Hi there. This isn't a completely new story, so starting to read here will probably be confusing. This story is the second part of my story called Howling Innocence. I decided to start a new story for it since there were a lot of chapters in the main story. The second part will, I think, be the end of this FanFiction. I picked a different name for it because I felt like the story had outgrown the name "Howling Innocence". At the beginning I named the story with Shiori in mind, but as I wrote I focused on a lot of other characters, so I picked a name that could describe everyone and not just her since, even though she's a new protagonist, she isn't the most important. Hope you keep reading the story and I hope you like it!
I don't own the characters, except the ones I make, and the storyline, ideas, and names aren't mine.
I might remove some chapters from the first part of this story and put them in the second part so anyone who wants to read the story over, or start reading it, won't have to have a big load of chapters to sort through. That is my idea anyway.
So, instead of this chapter being chapter 48, it's chapter one of Howling Innocence (now called Terminus), part two.


Chapter One - Poison

The following day in the early evening Lavi, Allen, Kanda, Kisho, were finally boarding a ferry to return to The Black Order. It had been a bit of a walk to the port, and Kisho had said his goodbyes to Yu and Nurse Yue before leaving since they had to stay at the hospital. Allen, Lavi, Kanda, and Kisho had rested most of the day, but had also spent time wandering around the city and helping where they could. Taipei had been partially destroyed in the attack and the citizens were starting to get organized again and had started helping others rebuild damaged structures.

Yu, the young person Kisho had helped treat, seemed to like the exorcists being around. In the short time they'd been in Taipei he'd gotten close to them. Yu had asked if they would come back to Taipei sometime, and Kisho said he hoped they could, but secretly hoped that they wouldn't. If they came to Taipei again it would mean there was a problem with Akuma again. Kisho didn't want to leave Taipei; he'd come to like the city even though it wasn't at its best at the moment. He also didn't want to leave Yu, since the younger person resembled one of his friends from home who had died. Considering that Yu could have died, too, Kisho was relieved and glad that Yu had made it through the Akuma attack. The young person's family had, too, and just before the Black Order group had left the hospital, they'd come to see him.

"When the war's over, I want to come here again. That patient, Yu, actually wanted all of us to come back." Kisho was leaning over the railing and staring out at the sea. Kanda was standing off by himself, and Allen had gone in search of food.

"Do you mean Yuu, or Yu, or you?" Lavi asked, coming to stand at the railing, a hand resting under his chin thoughtfully. Kisho looked confused.

"I, um, mean Yu," Kisho answered.

"Kanda?"

"The kid we met at the hospital, the one that hurt his eye."

"So, Y-U," Lavi clarified, and Kisho nodded. "It would have been weird if you'd mean Yuu. He's right over there, and..." Lavi glanced around before continuing, "...not sure if he can hear us but he probably can." His voice had lowered to a whisper, but Allen had walked up and heard regardless.

"Well, glad that's all figured out," Allen grumbled, marching up to the railing. Timcampy was sitting on his shoulder with his golden wings folded neatly. "Where's our next stop?" Kisho took out a medium-sized book from his shoulder bag and flipped through the pages until he came to a map of Europe.

"Fuzhou, which is right on the coast of mainland China." Lavi and Allen looked over as Kisho traced the map with his finger. "After that, we take a train to Beijing, rest and eat there if we need to, then get on another train and go to Bratsk, then walk the last stretch to the castle." Lavi groaned.

"Seems even longer than the trip we made to get here."

"It's because you've been working hard," Kisho said absently, still looking at the map.

"That's not as long as having to go from Portugal all the way across Europe, the Middle East, and then most of Russia," Allen commented tiredly, shrugging. "Well, I can't say the sights weren't nice."

"More and more cities have been getting attacked," Kisho reflected, looking troubled. "The Earl's looking for Heart fragments. But if they'd found and destroyed any, we'd know."

"He could just be gathering them up," Allen wondered, though would laugh if the truth was that the Earl and Noah just couldn't find any of them. "But Hevlaska has a lot of Innocence pieces too, and now she has about five pieces of the Heart, not including the ones that Chaoji, Krory, Lavi, and I have."

"Do you count as having one?" Lavi asked Kisho, who thought a moment, then shook his head.

"I don't think so…I don't have very much Innocence in my blood. Allen has all of it, pretty much."

"Most anything that keeps us ahead is fine with me," Allen sighed. "You can help too, unless you don't want to."

"I want to," Kisho said.

