Miranda – Trouble in the Bath House

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters in the story. Story is purely from my imagination :)

Summary – This is a one-shot. Miranda is too shy about her body to go to the share bath house during the day, so she goes at night to avoid everyone else. But as always, misfortune follows wherever she goes.

"Miranda, Miranda, Unlucky Miranda. Don't be so gloomy you stupid looney... Looking for a job today? You will be fired soon anyway..." She sang to herself as she gathered her bath supplies.

Miranda Lotto, age 25, had joined the Order a little over a year. It is a job that is much more difficult than all the 100 jobs she has had in her past. In her new job, it's about saving humanity and constantly putting her life on the line, knowing very well there is hardly anything she will get back in return. This is a job she doesn't want to ever get fired from. However, she did gain a lot of new friends here at the Order, especially Leenalee Lee who has been very supportive of her ever since she set foot in this new home. Leenalee has taught her a lot and has tremendously helped her to become more confident in herself. But Miranda, being Miranda, will always bring along trouble time after time.

Miranda came back from a mission two days ago, with the most stuck up and arrogant exorcist in the Order. Surprisingly, she didn't have too much trouble working with him. Well, at least not much more than the other missions that she had previously went on. Thus, she was thankful it was over and was glad to be back home.

She carried her little blue basket filled with bottles of shampoo and soap and wandered down the quiet hallways towards the bath house.

Yes, the bath houses in the Order are shared, one for the boys and one for the girls. That is one thing Miranda is not very comfortable with having to bath naked with the other girls in the Order. In several instances she would hide herself for hours beneath the water as she feels so insecure to be seen. While the girls will praise her for having a beautiful slim figure in order to boost some confidence into her, Miranda will just run off and protest about it. The efforts of her friends basically made things worst. That's why she decided to take her baths after midnight when everyone else have gone to sleep.

Miranda stepped into the gigantic change room and start stowing away her uniform into her locker. Wrapping a fluffy white towel snugly around her body, she picked up her little basket and headed towards the blissful bath. She stopped mid way when she heard the sound of running water coming from the shower. Someone else was also in the bath house.

She peered around the corner. Through the thickness of the steam, she saw someone was washing their hair. 'Leenalee-chan!' Why is she here so late at night? Does she want to bath in her own privacy just like me? I wonder if she wants to be left alone? Maybe I should wait until she leaves. Miranda thought about hiding behind the lockers until Leenalee has left, but that seemed like a pretty silly idea. Suddenly, she heard the water stop and the hair dryer turn on. Soon, Leenalee would have to walk by the lockers where Miranda stood, which was the only way out of the bath house.

A couple of minutes later, she could hear the dryer being turned off. Miranda was getting a little nervous. Before she knew it, she accidentally dropped her basket on to the floor. She watched in horror as the bottles hit the glossy tiles produced loud echoes across the room.

She grasped her breath. She scrambled to the floor to pick up her supplies. When she looked up, Leenalee was sitting on a stool with her back towards her. The blue haired girl had stopped whatever she was doing as she must have heard the chaos that came from behind.

"Lee... Leenalee-chan" Miranda broke the silence with an apologizing smile etched across her face. "I am so sorry; I-I didn't mean to spy on you. I just thought you wanted some privacy and I was just going to wait until you are finish before I meant to intrude on you." Through the mixture of heat and steam from the dryer and the shower, Miranda could see that the girl was having trouble with the knots in her long blue mane that flowed to the floor. Due to her well known personality of wanting to help others fix things up, Miranda quickly took the brush and started to gently tug away the blue strands to loosen up the knots.

But Leenalee wasn't the only one in the Order who have long blue hair.

What the hell is this woman doing here at this time of night? Yu Kanda was taken by surprise when Miranda called out of nowhere. Like Miranda, he chose to bath alone. Unlike Miranda, he had another reason to do so. Kanda always had put his guard up. Like a true swordsman, he can detect anyone that approaches him within a 20 meter radius. However, he was distracted by the recent mission he went on with Miranda.1 Despite the fact that she was such a troublesome women, he couldn't help thinking about that constantly nervous yet innocent smile beneath those dark brown eyes. In other words, he had let his guard down and wasn't able to make his escape when Miranda step foot onto the first tile in the change room.

Before he knew it, Miranda had taken the brush out of his hand and was gently brushing his hair. Kanda flinched at the unexpected contact. Stupid women! How can you not tell the difference between me and that Chinese girl! Even though he gave out no sign of protest, he clenched his teeth together and tried to think of a way out of this awkward situation without making it any more uncomfortable than it already was. Maybe she will just go away after she finishes untangling the knots. He hated to admit it but the way she was brushing his hair sends a tingling sensation throughout his body.

Kanda flushed slightly in embarrassment when he realized the idiocy of this whole situation.

Desperate situations cause for desperate measures. He even thought about imitating Leenalee's voice to tell her to go away, but not likely that it was ever going to happen.

"You really have nice hair, Leenalee-chan, but they are a bit coarse. You might need to add some more conditioner. Please don't get me wrong, they are still very beautiful." said the clueless girl, who was always trying to be supportive and not to offend. "Where are you hair clips? Can I help put your ponytails on?"

Kanda couldn't take this anymore. Slapping his palm on to his forehand, he startled the poor girl behind him to jump backwards, and knocking her own basket over the bench. Once again, all the contents spilled all over the floor.

