C'est La Vie (Vincent)

[Angel Simons]

"Come on, Mr Hiei. Keep up," she instructed, grabbing his hand to pull him along with her. She hadn't even realised she'd done it at first. It was just a reaction to make sure he walked alongside her rather than behind her. "So how's your life been after we lost contact all those many years ago?" She asked him, the smile still on her face. She looked at him, keeping eye contact. For some reason, Angel tried to keep as much eye contact as possible. Maybe it was to make up for all the time she had lost with him.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked, not waiting for an answer before continuing. "Where did you go those years ago? You disappeared and I never saw you again after that. It was just after I had come back to Hogwarts... I saw you once, I think, and you disappeared. Did I do something?" She asked, wondering if it was her fault. It made sense. After seeing her once, she did something and scared him away. It made sense to her. If she did do something, she'd feel guilty, but at least she'd know if it was her or not.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent was walking staring at Angel’s hand, still clasping his hand. He did not clasp back. It was strange how socially inept one can become by spending so much time without friends or acquaintances. Vincent cleared his throat.

‘It wasn’t you,’ he said softly. ‘I just... went home. I’d rather not talk about it...’

He did not even think about it much anymore but he still could not bring himself around to talking about it.

‘So yeah,’ he continued, struggling for words. ‘You look... you know? Like... you know... alright... and stuff.’

[Angel Simons]

Angel laughed a little. "Well thank you," she replied, choosing to ignore the comment about going home. At least it wasn't you, she thought, glad about that. She realised that he was uncomfortable about it, and decided not to interrogate him, hoping that he'd tell her when he was ready. She decided that grabbing his hand may have been a bad idea, so she quickly dropped it and just let him start walking behind her again.

"You look alright too," she said, still laughing a little. "Since when did you become so awkward around human life?" She asked, trying to get to know the 'new' him a little better. She figured she'd better at least try and get to know him. He may be right. Maybe he was still himself.

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[Vincent Hiei]

‘Pleasant conversation is a little different than conning people out of spare change,’ replied Vincent with a slight glare.

Vincent cleared his throat again and rubbed his hands together nervously trying to find the right words.

‘What I meant was,’ he struggled looking into her eyes, ‘... You’re just as beautiful as I remember. Even more so, if that’s possible.’ He started to blush. His embarrassment got the better of him and he turned to look straight ahead, quickly changing the subject. ‘So where’ve you been hiding all this time?’

[Angel Simons]

"Do not glare at me, Mr Hiei. I am not the timid girl I used to be, and I will not sit back and just take the looks. You're lucky I even gave you this chance, so don't blow it with the evil looks, alright?" Angel warned, her face perfectly calm and there was a small smile where a frown should be. After many times of trying, Angel realised that the more calm you were when snapping at someone, the less likely they are to do it again. It was odd, but it worked.

His next comment, however, made Angel blush. More so than she would have done ten years before. She didn't know whether that was because she wasn't used to it or because it was just him. It was more likely to be the second one, though. She didn't believe him, of course. This was Angel. Still, it was nice to hear for a change. Angel had never believed compliments. She didn't know why. They just didn't take in her brain. In one ear and out of the other.

"I was in France. After the divorce with Jason checked out, I was under eighteen and had to go back to the orphanage since I had no parental consent to live on my own. However, the orphanage had no room so they sent me to a French boarding school to finish my education and such. Have only just had enough courage to come back..." She failed to mention that another reason she came back was because she had to pick up all of the money left to her, all £11 million of it. She was shocked at how much the total came to, but then remembered that her parents were very very wealthy people, and her Aunt and Uncle weren't that bad off either.

"What made you come back?" She asked, before finding a good place to sit down on the grass. She sat down gracefully, the elegance that the French school had taught her shining through every one of her actions and the French accent making her sentences much more flowing, but a lot harder to understand. She gestured for him to sit down, smiling a little at him. It was almost like old times, and that's what Angel loved about it. She hated that he kept mentioning the bad things though.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent took his jacket off and dropped himself onto the floor with much less elegance than Angel. Taking the t-shirt out of his pocket he began to fold it before resting it under his head as a makeshift cushion, laying shirtless in the sun. He could still feel the effects of the drugs and for a second he could feel himself drifting off to sleep. Quickly realising he shook his eyes open.

‘I came back because I had nowhere else to go,’ Vincent answered staring up into the sky. ‘I’ve found that people don’t hassle you quite as much here as in the Muggle world.’

He felt the urge to reach for his cigarettes again but let out a sigh when he once again realised that he had none.

