Rika T. Strange here, with another D Gray-Man fic! Because Anime Detour hasn't rolled around yet! And I'm still a little (*cough*) obsessed with the series! (All these sentences have ended with exclamation points!) Each theme is in the chapter title's name! Now without further ado: read, review, and enjoy!

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And don't forget that the characters aren't mine! (Except the ones not mentioned in the manga/anime- those ones are mine!)

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Sunday mornings in Germany were like Sunday mornings almost everywhere else in Europe: calm. Unless you were Arystar Krory III, in which case you were met with a loving but ultimately domestically-challenged wife, an excessively boisterous daughter, and a gloomy, meek son. However, Krory was currently fast asleep beneath the thick wool blankets that covered his bed. This particular morning he'd received the rare blessing of being both allowed and able to sleep in, largely because last night he had run into one of the few Akuma that had somehow survived the Earl and Noahs' deaths.

Krory woke slowly, and his mind stayed fogged with dreams long after. Seeing an Akuma again after so long was a terrible shock to his system, and brought back memories that he generally tried to suppress.

Eliade... The fourteenth... "Monster"... Jasdevi... Grandfather...

Krory shook his head violently. It had been nearly ten years since then; he couldn't let a stray Akuma get to him! Especially if it was just a lowly level one... Suddenly his eyes fell upon Miranda's grandfather clock and he smiled. She, at least, hadn't had trouble leaving the Order. Certainly, she had suffered nightmares- all of them had, and still did, on occasion. But she was ready and able to leave the conflict behind her when the time came. He, on the other hand... Sometimes he still wondered what he was supposed to do with himself, now that he had no war to win. Reliving the thrill and power of an activated Innocence only made that feeling worse.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Krory jumped slightly. "F-father?" It was Arystar Krory IV, the older but meeker twin that went by his middle name, "Vinzent," because it made it less confusing for everyone involved.

"Ein moment," Arystar called, throwing out the German phrase with ease. Cursing the cold wooden floor, he hopped-danced-winced his way to his wardrobe. From it he removed a heavy black robe (he'd never quite gotten used to the colder, Bavarian winters) and pulled it over his naked shoulders before opening the door.

"Good morning, Vinzent. Did you sleep well?"

"Y-yes, thank you. D-did you?" The boy tugged on his white shock of hair as he spoke- he kept it longer than his father's specifically for this purpose, although the remainder of his hair resembled Arystar's.

"I did," Krory answered, before gently taking his son's hand. It was partly a display of paternal affection, and partly a gentle way of helping him curb his nervous habit. "Let's see what your mother is making, yes?" Vinzent nodded.

Krory turned and padded silently down the hallway, and while his son had to take three steps for every one of his, he kept pace well. The smell of pancakes ("pfankuchen" Miranda called them) wafted up the stairs and they both smiled. Best to enjoy the smell before they burned...

The cheerful "thump" of tiny feet brought Krory's attention back to reality. "Good morning, papa! Good Morning Vinnie!" It was Elizabeth, bouncing over in her nightie. Her black hair, cropped short to manage the curls, bounced along with her. She had inherited his white shock of hair as well, and although she kept it swept behind her, she had grown it out past the small of her back (she insisted it was "fun to braid!" and frequently tied flowers and ribbons in it). Currently it had a bell woven in to the end that rang cheerily with even the tiniest movement. Sometimes Krory wondered how his daughter slept, assuming she did at all...

"Good morning, Nadja." Krory smiled as he spoke her name and patted her on the head. "Did you-"

"Don't call me Nadja, papa!" She whined, ducking out from under his hand and into her brother (the boy didn't bother protesting- this sort of thing happened all the time). "I'm a lady now!" Elizabeth puffed out her chest importantly, and crossed her small arms.

Arystar chuckled, "I know, and 'Nadja' is so 'unrefined', just as turning ten makes you a 'lady'." The former exorcist could never understand his daughter's dislike for her first name.

"That's right!" She said with a pout, before skipping down the stairs to sit expectantly at the kitchen table. Krory followed, still chuckling softly. When they reached the table, Vinzent let go of his hand to sit by his sister. Arystar was about to sit down when there was a BANG followed by a near-hysterical scream from the kitchen. He gave the situation half a second's thought before he rushed to his wife's aid.

He understood what happened before Miranda could even speak (not that she was likely to, laying dazed on the floor as she was). The kitchen was coated with a thin layer of white powder, and the remains of a brown, wax-coated paper bag were still fluttering to the ground. Carefully, Krory knelt down and gathered Miranda in his arms. "Are you alright?"

"Th-th-the flour exploded," she stammered when she finally regained enough composure to speak. "I d-dropped it over th-the stove..."

Arystar smiled and brushed the powder off her face. "Be more careful, Mira." She blushed at his nickname for her, but managed a smile and nuzzled against his neck. Krory closed his eyes and turned down to kiss her, when-

"M-mother?" A soft, tentative voice peeked out from the doorway before Vinzent did. In reply, his parents yelped and collapsed into a heap, which in turn caused the boy to jump and yelp as well.

"I-I'm alright," Miranda assured him, although she looked anything but- she was coated in flour, for one thing, and awkwardly smushed beneath his father. "Go wait with your sister for breakfast."

"A-alright," Vinzent sighed, trudging back to the table. His nonchalant acceptance would have amazed most people, except that due to his mother's extraordinary clumsiness, situations like this happened all the time.

Krory coughed loudly to clear the air and get rid of the flour he'd inhaled. "Shall I cook while you clean?" Arystar offered while they disentangled themselves.

Miranda looked enormously relieved. "Yes, thank you." With help from one of the kitchen counters she got to her feet, then pulled a broom from the kitchen closet. She began to sweep up the flour while Arystar took over management of the only slightly-burnt pancakes.

It took about half an hour longer than expected, but finally the pancakes were done and the kitchen was clean (or at least no longer coated with flour). "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay, food!" Elizabeth exclaimed, as her father set down the plate of pancakes (Vinzent was equally enthused, in his own quiet way). Krory had insisted, partially for the sake of the breakfast itself, that he carry the plates out. Miranda had insisted in turn that she carry the drinks out, and surprisingly only spilled once. It was after had wiped the milk off her apron that she sat down next to her husband, taking his hand beneath the table. They both realized, not for the first time, just how far they'd come since they'd first met. Going from fighting for their own lives to bringing new ones into the world was quite the jump, after all.

Miranda smiled and gave Arystar's hand an affectionate squeeze. He kissed her cheek in return. It's a change I can make, he thought, so long as I have you.

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Rika Says: More chapters to come! Constructive criticism makes me a happy author! (I love exclamation points!) This chapter is short and the ending is kinda cliché! Flour really can explode like that! "Ein moment" means "hold on a second" (literally "a moment") in German!