This is a re-written version of the original chapter. After receiving quite a fair bit of criticism, I have changed some stuff in this story. Thanks to hashire and Lathya for pointing out all the holes in my story!

Italics represent thoughts.

Italics beneath a header in bold italics represent flashbacks.

*****

China, nine years before the DGM storyline begins

The village was run-down. Located in the poorest part of China, the village was nothing special.

So why were the Akuma here?

General Cross Marian sighed. At least China had nice brothels.

*****

Several hours later, Cross Marian was pissed. This village only had one inn with bug-infested beds, and all the pretty girls had gone to the brothels in the big cities. The only wine he could find tasted like vinegar.

Things couldn't get any worse.

Behind Cross Marian, the village fountain exploded. The mechanical whirring behind him was enough to tell him what it was.

Akuma.

Even as his hand slipped into his coat to draw out Judgment, there was a flash of black. Two Level Ones exploded.

Innocence?

Perhaps.

A second later, there was a desperate, high-pitched scream.

*****

Cross Marian sighed. Damn his soft spot for women.

The little girl he'd saved from the Akuma a few hours ago clung nervously to his robes. Straggly dark brown hair hung limp and tangled down her back.

At least she was an Accommodator. Training her would give him something to do in this godforsaken place.

*****

Of all places to have the Headquarters of the Dark Religious Organization, it had to be on top of a mountain. Sure, in theory, it deterred enemies. But what use was a giant castle atop a massive mountain if your enemies could fly, and your comrades couldn't?

The girl sighed. Shaking her long chestnut bangs out of her eyes, she placed her foot onto a rock jutting out as a foothold, beginning her ascent.

Approximately half an hour later, she crawled up onto the flat surface of the summit, semi-exhausted and rather grumpy.

Within the castle, the members of the Science Department were looking at the girl through the screens.

"Hey, who is she?"

Lenalee frowned at the screen.

"Perhaps she's an exorcist?"

*****

The grey-eyed girl walked up to the entrance.

"Anyone there?"

From behind her, she heard a faint crackling noise. Twisting around, she saw a black bat-like device hovering behind her.

A golem. It still looked recognizable, though nothing like her Master's golden one.

"I'm an exorcist. I was sent here by General Cross Marian," she told it.

"Turn around so that the gatekeeper can inspect you."

"Hmm?"

She whipped back around, only to be confronted by a huge ugly face. Instinctively, she reached for the hidden pockets in her sleeves, where she usually hid her daggers. Then, she remembered that her daggers were in her bag, so that they wouldn't interfere with her climbing by banging against, and potentially loosening the rock.

Great.

"Beginning X-ray examination!"

*****

Inside the Science Labs, Allen walked up, munching a doughnut.

"What's up?"

"Don't know."

Allen peered into the screen.

"Eh? Isn't that…"

*****

"Clear!" boomed the ugly face.

As the girl watched, the huge doors opened.

She walked through the doors…

…and was immediately glomped by a white blur on a doughnut high.

"Kiara-senpai!"

"Ow…get off me, Allen-kun!"

Lenalee, who had accompanied Allen down to meet the newcomer, was lost for words as she watched the newcomer try to peel Allen off herself.

Finally managing to get Allen to let her go, the newcomer turned to Lenalee.

"Nice to meet you," she said, bowing.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Lenalee Lee, welcome to the Black Order."

The newcomer smiled.

"My name is Akatsuki Kiara."

*****

After that, Lenalee and Allen dragged her around, giving her a tour of the Black Order. The cafeteria, the training rooms, the huge library, the bathing area.

Apparently, exorcists also got individual rooms.

Before she could so much as ask to see her new room, she was taken to meet the Supervisor, Komui Lee.

Somehow, her mental image of a Supervisor didn't quite fit this one. He had purple hair, was clutching a mug with a pink bunny on it, and somehow, he seemed to radiate an aura that she associated with those from the mental institutions.

When he glomped Lenalee, his 'precious darling sister', and started proclaiming to the whole office the magnificence of his younger sister, Kiara realized how right she was in making that particular comparison.

*****

After ten minutes and several smacks on the head with a clipboard, Komui had changed to a more businesslike demeanor as he led Kiara, Allen, and Lenalee down a flight of steps, and onto a floating pyramid-shaped platform.

