totally disgusting. "I'll do it myself," he repeated. "I would never accept help from such a coward."
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"If anyone seems to think themselves high and mighty, it's you, not me," Allen said, his voice a little less sharp, a bit more cowed. "I've already passed on that information to others who will use it properly. Dare... dare... as long as I take the consequences for my actions, I can do whatever I dare. And... and if that makes me a coward, then so be it. Rather that than whatever self-important piece of trash you think you are."
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He smothered a yawn as he moved into the third bus, having to duck a bit to fit his lanky frame in the slightly cramped environment. When he caught sight of Hanabusa, he hid a wince. It was too early (too late?) to deal with an ill tempered cousin. But apparently he was going to have to step in before the nurse's did.
"You can't judge what someone's like so quickly," he said as he stood behind Aidou, looking down at Allen with a mild expression. There was a warning in his eyes though, a message to not prod past patience already stretched thin.
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"Allen Walker, you are more than a coward. You are ignorant and shameful, and above all, you are dishonorable. I'm afraid I prefer my integrity to your debased ethics. But do enjoy your childish logic while it lasts."
Tilting his head, never once looking back at his cousin, Aidou signaled their exit. His eyes were dancing with dark, caustic reproach, trained on Allen's face as they were.
"Let's go, Akatsuki. There's no time to waste on his kind."
And wasn't that the truth. Utterly disgraceful.
[moving here]
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He could only watch with a cold anger as the boy walked away with his friend. He was too affected by his own rage to notice the other boy's apologetic look, offered no doubt, as some kind of consolation for his friend's terrible manners. Allen sat after a moment, his fist sinking deeply into the seat in front of him as he struck it. There was a considerable dent, but Allen had a hard time making himself care.
As if that wasn't enough, the icing on the cake was watching Rinali walk past him without so much as acknowledging his presence. That hurt more than anything the other boy could have said. His head sank down and he leaned forward, resting it on the seat in front of him. Maybe he really was as pathetic as that boy had said. Maybe...
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The nurse let go of her hand once they were to the front and directed Rhode to sit quickly so she wouldn't be hurt in case there was an accident. She nodded happily, then looked up at the white hair of what was most definitely her Allen. He seemed... detached? She cocked her head at how he had his own leaning forward into the seat. So cute, something must have happened the last Night that made him like this.
Maybe he'd gotten touched by the ghost woman again! If he had...
Then he was so vulnerable right now.
She quickly slid up into the seat and latched onto his arm before he knew she was there. Her head bent down to his ear, and she quietly whispered, "Hello, Allen Walker~" as slowly and quietly as she possibly could. The delight in her tone was unmistakable.
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Just as he let out a sigh, he felt something take hold of his arm and a familiar voice whispering in his ear. He jerked away immediately, edging as far from her as he could without physically jumping out the bus window. "Rh-rhode! Just leave me alone, can't you?" Apparently Ravi and Kanda had either had no luck with her, or had abandoned the assignment completely. He was supposed to talk to Renji and Rukia about her... today? He wasn't sure... he didn't really care to think much about last night.
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That's right. Allen hadn't showed last night!
"Why didn't you come last night, Allen?" she pouted. Her words were playful, but there was actually just a bit of sadness in her tone right alongside the playing. Had he really intended to stand her up like that? To leave her all alone like she didn't even exist? She wouldn't be happy if she heard that he had been with his friends over her.
Allen Walker wasn't supposed to leave her alone like that.
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"What... are you talking about?" Allen's face looked puzzled at the young girl. Did she know that Ravi and Kanda were supposed to have tailed her? Had something happened to them? Worry crossed his face for a moment, though he tried to dismiss it.
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Half of that was a lie. She'd waited half of the night for him, then spent the rest dancing in the bloody showers and bathroom, and she had enjoyed every minute of that later half. Still, the fact that Allen hadn't shown up when she had been there irked her. He may very well have gotten there after she had left in search of the blood scent, but that was no excuse! Not in her mind.
