Ash and Eiji

Ch.12 Who is that?

They both awoke to a pounding on the door. Suddenly their throats dry and the air crisp. Ash slowly stood and slid a hand gun he had on his dresser in his pants. He stepped to the door slowly, Eiji watching carefully in case he needed to move. Ash looked through the peephole of the door and visibly relaxed. He put the gun to the side and swung the door open encasing a figure in his arms. Eiji was confused. Wait what? First of all: Ash never hugs anyone but him, second of all....no that was it. Ash's guard is completely down. He was only ever like that around two people but the other one was dead that left him. He stood quietly and stood still holding the bedroom door as he peered into the living room where the front could be seen still wide open but occupied by two people. He watched intently waiting for Ash to release this person. He did as Eiji's thoughts longed for and to his surprise it wasn't what he was expecting. He was thinking it would've been a big tough guy, or a real creepy scrawny one, or one of Dino's men, anything slightly disturbing. But...it was a girl. And a pretty girl at that. She had hair as black as night, and she was tan. She has icy blue eyes and a petite frame. She was the definition of pretty. Not beautiful which was always a bit more than what anybody needed but pretty. Soft and agile, innocent. He studied her up and down but found no flaw. His cheeks burned and he looked down. Suddenly he was incredibly self conscious. He was wearing pajamas that he's had for 5 years now, his hair was tousled, his eyes were dark and droopy and his cheeks slightly sunken from only just recovering. He was ugly in his mind. He was about to close the door so he could figure out how to make himself more presentable when Ash turned to him. Eiji hadn't noticed this because his head was low and he was deep in thought about how perfect this random girl was who was hugging Ash. "Eiji this is...Eiji?" His jolted up at the sound of his name. "O-oh what?" Ash hesitated but since their was a guest he continued. "This is Lyla. She's an old friend of mine." He smiled and gripped her shoulder pulling her into his side. Eiji groaned in his head but smiled to the new acquaintance. "Hello." He continued to smile friendly and waved. Ash froze and strolled up to him taking his hand in his and examining it. "Ah. They opened up again. One sec Lyla." She nodded gracefully and sat on the couch patiently. Ash took Eiji to the bathroom and sat him on the toilet so he could clean up his cuts. He grabbed the peroxide and a cloth but when he looked down he was surprised to see Eiji's facial expression pale and worried. "What is it?" He asked gently bending down. Eiji looked up to him and blinked a few times. "What if she saw them?" His voice quivered like the world was gonna end and he clutched his arm protectively. Not realizing the sudden smear of blood on his shirt. "So what? It's fine. She's really understanding. Why would you even be worried about it?" Eiji didn't want to say. He knew he'd sound conceded if he did. I'm worried because she's perfect and put together but I'm a mess and I'm afraid you'll see that when you compare us. "No reason." He looked down. He hated lying. Ash huffed but continued to clean him up. Ash left Eiji to put the bandages on so he could talk to Lyla about what she's doing here. (With Ash and Lyla) Ash trotted to the living and Lyla stood up. "Is your friend ok? Is he hurt?" She asked sweetly. "Oh yeah just fine. He's just... been through a lot." "Well so have you. He shouldn't make you take care of him like that." Ash gave her a weird look. "Umm...he doesn't." He could've explained why he's here and what he's doing but it wasn't worth the time. She didn't change her expression from a frown with furrowed eye brows and just huffs plopping back onto the couch. "Whatever." She stated the sweetness embedded back into her tone. Little did they know Eiji was listening. When she had said that it made his blood boil. But when Ash had given a simple decline of her accusations with no reasoning he stopped huffing curses at her. His heart felt hollow. Why did As not defend me? H wondered silently. He thought back to when he felt the same way, that he was a burden and forcing Ash to help him out of pity. That same feeling creeped into his mind and invaded his heart. He suddenly felt like crying. The same welling of tears stinging his eyes. He looked away and wiped his eyes a few times. His face was puffy and his voice was thick. He decided he would blame it on morning allergies or something. He stepped out and tried to force a smile but it came out strained. He was used to this awhile ago. Why should no be any different? He used to be able to fake a smile as soon as somebody looked his way. He fiddled his fingers behind his back and moved forward. Ash noticed this and cleared his throat. "So what are you doing here?" She looked up at him and stood once more. "Well I really just missed you. You stopped texting and sending letters. I mean I know you said texting was unreliable because of the Dino thing but what about the letters? It's been a few weeks now!" Eiji flinched when the mafia man's name was mentioned. Ash noticed and tried to calm his friend down. "Um well, I've been kind of busy." She shifted her gaze to Eiji and her face darkened only slightly. It was like the aura of a glare was behind her porcelain features still fixed with a slight smile. "With your friend here?" Eiji shivered. Ash looked between them and sighed. "Well no, not necessarily just him, but he's part of it yeah." Eiji flinched once more when she took a step toward him. Her high heeled boots clicking loudly on the floor and reverberating off of the walls. Ash noticed how tense Eiji was as she looked at him and how Lyla was slightly more intimidating. He cleared his throat once more and began, "Ok so are you going to stay here?" She looked at him again and regained her bubbly smile. "Oh I wish. I really want to but I already paid for a hotel room. I'm just too scared to get in a taxi though. I had my personal driver drop me off and me being a total airhead forgot to ask him to stay." She gave a pouty face. On anybody's face it would've looked so fake but because of her gentle feature it looked like a genuine whine. She glanced at Eiji and smirked. "Oh Ash's friend, wont you hep me?" She chided innocently. Eiji was taken aback. "Uh...how?" He was genuinely confused on how he was supposed to help her. "Won't you take a taxi to my hotel room and stay there for me? I don't want it to go to waste. I also really want to spend the day with Ash anyway. You could..." she eyed him up and down and gave a suppressed disgusted look, "go to the sauna. Get a facial. It's not just for girls." Both Ash and Eiji was stunned. "Hang on a sec-" Ash began offended by the comment, but was interrupted by a sad looking Eiji. "Y-yeah sure." Ash looked at him. "But Eiji-" "It's fine. It's for one of your friends. Ill do it." He looked up and gave a smile but his eyes stormy.