[CLOSED]

[hiheelboots]

WHO: Lenalee Lee, Daisya Barry, Yu Kanda
WHAT: Kanda is missing again, Daisya is fighting the Call and Lenalee is dealing with dreams and visions of the two boys she loves as bloodthirsty cats. The two try to find some comfort.
WHERE: The Exorcists' home
WHEN: The morning after Lenalee's nightmare

Comments

[sh_hereisgone]

Daisya looked at her and smiled weakly. "Nah," he said softly. "I'm fine." Truthfully, he didn't want to sleep because when he did, he had nightmares about going to the jungle, following the Call, and letting everything he loved go. He was sick with worry for Kanda, but more than that, he was absolutely stricken at the way the swordsman had treated Lenalee.

Both of them, actually.

He closed his eyes and leaned against her anyway, but he knew he wouldn't sleep. "Did you manage to rest?" he finally asked softly, looking up at her. "Those nightmares... are you still havin' 'em?"

[hiheelboots]

"I rested a little," she said. "The nightmares are still there. And when I'm awake, there's visions. Flashes." She leaned her head against his. "I'm fighting them. I have to. I want to help you, and I want to help Kanda." She sighed, and decided to say something halfway cheerful. "I met a lot of nice people through my journal last night. You'll probably be meeting some of them soon, they want to help."

She didn't want to tell him the last thing that had been in her journal, her frantic and futile effort to keep Aya from answering the Call. Knowing that Ken had ended up in the same condition would absolutely crush Daisya -- and make him vulnerable again.

[sh_hereisgone]

"Ah," he said softly, putting his arms around her and resting his head against hers. "Maybe you should sleep here, huh? I'll be just fine..."

He smiled at the mention of the people she'd met. He'd tossed his own journal out the window - literally - after trying to bring Kanda back. It hadn't been successful, and it was making it harder for Daisya to resist the Call. He had literally forced Schuldich, House, and Kanda into the back of his mind. His first concern - his only concern - was for Lenalee.

Slowly, he reached up to stroke her hair, closing his eyes again. "'m sorry to put you through this," he whispered. "I'm... startin' to feel better, though."

[hiheelboots]

"Daisya, it's not your fault," Lenalee said. "None of it is. It's just a sickness, and you'll be able to fight it." The cat vision snapped into her head again, as vivid and terrible as if she'd suddenly been dropped headfirst into the jungle, and she tensed, but once again forced a counterimage into her head of Daisya as he had been at the ball.

This is what he really is, she told whatever inside her was causing this. Not the animal.

The vision faded again, and she relaxed, feeling more exhausted than ever. She forced herself to keep talking, though, for his sake. "When you're well," she said, "we'll go back into town. We never got to go to that bakery, did we? And we need to stop back at that shop and get you a couple more scarves."

[sh_hereisgone]

Daisya was happy, listening to her talk like that. He liked hearing plans for the future, because that meant there was a future to look forward to... and right now, he needed something to focus on. "Yeah," he said, nodding slightly. "I'd like a few more scarves... those're really nice."

He blinked when he felt her tense, and held her tighter when she relaxed. "Hey," he said softly. "We also gotta go swimmin' still, yeah? I... that swimsuit of yours..." He blushed fiercely and ducked his head a bit. "I, um, I wanna see it again. On you. In the water."

He wasn't sure how much more of an idiot he could sound like, but he had a feeling if he kept talking he'd find out soon... so he just closed his mouth, hoping she wouldn't laugh at him.

[hiheelboots]

She blushed lightly at the way he talked about her wearing the swimsuit -- but most of all, she liked hearing him talk about swimming. Cats hate water, she thought, so the fact that he wanted to go in it was a very good sign.

"You'll see it," she said. "And I want to see you in yours, too." She smiled at him. "We'll make a day of it. We'll take a picnic down to the creek, and a blanket to lay out on after we swim. We might even be able to get . . ."

Automatically, she was going to say, "We might even be able to get Kanda into the water." But that was a subject she didn't want to bring up, not when his spirits were starting to lift.

So, she finished the sentence with, ". . . something of a suntan, I've gotten very pale lately."

[sh_hereisgone]

Daisya nodded, smiling broadly. "I'd like that," he said. "'m so used to spendin' all my time outside that bein' indoors so much is gettin' to me... an' I wanna swim again. A lot. I've missed that most of all..."

He sighed a bit, then smiled at the idea of a picnic with her. His heart ached briefly when he realized Kanda likely wouldn't be there, but he shoved it aside. He couldn't afford to think of him now. "I'd like that... spendin' the whole day with you. If you can put up with me for that long."

[hiheelboots]

"I'm more than going to put up with you," she said, running her fingers along his arm. "I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. You know how much fun I had on our shopping trip?"

The trip seemed a billion years away now. Life at the Order seemed a trillion years away. Sometimes, it felt like she'd been in Rivelata all her life, and her years at the Order were some kind of hallucination.

[sh_hereisgone]

He nodded. He'd enjoyed the trip as well, more than he'd thought possible... and just being with her now was making his heart speed up a bit, especially when she touched his arm like that.

"Yeah," he said, smiling and hoping he wasn't blushing again. "I'm ... I'm glad. An' we gotta get ice cream, too, at some point..."

[hiheelboots]

"I'd forgotten about the ice cream date," she said. "We'd talked about that a long time ago, didn't we? Right after the ball." She stroked his arm again. "I wish we could have gotten a picture taken at the ball, before . . . before everything started happening."

That was the beginning of the never-ending nightmare. Bodyswitch, Kanda running off on the rescue mission injured, Kanda appearing back at the house vomiting blood, madness, cat metamorphosis . . .

The moments of calm and happiness here had been few and far between. Maybe that's what made times like their shopping trip all the sweeter.

[sh_hereisgone]

Daisya shifted so he could put both his arms around her, and he rested his cheek against her hair. "Don't worry about it," he said softly. "It'll work out somehow... you know that. We're stronger than all this... we're Exorcists, yeah? We're stronger."

It seemed like he was the one who needed the reminder more than her, and he sighed faintly, hugging her tighter. "I'm just so glad you're here, Lenalee. I... I love you."

[hiheelboots]

"I love you, too," she said, and when he held her, there was no flash of cat vision at all. Not even a feeling of dread. She wondered if that meant he had beaten it, or was on the verge of beating it. "I'm so sorry I went crazy last night. I know you would never hurt me."

[sh_hereisgone]

"Never," he vowed, holding her tightly and kissing her hair softly. "Never, never. I'd die first... I don't ever wanna hurt you, Lenalee." Just the very idea brought tears to his eyes, and he shivered a little. "Never."

[hiheelboots]

"Maybe I'll be able to sleep better tonight," she said. "Can . . . can we sleep in the same room? If I have another nightmare, I'll feel a lot better when I wake up if you're there."

[sh_hereisgone]

"You w-wanna...?" He blushed bright red, but nodded. "Yeah... yeah, sure, of course." He smiled and hugged her gently. "I think I would too."

[hiheelboots]

"Thank you," she said, and leaned over, pressing her lips gently to his.