"Good," Lavi said approvingly. "Because we're still going to make you work."

"Alright," Kisho hastily agreed, mistakenly thinking Lavi was annoyed. "I can use my blood like a weapon to destroy Dark Matter. I learned how to from Krory." And from Hyun-Ae, Kisho said to himself, but tried to ignore the thought. He didn't want to think about that person too much so he turned his attention back to the Innocence. Krory, by sucking Akuma's blood and then using his Innocence to purify the virus, could inject the purified blood back into Akuma and cause them to be damaged from the inside-out. If Kisho got his own blood on one of the knives he had, it temporarily became a weak version of an Anti-Akuma Weapon. He'd figured this out after falling and scraping his hand on an earlier mission. An Akuma had grabbed him and in an attempt to get free, Kisho had slashed at the Akuma with his knife, not knowing that his blood had gotten on the knife's blade. The knife had damaged the Akuma; somehow it had turned into a weak, temporary version of an Anti-Akuma Weapon. That mission, Kisho had also figured out something else important about what his blood could do, but since Kanda was here...Kisho glanced around and spotted him leaning against the railing with the book he'd been reading earlier in his hands. He didn't want to risk bringing that up since Kanda had made it clear he didn't want Kisho talking about it...and he wouldn't, at least not when Kanda was around. It seemed too important to never talk about again.

"You might be able to heal, like Krory," Allen added and Kisho tried not to react to that.

"Maybe. But I don't know." Instead of injecting purified blood into an Akuma, if Krory injected it into an injured person, it would heal them. The side effect was that Krory would be left weak for a short time afterward, unless he kept the purified blood and used it to heal his injuries-a good tactic for when missions were long.

Allen's stomach growled loudly, and seemingly in response Lavi and Kisho's stomachs growled too. "Let's all go eat, or we won't last the trip," Lavi moaned, rubbing his empty stomach. "Wonder what kind of food they have here." Kisho just listened as they walked to the lower deck together.

"Lots of good things," Allen explained with a smirk, "but it's all gone now." Lavi's jaw dropped and Kisho started reaching into his bag for a lunchbox that Yu had given him, but he looked up when Allen started laughing.

"I was just kidding, Lavi. There's lots of food left." Lavi held up a fist and Allen laughed again, then sped off down the hall with Lavi right behind him. Kisho ran to catch up and as he ran past an open door—it must be the food area because it smelled great—he spied Lavi running down a corridor ahead of him. He was about to call to Lavi and tell him he had some food when an arm reached out from the doorway to his left and yanked him inside. Allen had managed to give Lavi the slip, obviously, and before Kisho could say anything Allen put a finger to his lips. "He'll figure out where I went and come here pretty soon." Allen glanced at Kisho's bag. "Do you have something?" Kisho's hand was inside his shoulder bag, and he nodded and pulled out the lunch box.

"Yu gave me these. We should eat some. His mother must have made them."

"Thanks," Allen said, and grabbed one when Kisho opened the lunch box. Kisho took one too and munched at it slowly, put the lunch box back in his shoulder bag, then wandered over to a table that had food and drinks on it. He saw mantou bread, more dumplings, beef noodle bowls, hot tea, milk tea, water, and juice. He poured some milk tea into a cup and took a long drink. It was one of his favorite cold drinks, and he didn't mind drinking it since even if it was fall the weather was still pretty warm in Taiwan, especially compared to the cold climate he'd come from. Kisho was reaching for another mantou bun and when Lavi burst into the room. Kisho looked up quickly. The few other passengers that were in the room looked up as well, startled, but shortly just returned to what they'd been doing.

"If you've eaten everything, Allen, so help me I will—" Allen snorted, cutting off Lavi's threat.

"I said there was still lots of food left. Don't get so bent out of shape."

"I have to when the bottomless pit is around a buffet table," Lavi grumbled, picking up a plate and putting food onto it. He faltered suddenly. "We can eat this, right?" Kisho nodded.

"Komui told me that whoever gets on this ferry can eat the food and that passengers only have to pay for their ticket. Not that we had to buy tickets, but anyway."

"Nice," Lavi remarked, then finished putting food on his plate and began eating it eagerly. The door banged open again and the trio whirled around to see Kanda standing in the doorway with a commanding look on his face.

