Vanilla

[Arihant]

((Don't worry My posts are probably going to get shorter too, seeing as how I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to learn how to Not Ramble))

He'd done it again, hadn't he?
He let go of Deron abruptly, suddenly. He honestly didn't care if the boy lost his balance, he deserved to go tumbling into the fountain (even though it would really make little difference, what with the driving rain and all). He deserved worse.
Arihant stood up, and muttered savagely in Hindi. "Goonda. Mein tumhe kabhi muaf nahii karuungaa."
He would have said it in English, but he had a feeling he'd made a big enough fool of himself already.
Why did he keep doing this? Wasn't it clear enough already? She didn't want to be protected. Not by him. Never by him. The Head of the Spies can take care of herself. The Head of the Spies doesn't need or want a murderer to threaten her boyfri-
But that wasn't what Deron was any more, was it? She'd just broken up with him...
He turned back to her and was horrified to see the full result of what Deron had just done. The bruise had grown and darkened, and - God, it looked painful.
If he had been of any use at all, he would have stopped that from happening.
"Kira, your chin..." he said, concern filling his voice, and he took a couple of steps toward her, before-
Before remembering. She. Knew. What. He. Was.
He stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry," he said, glancing to the ground. The remaining ashes of the rose still lay near his feet, becoming sodden in the gathering puddles.
She wouldn't want his help.
She wouldn't even want him near her.
"I'm sorry," he said again, but this time the words were so much harder to force out. Deron had distracted him, but he wouldn't forget the look she'd had on her face... what she had sounded like when she begged him to look at her... He was apologising for all that now, and more... Apologising for even knowing her at all. She didn't deserve that.
He would have to leave soon.
Leave and never come back.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Yes. Her chin.
She didn't have healing powers. She wasn't really much of a Carer. But she did have water. Kira glanced upwards towards the dark, swirling clouds above, dotted by the flecks of light they spat upon the world.
"I'm sorry."
Deron had gotten to his feet now, brushing himself off, but Kira didn't miss the dark flush to his cheeks. He was humiliated. Kira bit back a smile. It wasn't the most appropriate reaction, and besides, it would hurt. Instead, she stepped towards the gradually over-flowing fountain, and dipped her hand in the cool liquid.
When she lifted it from the fountain, a cool glove of water had encased her hand, which she now pressed against her jaw. The effect was instantaneously soothing. Gently, Kira's tongue moved across her loosened teeth, checking the damage.
Nothing a couple of Carers couldn't fix.
"I'm sorry." The repetition made Kira freeze.
"What for?"
The irony of the moment was something Deron, even on his exit, didn't miss. He snorted, glancing back at her, and mouthed the same words back at her.
"What for?"
He took another step, and in a couple of seconds, the shadows had enveloped him, and she could no longer see him. Instead, she looked back at Arihant, who had still not answered.
"Arihant, don't be sorry," she murmured.

[Arihant]

"Arihant, don't be sorry."
Was pity worse than revulsion?
Probably not. Revulsion hurt more... revulsion was closer to hate...
But revulsion made sense. Hate made sense. Pity didn't...
Monsters didn't get pitied. Monsters didn't deserve pity.
"I have to be." His voice was barely above a whisper, and, once more, he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He was so pathetic
Deron was gone now, he realised. That was probably just as well. If he saw him again...
Well. He didn't know what his reaction would be. But he was certain of two things - (a) he didn't want to hurt anyone else, and (b) said reaction would be in direct conflict with part (a).
Why did people - normal people, people who could have a life, people who were able to touch each other and be happy together - Why would they hurt someone else like that, when they could be happy? Arihant knew he'd never be able to really understand people...
... but if all normal people were like that, maybe he didn't really want to.
Whatever he was, though, was a million times worse than any normal person could even try to be. He wasn't supposed to be-
And Kira knew. He cursed himself now for telling her. Maybe now she was confused, maybe she'd forgotten for a moment, but soon...
Well, if she didn't hate him now, it wouldn't be long until she did.
"I should go," he said quietly, and he meant it. He didn't know where, though. He didn't know if he could survive back in Austria, alone, after seeing all this...
Well. He would have to. There was no other way.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Hmmph.
So that's how he was going to be.
Grim, sarcastic and despicably bleak as her mother was, everyone had that one remarkable quality. An stubborness existed within her mother; iron-like, sometimes almost to the point of incredulity, her mother's will would not- no, could not be bent lest hell itself rose up to beat it out of her.
Kira liked to think that she wouldn't break under the torrent of hell.
"No, you're not," she said simply; but much more loudly than he had. More definitely.
Now, all she had to put a bit of fight into it.
"Tell me, Arihant," she said sharply, "do you want to go home?"