[Angel Simons]

Angel stared at him for a moment, thoughts rushing through her head. You have to stop this, Angel Simons. If it's your one goal in life, this has to be it. Stop him from doing this. It's hurting him so much, even if he can't see it. This isn't him and it certainly isn't who you want him to be... Angel opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again, trying to think of a better way to word what she was trying to say. "Are you happy with what you've become?" She asked softly, her head down, for once not trying to get eye contact with him.

She tilted her head to the side a little, something she often did when she was confused or questioning someone, and looked up at him through under her hair. He can't have changed that much, could he? She asked herself, a little confused how he could change so much in ten years or so. She couldn't help but wonder if he still felt the same for her as he did back then. I doubt it, Angel. Ten years is a long time, and he's different now. People change, feelings change. Time goes on and people have lived their lives and created some without you. You can't just slip back into their lives. That's wrong.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. It's none of my business at all," she said quickly, lowing her head in what appeared to be shame.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent thought about it for a second.

‘Happy?’ he mumbled. ‘I’m not sure I can even remember what that feels like any more.’

He moved his hands, interlocked his fingers and placed them under his head. He was growing more and more sleepy but fought the urge to drift off. That would not really be fair, he thought. Not after Angel had made the effort to keep his company, anyway.

‘I do what I have to,’ he continued. ‘I don’t particularly like it but at the same time I don’t care because it’s how I get by.’

[Angel Simons]

Angel hesitated with her next question. She didn't know how to phrase it and she wasn't completely sure whether she would like the answer. "Have you ever hurt someone deliberately? While doing this whole... Thing?" She asked him quietly, afraid of the answer. Her head was down and her eyes were closed. She wasn't even aware that she was holding in her breath until she let out a large sigh. Her hands were balled into fists, and she didn't realise quite how hard until she noticed blood running down her palms from where her nails had broken the skin.

Angel didn't know why it was such a large deal to her. You've hurt many people, Angel. Far too many... Even though you grew out of it, and no longer do it. You can't blame him for it if you've done worse, which is highly likely... Her head hung in shame. Angel, ever since leaving Hogwarts, had tried to forget about those few years of her life, but to no avail. That voice still kept tormenting her about it in her head. It would never go away, and Angel hated that.

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[Vincent Hiei]

‘Strangely enough I’ve never had to,’ he replied. ‘They either hand over what they’ve got when they see the blade... it’s quite upsetting hearing some of the things the women say to you when they think you’re doing it to take advantage of them.’

Vincent sniffed and rubbed his nose slightly. He hadn’t realised but one eye had was blinking slightly faster than the other causing his eyelids to perform what could only be described as a mini, two person Mexican wave.

‘Or,’ he continued, ‘they realise that I’m not quite as rough as I make myself out to be and beat me up.’

[Angel Simons]

Angel smiled, pleased about that. "Or they talk back to you and then scare you into getting off of them," she said, smiling at him. Her smile then turned into a frown, however, when she saw what he was doing. "Get some sleep," she instructed, making sure he realised that it was not a request, but an order. "I'll still be here when you wake up," she promised, smiling a little at him. She figured he needed sleep. Hell, he looked like he did. "Go on," she ordered, waving her hand at him a little.

She then summoned one of her books and opened it to the page she was on, flickering her gaze back to Vincent every now and then to make sure he was at least trying to sleep, however it wasn't too long before Angel got tired herself. She closed her book and closed her eyes, laying down backwards. She fell asleep before Vincent did, a small, peaceful smile on her face. She hadn't been sleeping much lately. The nightmares kept her awake, and Angel hated that.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent had been lay with his eyes open for the most part. Sleeping was not something that came particularly easy to him. The only time he ever really got sleep was with the aid of feeding his addiction. And even then it was not particularly decent sleep.

He heard Angel make a soft, sleepy noise as she dozed. He sat himself up, hugging his knees, watching her as she slept. Every bone in his body was telling him to leave. To get up and walk away. To disappear somewhere she would not be able to find him. He was ashamed of what he had become and if he had ever thought he would meet her again he was not sure he would have even come back here. Usually Vincent didn’t care, but somehow he hated the idea of Angel seeing him like this.

If you run away again she’ll never forgive you, he thought to himself. Most of all you would never forgive yourself.

A soft smile began to spread across his face as he watched her, then without realising what he was doing, he began to sidle over to her. Gently, he lifted her neck, putting his arm around her and laying back so that her head could rest against his chest. His other arm reached around to hug her as his eyes slowly closed.

As he slowly drifted off, feeling so much more at peace than he could remember, the same three words ran through his head over and over.

I love you...