"We've landed. Let's go." Lavi bolted the rest of his food down, then followed his friends out of the room and to the upper deck. Once the ferry stopped they disembarked with the other passengers. It wasn't a long walk to the train station, and even though it was hot, the short ferry trip had been pleasant so far and there was a small breeze blowing. Once they'd gotten on and located some seats, Allen and Lavi eventually dozed off. It was about three or so hours to Beijing, then another couple hours to Russia. Kisho began nodding off an hour into the trip, but forced himself to stay awake until Kanda told him to just get some rest so he'd have energy for the rest of the mission. Kisho was shaken awake by Allen and their group got something to eat and drink in Beijing. Kisho could read enough on the menu and knew how to ask for their meal and drinks, so he thought that things had turned out pretty well. All the help Lenalee had given him with studying had really helped. The owner of this restaurant knew about exorcists and gave them their food (lamb hotpot, which they shared, and fried shrimp) and drinks (tea and water). The owner spoke to Kisho and told them that their food wouldn't cost anything as he gestured to the symbol on the exorcists' coats. He didn't seem to mind giving them a free meal, though Kisho was glad all of what they ordered had luckily not been too expensive.

Kanda hadn't eaten much, like usual, but Allen noted that he'd eaten a little more than was normal for him. Kanda caught Allen's eye and scowled. "What are you looking at?" he asked sharply and Allen hid a smile.

"Nothing, just thought there was something on your face...wait, it was irritation. Never mind, then."

"Mind your own business, moyashi."

Kanda gave Allen one last glare, then got a glimpse of the clock and asked Kisho if it was time to catch their train yet. They finished eating quickly, Kisho gave his thanks to the owner, and they ran for the station. They had had ten minutes left to catch the train, and after they got on and found their seats, Allen occupied himself with looking out at the night scenery, Lavi was playing with Timcampy and Kanda was reading a book. Glancing up quickly Kisho managed to read the title. He had been curious about the book before but never had been close enough to get a look at the title. He read it now and saw that it was called "Moby Dick" by someone called Herman Melville, but didn't know what the book was supposed to be about. He didn't think it would be a good idea to interrupt Kanda's reading to ask. Kisho glanced back down at the map guidebook in his lap before Kanda noticed he'd been staring. So many things had changed since he'd come to The Black Order. He had been an exorcist, then a Finder, knew two second languages, sort of, and had made a lot of friends and seen things that people probably didn't even think could exist.

After four months of training, sooner than expected, Kisho had started going on missions again, but as a Finder this time. Because the situation with the Earl and Noah was getting a little more tense, Kisho suspected he'd been let out into the field early, even though he was still training. Learning to use knives had been challenging, but after a while, his body and mind had memorized the movements until it had almost become instinct for him to use knives and defend against attacks. He still slipped up sometimes though, but would get better—had to get better. Learning how to navigate maps and how to act in certain situations had been a little harder—eventually, though, everything he'd been learning began to sink in. Kisho was still in the process of learning things like countries' capitals, their geographical makeup, what languages most people in countries spoke, but he'd learn a lot so far, and knew several medical procedures so he could give first-aid to any exorcists he went on missions with.

He'd begun studying on his own to learn more Chinese, and it had been difficult until Lenalee had started helping him study. She said that she didn't have much to do some days, so she didn't mind. It was thanks to her that he spoke it almost proficiently now; sometimes they talked to each other in English nowadays, but so he could practice and learn more, they'd be heard talking to each other in Chinese. Lenalee told him his accent was halfway Japanese and halfway with English pronunciations, but that he wasn't bad. It had been hard, everything he'd learned, but Kisho felt happy with what he was doing. He had a lot of friends, knew more languages, and was working hard at a job of sorts-one that had helped him in more ways than one. If Kisho had stayed home, he would never have gone to the Black Order and experienced lots of new things. If he'd stayed home, he likely would have died in the Akuma's attack. He owed everyone around him a lot-Cloud Nyne, Komui, and his friends since they frequently got him out of dangerous situations. Lavi and Allen especially seemed to have to watch out for him a lot. Kisho was just fifteen and had been to a lot of interesting places. Kisho told Cloud Nyne again that he would always be grateful that she'd helped him, and that he wanted to do something for her to show that he was. Cloud Nyne had refused, however, and explained that he shouldn't feel like he had to pay her back. Comrades and friends just helped each other out and no thanks were needed, but she would never do something for someone and want something back and that was why Kisho wanted to do something for her. He thought suddenly of his and Shiori's parents and wondered if they would have been proud to hear about everything Shiori and he had done. But suddenly thinking of parents made him remember the Broker. Kisho suddenly felt defensive and angry. Who cared if she was his real mother? Kisho didn't remember her, so it was easy for him to believe she had no relation to him. Not to mention that there was even less reason to feel relation to her since was on the Millennium Earl's side.

