Accidents {Eiji}

[ĸara вelova★]

It was an unexpected explosion. It had happened so fast. She hadn't known what hit her, and she still didn't. But it had struck, and it struck hard. It left her crippled on the cave floor and gasping for breath. And she was crying, Kara was crying.

She hadn't cried for ages. Not real tears - the occassional 'please! I'm innocent! I didn't steal this silver pen in my pocket, I don't know how it got there!' crocodile variety. These were real, the first ones to surface for three to four years.

Her knees were curled to her chest and she hugged them tightly. One arm was being crushed and bruised by her knee, but she didn't care. There were all kinds of insects crawling around in her hair, but it didn't matter. Her sobs echoed around her, magnified by the cave walls. She hated it, hated the noise, hated that it was coming from her, hated how she couldn't stop.

It hadn't bothered her before. In fact, she had once welcomed the idea of death. That was when she had been alone, just her. She wasn't leaving anything behind then. But now she had something - someone who was more important to her than anything she'd ever owned, coveted, or nurtured.

It was torture, to know that she only had a year to be with him before death revisited and took her into his clutches for good. She was in agony, already feeling that loss. Forget about how much it would hurt him to lose her, Kara couldn't bare the idea of having to leave. She was selfish, she already knew this. She wanted to stay with him forever, because the rest of her life just wasn't good enough.

She had called Eiji, asked him to meet her in an hour by the caves at the Academy. He always had impecable timing, and Kara only had five minutes to pull herself together. With one last raspy, heart-wrenching sob she pushed herself to a sitting position. Wiping the dirt that had clung to her tears off her cheeks, the star-crossed teenager began to primp. Running her long, pale fingers through her nearly black hair, Kara untangled a few knots and bugs from the snarls. She dusted off her dark red plaid winter jacket, and as usual she wasn't wearing anything under it. Using the cave wall to help her to her feet, she brushed off her bottom and the right side of her leg. Then she heard something from outside.

"Eiji?" She called, voice cracking.

[Eiji Almasy.]

Technically, he wasn't too sure of the rules to know if he was really allowed to be on the Academy's grounds; not that it had ever stopped him before. If he was counting, which he wasn't, this particular visit would count somewhere near the tenth time he'd come to see her. It disturbed him a little, in that uncomfortable way that made him question his integrity, because he hadn't been pretending to see Kellan, Morgan or Teagan for a long time. Instead, he had been resorting to genuinely seeing her, and only her. If it struck him as being a little commitment-y, more than just disturbing, then he ignored it.

He actually thought he was spectacularly dressed down; his favorite pair of Timberland's despite the trek, his favorite Calvin Klein's and the hunter green thrift store shirt he had bought from Ralph Lauren. It wasn't at all casual, even if he looked it, but he liked to think so, all because he wasn't carrying anything other than his keys, wallet and phone; he'd misplaced his watch and was too slack to accessorize himself with anything else. His effeminacy never failed to amuse him, but the point was that even dressed as he was, everybody recognized him as he strode across the grounds, and they all knew that he was going to see Kara.

The meeting place had been an unusual request, but she was an odd girl and he had learned not to put that many things beyond her. Just on time, because he wasn't that efficient, he stood before the cave opening, a bemused expression on his face. He was sure she had a good reason for calling him out, and in the end, it was his curiosity that had him scuffing one foot then venturing into the mouth of the cave. His name rung around, not a moment later and he paused, his previous expression falling away into confusion.

"Kara?" he replied in the same questioning tone, except his meant more than just asking for her presence. She sounded as if she was caught on something, almost as if she'd been crying; and even if he didn't think that was possible, the sudden image of her buried underneath a pile of rubble had him quickly glancing around for her.

"You look-," but he cut off, ever tactful; "what happened?"
Eiji stepped closer to her, wary of her stained face and the mess of hair.
"Have you been crying?"

[ĸara вelova★]

She swallowed away the rasp in her throat when she heard her name called. He sounded more concerned than searching, and right before he rounded the corner, she tried to fix some stray pieces of her hair. Hands falling to her side the instant he looked at her, an expression of innocent confusion crossed over her face.

"What? No," Kara denied, shaking her head. An ant leapt out of her darn hair, "just waiting let's go."

She wasn't going to give him the opportunity to give her a full-doctor examination. Instead she grabbed him just above the elbow and aimed to steer him out of the caves. She'd wanted to meet him here because there were eyes everywhere else, and she was done with being judged.

Kara already knew she wasn't pretty, she knew she didn't deserve to be hanging around with someone as magnificent as Eiji. She didn't have to be reminded of it every time she passed girls like Jessica and her cronies in the halls. They didn't have to know every time Eiji came to visit her. She didn't need to be harrassed by their giggling and pointing. IT might mean getting a little dirty to avoid them, but Kara had never feared the grime of nature.

She was unaware of the caked-on dirt on her right cheek, where all the mud had accumulated from her quick brush aside. It looked like a skinny black tear-line running down her high cheek bone. There was also a thin twig lodged in her dark hair. She wasn't very patient.