[Angel Simons]

As Angel was only in a light sleep, the sudden movement woke her up. Her eyes opened a little and a small smile came to her face at the change of position. She closed her eyes again, moving a little closer to him and wrapping her own arm around him. Angel didn't think she could remember the last time she'd been that happy. Angel fell asleep with a small smile on her face, which didn't normally happen. Usually, Angel was terrified of going to sleep. She always had terrible nightmares about things that had either happened in the past or things that she could see happening in the future, or sometimes it was just about something completely different, but still awful. However, Angel felt that this time was different.

Angel was standing in the middle of a field and there was no one around but her. It was bright and sunny and simply a nice day. She was sat in the middle of the grass covered ground, playing around with a couple of daisies. That was when she heard a figure approaching, so she turned around with a smile on her face, however her smile soon turned to a look of fear when she saw something that didn't look human, but something that didn't resemble anything she had ever seen before. She could tell it was human, however. It's flesh was hanging off of it's body. Also, it was wearing what appeared to be a soldiers uniform. She screamed as the bloody figure fell forward and on top of her, ripping her shirt off...

Angel awoke about half an hour later, screaming. Tears were streaming down her face and she was shaking far too much. She moved away from Vincent a little so that she would not wake him. Bringing her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them. That dream was so realistic. The tears came even faster to her as she thought about it, remembering every detail. "Why tonight? Why today?" She mumbled, still shaking.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent’s eyes bolted open when he heard the scream. Living and sleeping rough meant that he had to have his wits about him at all times, and as such he was a light sleeper. He saw Angel scurry away from his slightly with tears in her eyes.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said quickly, sitting himself up. ‘I shouldn’t have come over to you while you were sleeping. I just thought I’d try and make you more comfortable.’

He felt bad for coming over and holding her while she slept without her knowing. He did not realise she would react in such a way though.

‘I didn’t mean to frighten you...’

[Angel Simons]

Angel shook her head, offering him a small smile. She crawled over to him quickly and wrapped her arms around him, wanting him to take away the bad images. "It wasn't you," she said quietly, her voice shaking. "You actually helped..." She knew he wouldn't understand what she was saying, but she didn't care. She'd explain later. At that very moment in time, she just wanted to get rid of the images in her mind that caused her such terror. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to wake you," she added as an after-thought. The only reason Angel had moved away was because she didn't want to wake him up. Feeling guilty, she apologised yet again.

Angel had had nightmares like that since she was eighteen. She honestly didn't know why. They had just come to her when she least wanted them to or expected them. She didn't get them every night. It appeared that they came whenever she was most happy, which made Angel rather sad as it meant that she would never be able to sleep happily without them again. She so often had nightmares like that. She just wished she didn't have to have them when she was there with Vincent, as she was sure that he'd consider her pathetic now and would probably want nothing more to do with her.

"I just get nightmares," she explained, burying her head into his chest, simply trying to make the memories of that dream go away. She doubted they would, though. No one had been able to calm her down yet. Still, that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to. He may be different than all the rest... She thought, smiling to herself a little. Her smile quickly vanished, however, when an image of the man in her dream came flashing back into her head and she could hear a small scream erupt from her throat, however she didn't even realise she had screamed until a second afterwards. Oh, what will Vincent think?" She asked herself, sighing a little.

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[Vincent Hiei]

Vincent heard her scream and immediately held her tighter rubbing her shoulders and softly shushing her to try and comfort her. He was not entirely sure what he was supposed to do but he thought it best to try and comfort her as best he could.

'It's okay,' he said softly resting his chin against her head as she buried her face into his chest. 'You're all right.'

Without realising he tilted his head forward and pressed his lips against her, kissing her lightly on the top of her forehead that was barely visible from her hiding.

[Angel Simons]

Angel smiled a little bit, however only a little, and wrapped her arms a little tighter around him. She then frowned, disappointed with herself. "I'm sorry I'm being so pathetic," she said, pulling away from him and moving away a little. She hated people seeing her being so weak and pathetic. It wasn't who she was. Above it all, she didn't like people she cared about seeing her the way she was at that moment in time. She hastily wiped away her tears and sighed, shaking her head in a pathetic attempt to try and rid the thoughts from her head. For some reason, it actually worked and the thoughts vanished from her mind within a second.

She then looked at Vincent and frowned to herself again. "I'm sorry I woke you. I shouldn't have. Feel free to go back to sleep," she said, growing a little more tired herself, however she was too afraid that the dream would come back to sleep. She picked up the book that lay on the floor and opened it to the page she had got to, just minutes before. She sighed, trying to concentrate on the words written there, however finding it impossible she closed it again. She closed her eyes and started humming quietly to herself, just trying to relax a little.

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