"Hey! Did you hear me?" It was Kanda who'd yelled and Kisho looked up in alarm. Allen and Lavi were staring at him, each with a similar grimace on their face. It became obvious that Kanda had been addressing Kisho a few times already and was fed up with trying to get his attention.

"What's the matter?" Kisho asked tentatively, giving the exorcists a disgruntled glance.

"You!" Kanda hissed back. "If you're the Finder, act like one. Pay attention to what's going on." Kisho nodded and closed his guidebook so he could pay attention, though Kanda was right-he'd stopped reading it a while ago and had started to daydream. The remainder of the trip was quiet and uneventful; Allen dozed off with Timcampy on his head, Lavi was gazing out the window at the sky, and Kanda went back to reading his book. When the train finally arrived in Russia, Kisho woke up Allen and they walked as quickly as they could back to the castle. Allen had always liked being at The Black Order, but now couldn't describe how relieved he felt to be back home. It had just been one thing after another the past few days, and finally he'd be able to get some rest in a familiar place. Kanda walked off right after getting past Gatekeeper, while Allen and Lavi lingered near the entrance a minute longer.

"I'll give the Innocence to Hevlaska, and report to him in the morning." None of the three people knew what time it was, but judging by how tired they felt, it was probably some obscenely early hour of the morning. Komui was probably asleep now, and the researchers, too—Lenalee had succeeded in letting them get some time where they could sleep and free time in general. It would take some time for them to get used to not drinking coffee as much though. According to Lenalee, Reever and the others were still pretty energetic from the caffeine still in their systems.

Lavi said goodnight to Allen and Kisho, and they replied goodnight to him, and Allen left to head up to their rooms, while Kisho trudged down to see Hevlaska. He didn't have to think about where to turn to go see her now, which made him feel like he'd really gotten used to being at The Order. There was a deep part in the castle somewhat like the old Black Order and that was where Hevlaska was. But even though her room was deep in the castle, it was higher up than before, or so Hevlaska said. Kisho couldn't tell the difference. But the Innocence Keeper seemed to like her new location.

"Good morning…..or whatever it is," Kisho yawned, then laughed and held out his hands, offering the Innocence to Hevlaska, and it floated towards her then down with the others.

"Welcome back. You all had a very long and difficult mission. You should get some rest."

"I'll take you up on that…all of us could have fallen asleep standing up." Kisho yawned again. "I'll come visit again and stay longer…right now I wouldn't be very interesting to talk to." Hevlaska seemed to smile.

"That's alright. I will see you another time." Kisho waved, then sleepily turned and walked out of the Innocence Keeper's room, then made his way up to his own. Kisho turned his doorknob slowly, then closed the door quietly, trying not to make noise and wake someone up. Crossing the room he made it to his bed, where he kicked his shoes off and flopped down onto the bed, then curled up comfortably under the covers. He was so tired that it didn't take long for him to let go of everything he'd been thinking or worrying about so a short while later Kisho managed to fall asleep.


Allen held his stomach as it gave a loud growl. Hurrying towards the cafeteria he mentally told it to wait until he could get some food. It was a couple days after their mission in Taiwan, and he didn't have anything else to do at the moment, having already done his daily training, and after that he'd been ravenously hungry so he eagerly went to the cafeteria. Once he got there his blue-grey eyes looked around for his friends, but he didn't see them. Maybe they'd been called on another mission already. Lenalee should still be around…or maybe she was on a mission too. Sighing, Allen shook his head. Komui still wouldn't let her see people…there was no chance he'd let her go on a mission anytime soon. She had gone on one once recently….but if she'd gone on one today then Allen bet that everyone would know since he'd be making a fuss about it. For some reason Allen bristled. Lenalee was strong enough to take care of herself, and she was old enough, too, but Komui still treated her like she was a child.

"Hey, Jerry?" Allen asked once he approached the cook. "Have you seen Lavi or Lenalee anywhere? Krory and Miranda aren't even here…neither are Shiori or Kisho. I've been looking for them for a while." Jerry shook his head, frowning slightly.

"No, they aren't. I haven't seen them this morning yet. But Kanda's over there." Jerry pointed but Allen didn't bother to look.

