Rabid Pair

1.9

Mark turned and looked. "Hold on. I see something else in the sky. Let me send Huck and Tom over to see what it is."

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Do you think that-"

Mark shushed me. "Let me focus."

Three people attached to parachutes were falling from where the Moby Dick fell from. I sniffled as I waited for Mark's answer to my very pressing question.

Mark turned to me with an unreadable expression. "Alice." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't hurt your leg while running over to him." He smiled sweetly.

I gasped excitedly. "You mean-?"

Mark nodded.

Hugging him, I said, "Oh my god! This is great! Write about me in your biography!" I smiled with tear-stained eyes, turned into a cat, and ran as fast as my little legs could carry me.

As I was running, I could hear Mark say, "Of course! I'll send you a copy!"

My pace slowed as I saw Atsushi hugging a little girl. The president of the Agency was facing Akutagawa while Dazai was walking towards him. I jumped up onto Akutagawa's shoulder and nuzzled into him.

Akutagawa didn't even miss a beat of his conversation. "Please see my strength now."

"I don't know..." Dazai got even closer.

I hissed and pawed at the bandaged man. Akutagawa tilted his head slightly towards me to make me stop.

"You seem to be at your limit."

Akutagawa clenched his fists. "That's irrelevant. I am-"

Dazai put his hand on Akutagawa's other shoulder. "You've grown strong." Dazai stated.
Akutagawa started to fall back. I changed back into a human, fell on my butt, and Akutagawa's head landed on my lap.

As I was groaning, Dazai said, "Oh, whoops."

I moved Akutagawa's hair out of his face.
"Thanks for saying that, Dazai-san."

Dazai smiled down at me and turned to go off with the Agency members that were leaving the scene.

A couple more tears fell from my face onto Akutagawa's. "I'm so sorry. I should have listened. I'm so so so so sorry." I whispered. "I love you so much, Aku. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Slowly, Akutagawa sat up and faced me. "I love you too, Aliceina." He placed a weak hand on my cheek and kissed me.

When we pulled away I hugged him tightly. "I thought I lost you. Don't you dare do a mission like this on your own ever again, I'll have a heart attack."

"What made you change your mind all of the sudden?" Akutagawa helped me up. "You seemed done with me on the phone yesterday."

"If you guys were really just using me to get rid of The Guild, you wouldn't have placed a tracker in my hand after Tachihara administered my punishment. You needed to know where The Guild was staying to take them out from the inside." I stated.

Akutagawa rolled his eyes, "I told you not to listen to them."

"But, you wouldn't tell me why." I complained.

"You are such a child." Akutagawa kissed the top of my head.

Shortly after that a van pulled up for us and Akutagawa helped me in. Akutagawa and I argued over the fact that both he and I needed medical assistance, but both of us wanted to go home. He said I needed medical attention; I said he needed it. In the end we both ended up at the apartment. The two of us stumbled our way up the stairs and collapsed onto the bed.

"I still need to go to Europe." I muttered into the pillow.

"Huh?" Akutagawa was lying on his back.
I rolled over. "I said: I still need to go to Europe."

"Can we just-" His coughing cut him off. "-talk about it tomorrow, please?"

"Fine by me." I paused. "You're welcome by the way."

"For what?"

"Catching you when your senpai finally noticed you."

Rashomon covered my mouth. "Goodnight, Aliceina." He paused. "I was worn out for your information."

I mumbled out my goodnight and rolled over, basically on top of him. Rashomon released me and we both fell asleep.

The next morning, Akutagawa and I ignored the events of yesterday. Though, we didn't say much to each other. Getting ready peacefully with each other was enough. Of course as soon as we got to the office, Akutagawa was summoned to Mori's office. Shortly after he left, the phone on my desk rang.

"Hello?"

"Aliceina, can you come to my office?" Chuuya stated with an unreadable tone.

"Sure." I hung up the phone and gathered my crutches. When I got to his office, the door was opened so I just went in. "Chuuya?" I pursed my lips when I didn't see him. I shrugged to myself and sat down. I waited for too long for my liking, but I sat.

"Sorry, Ali, I had to do something after I called you." Chuuya closed the door. "So, there's a interesting news headline going around. Something about an heir to a throne."

I rolled my eyes. "I did what I had to do."

Chuuya shook his head. "No, I understand. You're going back."

"I mean-"

"Akutagawa, Higuchi, and Tachihara will be accompanying you." Chuuya cut me off.

"Hold on a second." I spoke over him. "I need like a PR or something if I'm going to fix all of that shit that Francis started. You guys don't really trust me to fix this, do you?"

"Of course we don't expect you to speak out on your own. That would be Higuchi's job." Chuuya explained that she's very good at talking and partially fooled the agency once. He also went on to explain that Tachihara and Akutagawa were coming along for security purposes. Higuchi and Tachihara were already briefed on what is assignment would be. "I will try to come up, but Mori doesn't want too many members over seas if possible."
"Whoa, wait a second." I held up my hands, "how long is this assignment?"

"As long as it has to be." Chuuya offered me a small smile. "Even though this isn't your fault, it's your mess to clean up. Take as much time as you need to fix it properly."

"Does Akutagawa know?"

"Mori's letting him know as we speak."

"And when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow evening." Chuuya stated while handing me some paperwork. "Higuchi and Tachihara will pick you two up around four. The Royal Air Force knows you guys are coming."

I shrunk down the papers and sat back. A long breath escaped through my lips, not that I was trying to keep it in. My gaze was fixed on the floor as I began slowly nodding my head.

"Mother..." I muttered. "I'll be meeting my mother..." A weak chuckle let my mouth. "Okay." I looked back up at Chuuya. "This is fine. I'm going to get my leg checked out by the Doc... see you." I left Chuuya's office.

Okay so this was the last chapter that was finished on the google doc that Ash shared with me so I'm assuming this book will be on a short pause. -Jasper