"Well now, let's have a look at your Innocence, shall we?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Kiara sensed something whitish rising up. Whirling around, she came face-to-face with a translucent, ghostly thing. Its decidedly female face gazed at her intently.

Without warning, the thing shot out several tendrils, wrapping around her.

"Innocence…"she/it whispered.

"Put me down!"

She began to struggle violently.

"Don't struggle~" sang Komui from the lift platform. "It's futile! ~"

Komui…when I get down from here, you are dead meat.

Slowly, the thing reached out two more tendrils, and wrapped them around her wrists, where her Innocence was.

"Calm down," she/it whispered. "I am not an enemy."

"She's right," called Allen. "Hevlaska's not your enemy!"

Kiara sighed, and tried to relax. She trusted Allen, and if he said that this…Hevlaska was safe, then she most likely was.

Hevlaska put her face to Kiara's Innocence.

"4…18…23…39…41…60…74…81%! It seems that your maximum synchronization percentage for now is 81%."

Gently releasing Kiara back onto the platform, Hevlaska bent down to Kiara's eye level.

"Akatsuki Kiara," she whispered, "Somewhere in the dark future, you will become a bird of fire that will turn the immortals to ash. This is what I have seen. This is my power."

"A bird…of fire…?"

The sound of clapping distracted her.

"Very good, very good! Hevlaska's predictions usually come true, you know!"

Kiara swung slowly around to face Komui, grinning like an idiot and clutching his clipboard.

"Komui," she growled dangerously.

A hand shot out, smashing into the clipboard he had held up to protect his face.

"Warn me about these things beforehand!"

*****

Three hours later saw Kiara standing in front of her mirror, looking at her new uniform. Fingering the durable material of her fitted jacket, a sliver of a smile flitted across her face.

At least I got to wear shorts instead of that miniskirt…

Kiara hated miniskirts.

As she stepped down from the stool she had been standing on so that Johnny could remove the pins and extra fabric, Lenalee turned to her.

"You were General Cross' apprentice like Allen-kun, right?"

Kiara nodded, frowning at the mention of her womanizing Master.

"How come Allen-kun came before you, then? Shouldn't the both of you have come at the same time?"

Kiara scowled.

"Stupid Master reckoned I was weaker than Allen, so he kept me back, under the pretense that I wasn't strong enough to even destroy a Level One," she muttered.

Allen shrugged.

"Master was always more protective of you," he pointed out.

"Because I'm a girl," she shot back huffily. "Master always liked the females more."

*****

The next day, Kiara made her way to the cafeteria.

It was her turn at the breakfast line.

"What would you like, sweetie?" crooned Jerry. "I can make anything!"

Kiara's eye twitched at the sight of the Indian man wearing a fluffy apron.

Hard to believe that he's male…

"Fried bee hoon and green tea, please." (1)

"Coming right up! ~"

Grabbing her tray, Kiara's eyes scanned the crowded tables, looking for somewhere to sit.

She caught sight of a tower of plates and a head of white hair. She picked her way through the throng to get to Allen's table.

"Morning," she said, poking her kouhai's head playfully. (2) "My, you're inhaling even more food than ever, Allen!"

Allen gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Humgwy."

Kiara raised her eyebrow questioningly.

Allen swallowed his mouthful before repeating, "Hungry."

"Ah. May I sit here?"

Lenalee, next to Allen, smiled happily.

"Of course!"

Kiara sat down opposite Allen, and began eating.

A redhead sitting opposite her stuck out his hand jovially.

"Name's Lavi! You're the new Exorcist, right?"

She nodded, shaking his outstretched hand.

"Akatsuki Kiara. Pleased to meet you. There's mustard on your nose."

Lavi frowned, and swiped his nose with a napkin, wiping off the bright yellow blob that had been there.

Lenalee giggled, Kiara smirked, and Lavi pouted.

"It's not funny!"

"Whatever."

Just as Kiara was finishing off her meal, a member of the Science Department came up to them.

"Kiara-san, Lavi-san, please report to the Supervisor's office right away. You've got a mission."

*****

(1) Bee hoon is rice vermicelli. Just that in Singapore, everybody calls it bee hoon. The Chinese call it 'mi fen' (米粉). It's quite commonly eaten for breakfast.

(2) Kouhai means junior/someone younger than you in Japanese. Like senpai means senior/someone older than you.

Please review!