"Thanks for the help." The exorcist sighed again. "I'll just have the usual and then go look for them. Maybe they had a mission." Jerry nodded.

"They could have, but I haven't heard anything. They may just be wandering around somewhere." Jerry smiled reassuringly and left to start cooking, leaving Allen to linger off to the side of the ordering area. He yawned and glanced down at Timcampy. "If you want to get food in the middle of the night, you don't have to wake me up just to tell me." The golden Golem stared silently at him. "Unless you're bringing me something too."

"Allen." Timcampy was tossed from Allen's wrist when he whirled around and faced Lenalee. "Good morning!"

"Good morning. Is your ankle better?" Lenalee nodded happily.

"Yes. It's completely healed. What about yours?"

"No problems here," Allen replied, standing on his injured foot for a few seconds. Lenalee smiled and laughed. "Have you seen—"

"Lavi, right? And the others?" Lenalee asked, shaking her head. "I was just going to ask you the same thing. I'm going to go look for them after I got something to eat." Jerry came back just then and handed Allen his food.

"I got a lot of food today too. Do you want to eat some?" Lenalee hesitated, frowning.

"You can eat all of that without my help. Would it be alright if I had some?" Allen grinned and shrugged.

"Yeah. It's lunchtime now, so I'll come back after we find them." Lenalee waved at Jerry.

"Hi, Jerry! Sorry I was ignoring you. How have you been?"

"I've been great, sweetie! Thanks for asking!" Jerry replied, waving as the two exorcists walked off towards a table. They finished eating quickly and left the cafeteria and headed down the hall. They ran into their friends right away—Krory and human Shiori, who was cradling the brown duck in her arms.

"What are you doing?" They all asked each other at once, then laughed. It was Krory who answered.

"Coming to get something to eat, and let you know that that Kisho, Lavi, and Miranda just got called on a mission."

"No wonder they weren't around." Allen crossed his arms. "Where are they going?"

"China," Krory answered. "They're meeting Toma in a city not too far from the Asia Branch. Hyun-Ae's going with them as far as the mission site and then she's going on her own to see Bak. The mission is to defeat Akuma and look for Innocence. Hevlaska detected a signal there."

"Hyun-Ae's going with them? What's she going to do once she gets to the Asia Branch?" Lenalee asked, her eyebrows dipping a little. Krory sighed.

"She's going to appeal to Bak and see if he'll allow her to leave and go back to her family. She can't be an exorcist anymore and doesn't have much of a reason to stay."

"But she could still work for the Order," Allen noted, then shrugged. "I guess she didn't want to."

"If she didn't want to," Lenalee put in, "then I'm glad she didn't stay. If Bak lets her go back home, then that's good." Catching her friends' look, she said, "My family is here. But I think Hyun-Ae never really was comfortable here."

That's probably why Master left… Allen thought grimly. He broke out of his thoughts when he heard a smacking noise.

"Shiori," Krory asked, "did you just kiss a duck?" Noticing everyone was staring at her with a bewildered expression, Shiori lifted her head and hugged the mallard duck.

"Yes," she replied pompously. "As a matter of fact, I did."

"That's nothing to sound proud of…." Allen said after laughing so hard his stomach ached.


Some time later, Lavi, Kisho, Miranda and Hyun-Ae disembarked the train and headed for the town center. Hyun-Ae suddenly sneezed a few times and rubbed her nose, then turned to Kisho and Miranda.

"Well, now that we're here…."

"If you're going to say, 'Get back on the train and go home', then don't, because I'm not going to," Kisho interrupted stubbornly. The Korean exorcist lifted her hands in defeat.

"Fine. But I was just going to say, now that we're not teammates anymore, we probably won't see each other again. So goodbye, and good luck on the mission." Miranda smiled halfway, not wanting to say anything on the subject, even though she had plenty of thoughts on it. Kisho frowned doubtfully, raising an eyebrow, and Lavi shrugged heedlessly. "But now that you reminded me, you really should go back." Kisho shook his head and Hyun-Ae seemed a little agitated. "It's advice."

Unhelpful advice, Kisho thought, but kept his mouth shut and kept walking after looking around and making sure Miranda, Lavi, and Hyun-Ae were all walking close together. It took around ten minutes to reach the town square where there were a few markets. Once the group got there and met up with Toma, the lead Finder this time (there were lead Finders the same way there were lead exorcists; Lavi was the lead exorcist on this mission), they began talking as if they were just having a friendly chat. Sometimes people walking by stared at them briefly but never said anything or approached them. Lavi, Miranda, and Kisho couldn't help but notice that more than a few of them gave them particularly suspicious and mistrustful glances. And they also noticed that Hyun-Ae seemed to be fidgeting uncomfortably, and she hardly ever let anything bother her, even if it was something serious.