[Arihant]

Her sharp tone surprised him, but not as much as her words.
How did she - how did she know he was going to go home- well, not home, but away from Orchid? How could she tell that he was going to run?
That's what Arihant did when things got hard. He ran. And no, he wasn't ashamed of it. It was a hell of a lot safer that he ran rather than stayed and added to his own personal body count.
"It doesn't matter whether I want to stay or not. This has never been about what I want," he said, and the last word came out more vehemently than he would have imagined possible.
He had to leave. There was no other way about it.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira had to stop herself from rubbing her hands together in glee. A fight; a fight; he had it in him too, then? Deron was proof of that, but as she'd learned, any schmuck could take on Deron, could they not? It wasn't hard. He exploded. You just had to squash the explosion.
But the mental pull of things was quite different from the physical one. If she had to; her orb-like eyes widened slightly in secret threat; she would.
She could stop him. He just didn't know it yet.
But, Kira reminded herself, that most likely broke a hundred thousand rules. It would have to be light; nothing to heavy; just to make him sit, and listen.
That's all.
Honest.
"Alright, then, Arihant, if it's not about what you want, then what about what I want?"

[Arihant]

This was getting beyond ridiculous. Arihant had no idea what the hell she was playing at, but whatever it was...
Well, it was cruel.
"Kira, don't take this the wrong way, but I can't believe that anyone would want to be anywhere near me after what I showed you a few minutes ago," he said angrily. He hadn't expected to get angry, but there it was.
Was this some kind of... revenge, or something? Whatever it was, it didn't make sense. Ask the monster to say. Have a chat with the monster. A little tete-a-tete.
"But go on, tell me. What do you want?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

She narrowed her eyes. "Obviously, Arihant, I want you to stay. Wanna' know why?"
Perhaps it was cruel of her to recognise this simple fact and abuse it, but people could, and would be manipulated. Why did Arihant want to leave? His morals. He couldn't touch her. What did he see himself as? A monster?
But since when did monsters have morals?
Morals could be used against you... couldn't they?
"Look," her fingers touched her skin, where the purple bruise still blossomed like a sick flower. "What would've happened to me if you hadn't stayed? You saw how angry he got. He would've hurt me." She tilted her head slightly. "You don't plan to hurt me, do you?"

[Arihant]

Now that was just confusing.
He tried to run his hand through his hair, as he always did when he was confused, but due to the approximate three litres of water that had gathered in there since this godd*mn rain had started, the gesture was not successful.
"Of course I don't plan on hurting you," he said, his voice more agitated than angry now. Couldn't she see that that didn't make a bloody iota of difference? He hadn't planned on hurting any of the other people. It's not like that stopped him.
"But, Kira, anyone would have stopped him from hurting you if they could. And even if I hadn't been here - come on, you're Head of the Spies, for goodness sake, and he - I gathered that he didn't have any powers at all, right?"
He looked down. "And I shouldn't have done what I did with... with his arm and everything. I mean, I still should have stopped him - I should have stopped him sooner - but, still."
There was no harm in telling her now. He was still going.
"I overreacted."
And he hadn't planned to overreact, either. Like plans made a scrap of difference.

((100th post! *dances*))

[Kira & Lee Norris]

What was this? An apology of some kind... for saving her?!
Jeez... if she wouldn't die doing it, she would've slapped the guy.
It was obvious to her that she'd have to buy more time to reason with him. Just a few more minutes, that was all, and she could win him over- she was sure of it. He wasn't paying attention to his own argument- she'd have to make him see that. She was Head of the Spies.
Could a Head not take care of herself?
She had the bloody enemy to worry about- Arihant wasn't a threat; he was her ally and friend.
She could be careful. It wasn't like she was randomly going to hug him, or kiss him or... or... ruffle his hair or something crazy. She understood the risks.
She could take care of herself. She didn't need him doing it for her.
Well, except in cases such as the one just past- with Deron, that was. She'd been more or less frozen to the spot.
"Arihant," she said gruffly, "will you... buy me an icecream?"
... that wouldn't seem random at all.

