She bends down and reaches for the suitcase she had set at her feet. It was a long and grueling trip but somehow she made it in one piece. She raises a hand and brushes a strand of brown hair away from her eyes. The towering complex of the Black Order looms over her short, lean frame. A sudden wind gusts, whipping up the rest of her short, boy-cut hair. Her suit, which she suspects is too large, threatens to blow away and she struggles to tame the wild clothing. Below her a swarm of bats swoop out of the dark caverns hidden within the cliff-face and she falls back in surprised.
Damn this place, she thought. It gave off a foreboding aura that warned outsiders, ignorant of the organization's true purpose, to stay away. That, and it gave her the creeps.
"Identify yourself!" A voice bellows. She looks up and a large stone face stares wide-eyed, protruding from the wall so that his eyes were about an inch away from hers.
"Why hello there." She says.
"Who are you?!" The gatekeeper yells, eyeballs in danger of popping out of its skull.
"My name is Robin." She says taking a step back. "I believe a letter should have arrived about me?"
"Komui?" The gatekeeper asks to no one in particular. There's a second of silence, then a voice over a radio.
"Nope." The voice says. Another second of silence then: "Kanda, will you be so kind as to handle this?"
"Che." A low voice grumbles overhead. Robin looks up and a tall, pissed off samurai pauses and meets her gaze. The way the moonlight landed on him, hitting him at just the right angle, made his long ponytail of hair glimmer and reveal its many different hues of blue. Robin watches as he unsheathes a katana and holds it at his side, the edge reflecting the light. The light twists and disappears. Kanda leaps into the air, with the full silhouette of the moon at his back. A second later the samurai is front of her with the blade nestled against her throat.
"I think this is a misunderstanding." Robin says, shying away from the sword's precarious edge.
"Like I care." Kanda grumbles. She sighs.
"I'm sorry for this." She says. She suddenly ducks, barely escaping the sword's path, and lands an elbow to his side. He takes a step back, taken off guard by the force of the strike. Robin trips his feet and shoves him onto the ground; one arm keeping him from cleaving the sword into her skull, the other holding his struggling form down.
"Let me start again." She says through a friendly smile. "My name is Robin. I'm an exorcist."
"Exorcist?!" He yells. "Komui!? What the hell?!"
"Kanda! Stand down!" The radio's voice repeats. "I repeat, stand down!"
A gate suddenly opens and a man with bright red hair and a huge grin plastered on his face runs over to them. Across his forehead is a green bandana with an eye patch covering one eye. He smiles and offers Robin a hand.
"Wow!" He says. "Who knew Yuu could be beaten so badly?"
"Shut up baka usagi!" Kanda growls.
"Sorry. Um, Yuu was it?" She asks, getting off of him.
"Kanda!" He growls, giving her and the red-head a death glare. The red-head bursts out laughing.
"I think the two of us will be good friends!" He says wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "By the way, Komui finally found that letter of yours. The stack of papers on his desk is huge. You wouldn't believe it."
"My name's Robin." She says.
"Lavi." The red-head says. "So Rob, let me show you around the Order."
"Okay." She smiles sweetly. Her stomach suddenly lets out a loud, feral growl and she blushes.
"I guess we'll start the tour with a visit to the cafeteria." Lavi says chuckling.
"Sorry," She says. "I'm a parasite-type."
"Great. Another one." Kanda says. He sheathes Mugen and heads inside muttering to himself.
"What's his problem?" She asks.
"Don't take it personally." Lavi says. "Yuu's just a sore loser. By the way..."
"Yeah?" She says following Lavi inside.
"It's kinda strange, but I could swear you could pass as a girl." Lavi says.
Robin smiles and laughs uneasy.
"Um." She says. "I'm a guy."
"Yeah," He says. "But you're so tiny! You're even shorter than Moyashi!"
"Moyashi?" She asks.
"Yeah!" Lavi says smiling. "I'll have to introduce you two!"
"Yeah." She says.
Lavi leads her deeper into the complex. They travel down hallway after hallway pass dozens of doors that Lavi says belong to other exorcists. She wasn't sure when, but at some point she began to block out the sound of his bantering. She had much more pressing matters. Like keeping her secret a secret.
She couldn't remember exactly when she began to masquerade as a boy. She grew up on the streets. It was the kind of city where you didn't want to be a young girl alone on the side of the road. She hid her gender for survival. Even General Cross didn't complain about her pretending to be a boy, which was strange since he complained about everything. The last month with him was hell. She couldn't imagine what kind of torture it would have been if she had stayed longer. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Master Cross to acknowledge her talent with eliminating akuma and send her to the Black Order.
She never thought of herself as a girl, and in truth, being a boy is much easier. She could do whatever she wanted without having to worry about worthless things like appearances and without being treated differently because she's a girl. One of the reason she chose to continue her path as an exorcist was so that she become strong and protect herself and others around her. So long as no one finds out her secret that is. It's easy since she has a relatively flat chest and straight hips. She could only guess what the Order would do to her if they found out she's lying. Best case scenario: they kick her out and she'll have nowhere to go. She'll have to live on the streets again and try to survive like she's been for years. Something she wasn't keen on returning to.
Suddenly Lavi stops in front of her and turns around with a smile.
"Right Rob?" He asks mid-sentence.
"Um...yes...?" She asks.
"I said you must be hungry." Lavi says, his grin becoming wider. "And we've finally made it to the cafeteria."
She peeks around him and sees a large spacious room filled with tables. Sitting at the tables are people, mostly men, wearing long brown coats.
"Those are finders." Lavi explains. "They assist exorcists during missions."
Robin nods.
"Thanks Jerry!" A sweet voice calls from one of the tables. A white-haired boy places a dish of food with another twenty plates and smiles.
"Moyashi!" Lavi calls, running over.
His face visually darkens from the use of his accursed nickname. He turns to face the rabbit and Robin sees the long red scar across his left eye. The boy looks like he wants to strangle Lavi, but then he sees Robin behind him.
"Hello." He says greeting her.
"This is Robin, a new exorcist." Lavi says. "He just arrived."
"Nice to meet you Robin." The boy says holding out a hand for her. "My name is Allen."
"Nice to meet you." Robin says taking his hand. Up close she could see that Allen was in fact taller than her, though not by much. His pale gray eyes brighten and the ends of his mouth tug into a sweet smile. Robin blushes, unable to stop herself. It was just too darn cute.
Suddenly a deep moaning growl rips through the cafeteria. Both Allen and Robin groan. Lavi erupts into fits of laughter.
"That was perfect you two!" He says, literary rolling on the ground with laughter.
"Food." Robin groans. She hadn't eaten anything since her lunch and that had been so long ago. Allen glances at her and recognizes the expression.
"Jerry!" Allen calls. "Can you get us another order please?"
"Right away honey!" The pink-haired chef answers.
Five minutes later her and Allen are seated and stuffing their faces with Jerry's delicious cooking. When they were done and the two stacks of plates next to them looked ready to tumble over, Allen smiles. Robin couldn't help but smile back. The good food and satisfaction of a full stomach left her feeling giddy. Allen and even Lavi were nothing but nice. If the rest of the Order was like them then maybe she might be able to fit in.
Maybe the Black Order wouldn't be such a bad place after all.