"I'm going to….clear off," she said shortly, scuffing at the ground with both feet. "It was nice knowing you all." The only things she received in response were puzzled and anxious looks from Miranda and Toma, and harsh stares from Lavi and Kisho. "What? I mean it. It really was nice. Take care."

"You too," Miranda offered after a pause, and smiled hopefully. Hyun-Ae gazed at her, then turned her lips up in a return smile, but she almost looked sad. Then she turned and walked off without a word. "Will she be able to find her way?"

"I gave her a map Komui marked; it has our current location and the route to the Asia Branch on it," Kisho answered. "She'll be fine."

"Well," Lavi said cheerily, "let's get on with the mission. Sound good?" Kisho and Miranda nodded. Toma cleared his throat and nodded as well, then started into explaining the mission.

"You all know there are Akuma here, and a potential Innocence signal. The situation for the people here is dangerous. Attacks have been happening during the day and night, and frequently. A section of this city has been blocked off, and it's believed the Akuma are still hiding there. Anyone who was attacked there has just been left because it's too dangerous for anyone to approach." He shook his head.

"So that's where we come in," Lavi stated, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go for it." Everyone nodded and set off. Along the way Toma laid out the plan. Once they were at the edge of the wrecked part of the city, he explained that they were to search the area together, and split up at a second's notice if any Akuma attacked. Miranda and Kisho were to form a group if anything happened, and Lavi and Toma would stay together if there was trouble. Lavi, Miranda, and Kisho would be the main force of the mission. Since Miranda's Innocence weapon was defensive, Kisho would be fighting as much as he could to help her. But if they got in over their heads, they would contact Lavi and Toma by Golem, then go find them.

The damage was terrible—buildings had been obliterated, the ground was burned, and the whole area was a huge contrast to the rest of the city. The damaged part looked like an abandoned world. Any people they found along the way were very obviously dead—burned or injured so badly they would have been unrecognizable to anyone who knew them. Eventually, the group began to take a few seconds to examine bodies they saw, just enough to see if they were alive or not, and then they quickly got up and kept moving. Lavi closed his eyes, shaking his head, then snapped them open and pulled out his Anti-Akuma Weapon. "Get ready," he said, and Kisho looked up and heard a sound like an explosion. He and Miranda took off just in time—a virus bullet had been fired where they'd been standing a moment ago. Lavi destroyed that Akuma with a blast of fire and then dodged rolled to the side to avoid a bullet from another one that took its place. There were a bunch of Level Ones floating in the sky, the cannon type, but suddenly around a dozen Level Twos appeared. Kisho grimaced as he pulled out a knife and drew it across his palm, leaving a red line that leaked blood. He squeezed his hand over it and covered the metal blade with blood. The throwing knife suddenly glowed a dim green.

"Shrimp! Watch out!" Kisho heard Lavi's urgent yell and looked up just in time to see a humanoid Akuma land in front of him. It grinned at him and fangs poked out from behind its lips. The Akuma raised a hand and claws suddenly burst from its fingers. Kisho instinctively ducked under them as the Akuma slashed. The teenager rushed forward and stabbed the Akuma in its chest. He heard a shriek and felt the creature start thrashing around. Kisho shoved the dagger in deeper and moved to jump clear but felt the Akuma's arm slam into him. He was thrown into the air and landed heavily on the ground. A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see that the Akuma was leaning over him. A blast of heat seared Kisho's face and he rolled away and covered his head, then was abruptly yanked to his feet. "Move!" Lavi shouted, and Kisho ran after him. Lavi seemed alright—a little beaten up, but not badly injured. Several virus bullets rained down around them as they ran, but Lavi destroyed them with a column of fire. "Their aim is really bad, luckily for us," he panted while running with all he had.

"Where are Miranda and Toma?" Kisho questioned, slightly out of breath.