When he sat back down, she grabbed and held to his arm again. He was supposed to be hers and no one else's whenever she wanted. When she waited for him - when she had the patience to do that instead of go look for him herself - he was supposed to come! That's how it worked. This time Rhode hadn't taken any hostages or forced him into the Ark for her games though. She couldn't understand that missing things like hostages or time limits meant that Allen wouldn't go looking for her. Wasn't he trained by now? Perhaps not. He would have to be trained again to understand what it meant to be one of her toys. Once she got out of here, she would make sure that he was broken.
For now, she could guilt trip him like no tomorrow. He had stood her up, and that just wouldn't do! A pout returned at his slightly worried expression. Had Allen really intended to just leave her alone? But he was supposed to be kind even to his enemies. That wasn't the Allen she knew and adored. Not at all! It scared her to think that something here might have changed the kind exorcist she knew into another run-of-the-mill exorcist lacking in kindness.
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He had said he'd play with her, though he couldn't remember giving her something so specific as the Sun Room during night time. But if she really had waited... that seemed odd in and of itself.
"I'm not going to come and fetch you every night. I had important things to do."
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Allen Walker didn't have that out; she knew his only family had been that Akuma who cursed him. There were no Akuma here, and ever if there were, that one wouldn't be amoung them. Allen had killed his beloved father, the man who had left him cursed.
His defense of having not shown up at all nearly made her sick. She picked through every inference she could find in his words and whittled them down to a basic sentence: "You weren't important enough." That's really what he'd said, wasn't it? Or what he had meant.
She wasn't important enough to him?
What a naughty doll he was being! Very bad! She had a mind to start scolding him right then and there, but she wasn't able to channel her irritation into words at all. Something was unfortunately keeping her from speaking out on more than a quick reflex as her earlier words had been. Something cold that made that basic sentence stab her far deeper than anything that would ever pierce a Noah.
"Why did you leave me alone, Allen?" When the words eventually formed, they were slow, and though her own, reflected nothing of what Rhode had intended them to. No irritation or scolding, not even a trace of playfulness. Nothing that was really Rhode as she was supposed to be. Only the flat, cold sadness of what a nearly faded curse had turned into a lonely little girl.
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"Let go Rhode!" he said in a hissed whisper. "I had other things to do, there were people in trouble! It would be a lot better if you'd just stay in your room and sleep at night like a good girl." Did the nurses really expect him to babysit her like this?
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"That's even worse. My roommate's a boring human, you know." Rhode could barely stand being around something so weak as that. Allen should at least be happy that she'd yet to kill the red-haired girl she was forced to share a room with, but nooooo, he wanted her to stay in that room with her! Surely he could see just how bad an idea it was telling a Noah to deal with such annoyance.
If Rhode did end up killing her because Allen had wanted her to "stay put", then she'd be sure to make Allen deal with that guilt. Oh, now there was an idea!
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Allen fidgeted, still trying to extricate himself from her grasp. He was not about to spend the entire day walking around with Rhode like he was her babysitter... or worse, like some kind of horrible date. "What is it you want from me?"
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"So I decided, if I was going to get involved with anyone, it would be you."
Word for word what she had said to him. She remembered his expression afterwards too. How his confusion had quickly turned to shock once she'd ordered that Level Two's self-destruction. How he'd jumped head first into an explosion to try and save that pathetic human's soul. How that Rinali girl had slapped him for it. And how she'd laughed. Such delightful memories of their first encounter. Yes, Rhode knew exactly why she had chosen Allen Walker and what she wanted from him for that decision.
But the game would be no fun were she to tell him that so easily. Her eyes trailed away from his face for a minute to think. What was all right to say? What did she want to say, actually? Come to think of it, she had been scolding him over one particular issue since she'd sat down with him, so there was as good an option as any!
"Say you won't leave me alone," she answered directly, her eyes setting firmly back to look at his own.
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