Miranda immediately bends down to pick up the fallen objects. "I'm so sor.. I mean eh.. did I hurt you? I didn't mean to... "She apologized over and over again while collecting her bath wares.

Kanda stood up and saw Miranda on all fours, searching around for her soaps and bottles hidden beneath the layer of steam. He couldn't help but notice her towel that is tightly wrapped around her body. His face glowed red. He picked up a bottle that rolled beside his foot and handed it over to her.

"Oh thank you.." Miranda reached out for it, but her whole body froze when she saw the face of the person who was kneeling close beside her. She screamed, at the same time covering her face with the palm of her hands.

He pulled her hands away from her. "It's only me you stupid girl, and I have a towel covered, so be quiet."

"K-K-kanda-kun" All along, she thought it was her friend Leenalee. What would have possibly given her a second thought that Kanda would be in the girl's bath house? How could she not tell? He was sitting down, so she had no idea how tall he was. The long blue hair was covering his masculine physique. Not to mention the poor visibility under the steam and heat. Then she came to a realization of what had happened. Extreme embarrassment clouded her thoughts as she frantically turned her head from left to right. "I-I-I... I am really sorry. I ... I thought this was the girls' bath house. It looks the same and so sorry..."

And with cries of apology still raining from her mouth, Miranda spun around and darted out of the room like an arrow.

Miranda ran to the other bath house just across the hallway. How could she be so stupid as to wander into the men's bath house? She was pretty sure she got it right. She thought about how she had put away her clothes into her own locker in the other room. Something didn't make sense.

"You forgot these." Kanda walked into the changing area with her blue basket in one hand. "And I told you to stop apologizing for everything, it's annoying!"

She started to scream again, but this time, he was quick to push her back against the wall and silence her with his index finger over her lips. He was surprised how forceful she was trying to push her way through, but his strength held her in place. Poor Miranda, if only Kanda knew how shy she was about her body just being around girls, what could possibly be going through her head now that she was alone with a half naked man and wearing nothing but a towel around her?

"Be quiet or someone will hear you." He gazed into those dark brown eyes until she had finally calmed down before loosening his hold on her. He sighed after gaining control of the situation. The quiet Miranda was much more pleasing to deal with than one who kept sprouting apologies for nothing.

"I need you to keep this a secret." He continued.

"So ...so I wasn't in the men's bath house ...." Miranda was feeling a little bit better after knowing she wasn't the one in the wrong place.

"But wouldn't that mean...?" Before she could continue, he silenced her again.

"With the length of my hair, there is not enough shampoo in the men's bath house. We don't have conditioner and only the women's bath house has dryers, those as you know are attached to the walls." Kanda couldn't believe he just confessed his secret to the biggest klutz in the Order, of all people. If Allen, Lavi, or others found out about this, he was afraid he would never hear the end of it. He could even imagine Leenalee giving him a chuckle or two.

He was expecting Miranda to laugh at him, but instead she smiled politely, and perhaps still a little nervous, she nodded. "You can trust me; I won't say anything to anyone about this."

Looking down at her, she looked so vulnerable with one arm clutching tightly on to her towel and the other being held up against the wall by him. Her dark brown eyes sparkled until her gaze shifted away shyly from his and her cheeks flushed red. She lowered her head, leaving dark chocolate locks to rest gently on her bare soft shoulders.

An unfamiliar emotion took over him that caused his face to heat up. He clenched his teeth and turned his head away as if he was annoyed, but his glowing red cheeks betrayed his emotions.

The sound of footsteps broke the silence. "What's going on?" cried the Chief of the Order. He stepped into the change room followed by several residence of the Order.

An imaginary tumble of weed blew by when they saw Miranda and Kanda alone locked in a rather awkward position.

The next day, the bath house incident was the hot topic at the Order's cafeteria.

"Morning, Miranda!" Lavi came up to her into the lobby. He noticed she just got back with some shopping bags in her hand.

"Went shopping already?" He peered in to her bags and saw a large shampoo bottle, some smaller bottles of conditioner, and something that appeared to be an electric fan.

"Uh, huh" She nodded stiffly, trying to keep the bags away from him.

Sensing that she wanted to avoid the subject, Lavi jumped right to his question. "So was that true about what happened last night?"

"Eh..." Her face flushed red with embarrassment. Last night, she had told everyone it was a simple misunderstanding that she walked into the men's bath by accident. A likely story told by the clumsy girl to protect the unlikely one.

"Don't be shy Miranda." Lavi's smile widened as he teasingly pointed out. "I never would have guessed it would have been you and Kanda together."

"W-What?" she protested as this incredulous concept swarm around her head.

Lavi looked around to make sure the area was clear, and then leaned in to whisper, "The two of you rendezvoused in the men's bath, didn't you?"

"NOOooooo... That's not true!" She shrieked and ran upstairs to the sleeping quarters. But before she went to hide in her room, she dropped her shopping bags in front of the swordsmen's room, hoping that those items will come into use, so he wouldn't have to go into the girls' bath house again for everyone's sake.

THE END

Author's Note

Note 1 – The previous mission they went on refers to 'The Village of Illusion' adventure.

I also want to give my special thanks to Koulin who helped me out so much on my grammar and wording on this story to make it sounds so good! and also Noah Gabriel as well.

Thank you all for reading this story. please don't forget to press review and let me know what your thoughts are about this one-shot :) I love to discuss stories and characterization! LOL