"They're fine—they got away. Once these Akuma are taken care of, we'll go find them." Kisho felt a sweep of relief and they ran in silence, Lavi destroying any Akuma that attacked, until they found the charred remains of a building and ducked inside for cover. The walls were still mostly intact, so as long as no Akuma came up from behind, they'd be safely hidden. Kisho kept an eye on the back of the house where the walls had partially burned away. They only stayed in the building long enough to check themselves for injuries; Lavi and Kisho knew they'd be sore in the morning, but that was better than anything else their enemies would dish out. After a minute they checked to see if the coast was clear, then quickly contacted Toma and Miranda with a black Golem. Lavi told them where they were, describing as many landmarks as he could. Thanks to the Akuma, there weren't many left, but Toma was able to recognize their location.

"We just passed there. Keep running straight until you get to the end of the street, then turn right. And be careful."

"Sure. See you in a bit," Lavi said, then handed the Golem to Kisho, and after another check for Akuma they ran from the house and down the street. A second too late Lavi glanced up to see a humanoid Akuma leaping down from the sky. It slammed into him and Kisho saw that it had a beast-like appearance, the same as the last Akuma. Lavi shoved his Anti-Akuma Weapon upwards and used it like a shield to avoid the Akuma's claws and teeth. Kisho got some more of his blood on his knife, changing it into a temporary Anti-Akuma Weapon again. Once it had activated he quickly aimed and tossed the knife. It shot towards the Akuma and—Kisho took a moment to be amazed at his aim—buried up to its hilt in the Akuma's left eye. Lavi shoved the creature back when it howled in agony and clutched its eye, and readied to swing his weapon, but too quickly the Akuma recovered and lunged at Lavi with its claws. The redhead jumped back but still got three red claw marks down his right side. Kisho rushed at the Akuma and managed to stab it before it grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Realizing his palm was pooling with blood again, Kisho moved his arm like he was throwing something. Blood streaked across the Akuma's face and got in its injured eye, which made it growl with pain and anger. Lavi got to his feet and extended the hammer's handle and it pierced the Akuma through the chest. Kisho scrambled backwards and leapt up, getting another knife ready. The Akuma grabbed the handle of Lavi's weapon and growled threateningly at him, but the exorcist wasn't fazed. Lavi glowered at the Akuma and suddenly flames shot down the handle and incinerated the creature. He was startled to see the Akuma burned away to nothing. He'd only had to think about selecting the Fire Seal and fire had appeared. Shaking away the thought, Lavi made the hammer go back to its normal size and ran over to Kisho. "You alright Shrimp?" The Finder nodded, winded from being tossed to the ground, and Lavi clapped him on the shoulder. "Then let's get going." He winced from his injuries, but ignored them as he ran.

"Lavi, I can heal that," Kisho told him, concerned, but Lavi shook his head once.

"Not yet. Let's just find Miranda and Toma for starters." But blood was soaking Lavi's shirt and he was clutching his right side tightly as he ran.

"You're bleeding too much. We need to stop." Another partially burned-out building was nearby and Kisho pushed Lavi towards it; the exorcist stumbled sideways towards it, overbalanced, and collapsed onto his knees. The pain and blood loss had made him weak, and he was already a bit tired from fighting. "Sorry!" Kisho gasped. Lavi grimaced.

"Even you can push me around, huh….alright," Lavi chuckled quietly, then stood unsteadily while Kisho helped him walk into the building and sit down. Kisho rifled around in the supply bag over his shoulder and located a canteen of water, bandages, and cloth towels. Lavi lifted his shirt, then just removed it since the scratches were so long, running from his armpit to his leg. Kisho pressed a towel onto the area and kept pressing for twenty minutes until the bleeding had slowed down enough. Then he poured the water slowly over the gashes, then got soap from his bag and poured water over a clean towel, then rubbed the soap into it until some bubbles formed. Wrapping the soap in bandages he tossed it back into the bag, then began dabbing and lightly scrubbing around the gashes. Lavi ground his teeth and closed his eyes. Then Kisho rinsed the injured area, made sure it was clean, and began winding fresh strips of bandages around Lavi's upper body. In a minute he had completely covered the gashes up and tied the end of the bandages off. Lavi pulled his shirt gingerly back on, then stood up and focused on not getting dizzy. "Good," he said. "Thanks. Now let's get going again." They checked the area and the sky for any Akuma, but didn't see any. Nothing else seemed wrong, either, so they stuck to the shadows in the street and continued on.


"Why are you taking so long?" Road complained moodily to David, who was taking aim at his target with his revolver. Road jarred his arm towards the two figures and he stumbled a little in surprise, then crossly smacked Road's hand away. "He's right down there. Just shoot him, already. Jeez." The two Noah were both lying facedown on top of a building that hadn't been affected by the explosions. They were not too far from where their targets were. David was waiting for them to pass under the building walk a little farther, and then he'd take aim and shoot.