[Arihant]

Arihant just stared at her.
Now he was finding himself actually doubting her sanity - before, he didn't know, there could - there might have been some sensible reason behind her actions. Maybe something perfectly rational had been going through her mind. He didn't know.
But he couldn't imagine any sane cognizant thought that would result in such an abrupt change of subject.
She wanted ice cream? That didn't even make sense in the most normal of circumstances. It was night time, it was February, and it was absolutely pouring with rain. They were both soaked, and Arihant was sure that Kira had to be at least as cold as he was.
And they'd... He'd just shown her what he was capable of. And then he'd manhandled her boyfriend - well, ex-boyfriend, but still. And now they'd been fighting about all that had happened so far, and she...
She wanted ice cream.
He turned away slightly, pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply. This was just ridiculous. Really.
But...
Well. He was going to do it. He was just that pathetic.
"Where?" he asked, his voice lowered as hers had been. One ice cream, that was it. Then he could go.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira glanced around the Square; trying to spot the warm orange glow of an open shop through the dark sheet of rain. It took a few scans, and a couple of shadow shifts, but eventually, she spotted the little cafe she was looking for. Beckoning to Arihant, she led the way across the damp, cobbled ground, and came to knock at the cafe door. Immediately, it opened, and the sopping wet Kira and Arihant dripped their way across the door.
The owner didn't seem to mind as she hurriedly headed behind the counter. Business was business, after all, and business was slow in Cardsdale. She didn't mind a little puddle. It wouldn't take much effort to mop it up.
"Hello, kids," she said, completely unfazed by Kira's bruised jaw and the twos' sodden clothes. "Was the dance good, then?"
"It was... okay," Kira smiled as best she could at the woman. "Yeah. It was nice."
"Excellent, excellent," she replied, rubbing her chubby hands together. "So what'll it be?"
"Arihant?" Kira looked round at him expectantly. "What kind of ice-cream do you want?"

[Arihant]

He was grateful for the warmth of the shop. Of course, they were getting ice cream, so chances were that that warmth would be short-lived, but...
Still. It was nice for now. Everything about this was nice for now.
The vestiges of his anger were still swirling through his mind, clouding his thoughts. He didn't register Kira's lies about the dance until she was asking him about the ice cream. It took a while for him to respond.
"I don't know," he said, resisting the urge to say I don't care. He still didn't know what she was doing. And he was still more vulnerable than he'd ever been before in his life, so those two facts did not result in a happy Arihant. "I've never had it before."
That was true, actually. He'd always been curious. They just... hadn't had things like that in India, and he hadn't had the inclination in Austria.
And, really, the way his stomach was churning right now, he doubted he'd enjoy it too much.
"You decide."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Never had it?!" the woman cried dramatically, an expression of mock horror clouding her face. "Never tried ice-cream? Boy, you're in for a treat! Why not try this large chocolate treat- "
"Two small vanilla cones, please," Kira said tiredly, fishing in her bag for her money.
"- or this minty mouth-watering sundae- "
"Two small vanilla cones, please," Kira repeated firmly.
"- or this amazing fudge surprise- mmm, it's well worth the price-"
"No," Kira said, and the woman's enthusiasm fell flat. "We want two small vanilla cones."
"A small cone is so... small," she said, frowning. "It'll be gone before you know it."
"We'll savour it," Kira pushed her £1.20 forward. "Two small vanilla cones, please."
The woman shrugged as she picked up the two cones, walking over to the freezer; trying to hide her disappointment. "Your choice."

[Arihant]

He'd never quite appreciated how complex the world of frozen treats was. A thousand pastel colours were laid out in the freezer in front of him, each one with a little sign detailing what were presumably intended to be whimsical names such as 'Pooh Bear's Delight' and 'Forest Fruits and Cream'...
God, even snacks found some way to intimidate him. He was getting a little concerned about himself.
He was relieved to note that the vanilla icecream seemed to be the least complex of all of them - tucked away in the corner, pale and nondescript - He didn't care what it tasted like, he really didn't. He would just eat it and get out.
He took the icecream that the woman was brandishing toward him, thanked her, and, Kira following, quickly walked to one of the few tables that were placed in the corner of the small shop. He sat in one of the wooden chairs, picking the one that was facing the large clock on the opposite wall.
He took a few napkins and wrapped them round the wafer cone, rightly guessing that it would disintegrate quickly if it came in contact with his sodden gloves. (He was hardly going to take them off.) But he didn't lift the ice cream to his mouth.
It didn't really seem appropriate.
A minute ticked by on the loud second hand of the clock before Arihant took it upon himself to break the silence. He fumbled in his pocket, then slid two coins across the table - £1 and 20p -
"Here, I said I'd pay."
His voice was clear of all anger now. It was as calm as he could make it. He could see what was happening here. Somehow, Kira felt herself obliged to do this - he didn't know how or why, but that was what it was...
And he'd have to fix that.
He cleared his throat, then looked at her. He didn't know what it was that made him have to steel himself before looking into those endless blue eyes.
"Kira, I'm going to be honest here, I don't... I don't understand why you think you need to do this."
He looked back at the ice cream, and, quietly, said, "You don't have to. You really don't."