Eiji should know by now that she wouldn't tell him if she was upset. He shouldn't even bother to ask. Kara was Kara, silent, stubborn, and - "Come on!" - impatient.

[Eiji Almasy.]

He didn't make a very cooperative puppet, and so dragged his feet when she began to lead him out of the caves.
"You smell like ant," he told her, nose screwing up in small distaste at the chemical smell of the bug, "and sand. Did you touch the floor?"

He pulled himself out of her grasp and stepped in front of her, a huff of an expression on his face. He brushed away the ant on her shoulder and began dusting off the dirt she had mysteriously acquired. There was a twig in her hair, and he raised a particularly incredulous eyebrow at her. He tossed the twig aside and ran his thumb over her face before she could pull away.

"This was a bad choice to meet at," he told her, quite solemn and he contemplated fixing her hair for her.
"You should know I'm allergic to dirt, it reacts badly with the cotton I sometimes wear."
It wasn't that he liked the sound of his own voice, it was more his roundabout way of telling her that he cared; enough to not want to see her dirty, to know that whatever she was planning, it wasn't worth it.

[ĸara вelova★]

Kara stared at him incredulously at his first statement. Ant? How could someone smell like an ant?

"I fell," she explained, shrugging away from his cleansing hands, even aiming to swat at it when it went for her hair. Then he was blocking the exit. No puppet no! Not only was he being difficult, but he was fighting her. At his talk about dirt and cotton, Kara rolled her eyes. At least he was making it easier for her to pretend everything between them was normal.

"Maybe you shouldn't hang out with me then," Kara suggested, as she'd said many times before. Of course she never meant them; if Eiji ever left her, she would fall apart. They both knew it, but never said it. He had never been subtle. There was no reason to expect that his exit would be quiet.

"Lucifer, take me," she demanded, "take me far away from here. Take me to your house, or into town. Just get me away from here."

Her hand found his, a gesture she'd learned from him, and would only use on him, and pulled him out of the cavern. She peered up at the sky through the trees - it was cloudy. It would be a long walk. Maybe they'd get somewhere and get stuck and never be able to come back. She liked the sound of that plan.

Because with Eiji, he could sometimes make her forget how ugly she was. And here, she was reminded of it every day.

Just take me.

[Eiji Almasy.]

"Don't be stupid," was his instant reply, and whether he meant it for her excuse or suggestion was never quite explained. He stared at her for a moment, the look on his face uncharacteristically hard, even a little offended; he was so sick of everybody, seemingly even Kara, undermining his decision to befriend her. Whatever her insecurities, and no matter what the others were saying, she was good enough for him, and it frustrated him that that wasn't enough.

His annoyance ebbed away as soon as she took his hand and the sudden feel of her left his face warm. If anybody was unsure of themselves, it was Eiji. Being around Kara sometimes left him unable to speak properly, and not knowing what to do, or how to react, made him uncomfortable and just a touch less full of himself.
"Okay," he agreed, because denying her wasn't really an option, and he stepped before her, tugging on her hand.

"We'll go the long way, to my car," he told her, looking back at her.
"You can see my room," he suggested, a wicked tilt to his grin but he only squeezed her hand once, letting her know he wasn't being serious, only an ass. When he turned to face the front once more, his grin slipped and a small frown took its place. The concern he felt hadn't left yet, and he wondered what had brought on her change.

[ĸara вelova★]

Kara just scowled when he chastised her for her suggestion. The awkward girl let him take the lead; she wouldn't admit it, but she'd gotten a little lost in coming here and wasn't sure which way the parking lot was. Her hand shifted in his so that her fingers locked more securely between each of his, stabalizing herself as she stepped down from the cave lip after him. When he spoke of his room, Kara shot his ear a glare. Ear, because she didn't really want to look him in the eye.

His reassuring hand-squeeze forced her to look away so she could swallow away the uncharacteristic smile that threatened to soften her irritation, and once it was banished she looked ahead. Because she was so adament about not staring at him longer than was necessary, Kara missed the slight change in his cocky smirk. Had she seen the concern in his eyes, she might have tried to do something to change it. But alas, she was stubbornly staring through the trees, following Eiji wordlessly, blindly trusting him to guide her where they were supposed to go.

"How many floors does your house have?" she inquired. She'd lived in a house with one and a half floors. A half because their staircase only had six steps to it, and their living room ceiling was only six feet off the ground. Kara couldn't stretch her arms any higher than a couple inches above her head. Eiji obviously didn't live in a one-floor house. His outfit screamed at least three stories. Kara wasn't sure if she was ready to see where Eiji thrived. His expensive lifestyle would probably make her uncomfortable, but she'd lie if that possibility was heavier than her curiosity. Seeing where he lived would probably explain more about him than he realized. Then Kara could judge him easier, slap that evasive label on him, and finally decide he wasn't anything special.

What Kara was worried about though, was that even if Eiji proved to be just a rich, snobby mama's boy, he'd still hold that strange, inexplicable allure. He was like some sort of shiny object she couldn't tear herself away from. The ultimate item of her collection, one that meant more to her than anything.

And his image simply refused to tarnish.

"You smell funny," Kara accused.