"Shut up, tiny," he hissed. "They'll hear you. And I'll shoot whenever I want." David looked up at a Level Four Akuma—a winged, beast-like type similar to the others they'd sent out to fight—that was standing nearby. "Get over here." The Akuma glowered but silently complied and didn't react when Road skipped over and took out a knife. She grinned and dug it into the Akuma's arm, and held a bullet under the blood that dripped from the cut. When it was coated, it turned a deep red and hardened. Road tossed the bullet to David, and he loaded it into the cylinder, then readied it to shoot. "Give them a taste of their own medicine," he grunted to himself, then watched as the exorcist and Finder walked by without noticing them. "We knew about fighting this way a long time before they did, though."

"Thanks to me," the Level Four growled, but David merely shrugged and then, smirking, he took aim and pulled the trigger.


"Where are you two?" Kisho was asking into the Golem, keeping his voice just loud enough to be heard. He was quickly becoming anxious; Lavi was leaning against a building with both hands pressed over his injury, and he didn't seem to be doing so well. "We're where you said to go."

"We wouldn't just jump out of hiding," Toma replied. "There might still be Akuma around. We can see you, so just hide nearby and wait, alright?"

"Alright."

"Are either of you injured?" Toma's voice crackled through the flapping black Golem in Kisho's hand.

"Lavi is. I cleaned it and bandaged it but an Akuma got him pretty bad. No virus though."

"I activated my Time Record," Miranda's voice sounded next. "Don't worry. We're almost there." Lavi slid down the building and sat, but still couldn't get his breath. His injury was hurting a lot, and the blood loss was affecting him; he was having trouble seeing straight and was having slight problems with hearing.

"That's good. Lavi needs a doctor." Kisho looked up and saw Miranda and Toma approaching their hiding place and moved towards Lavi to help him stand up; he slung his friend's left arm over his shoulders and stood carefully. Lavi grunted in pain but stood up, his eyes closed; keeping them open wasn't doing him any good. Suddenly Lavi heard a gunshot and shot his eyes open in alarm. Kisho heard it too and had barely turned around when he felt a powerful burning sensation radiate across his back and then rip through him. He saw a burst of red as something shot out from his left side. The burning was so terrible that he wanted to scream but the sudden pain made him unable to move at all; he'd frozen in shock. Kisho's vision went black and he felt his legs crumpling as he fell. Lavi wasn't expecting the weight distribution to change and fell down halfway before clutching the side of the building to get his footing back. Then he glanced down and saw Kisho lying facedown; a splatter of red had painted the pavement and blood was forming a little pool under him. Miranda and Toma rushed up and the Time Record quickly took effect on the two. Then Lavi grabbed Kisho and they were all running away from the area as fast as they could, and kept changing directions together as they ran so they wouldn't be shot again. He glanced over his shoulder and looked everywhere that was possible for a shooter to be, but didn't see anyone. "Someone shot him," he said, and Miranda's eyes flew wide. Lavi kept moving even when he felt his injuries vanishing. His strength came back, but he still felt slightly woozy; he was strong enough to carry Kisho, though, at least for a while. The shooter was likely still around so it was important to keep moving and he spoke quickly along the way. "Did you see any other Akuma?"

"No," Toma replied, "we didn't. I think that you took care of them all." His eyes lingered on Lavi, and Kisho's motionless form over his back. "But either way, we need to get to a safe place." Lavi and Miranda nodded and they took off with Toma, their injuries gone for the moment. Lavi felt Kisho stirring slightly but guessed he was still unconscious even if his gunshot wound was gone for now. Who had shot at them?


After David pulled the trigger he watched the youngest kid in the group take the hit and was slightly taken aback. He'd meant to hit the one called Lavi, but at the last possible moment, the kid had helped him up, making the redhead step aside just enough for him to take the bullet. If the Finder hadn't moved at all the bullet would have gone through both of them, and it wouldn't have mattered. This type of virus bullet wouldn't kill its target right away, but instead slowly turn them into an Akuma.

"I can't believe it. He walked right in front of him! That was too lucky. Damn." David raised his gun again and was about to make another virus bullet when Road sank her nails into his shoulder; David glared at her and wrenched his arm away, not caring that her nails tore his sleeve and left red tears in his skin.

"Wait…" She mused. "Isn't he important to them too? Once they figure out he has the virus, they'll try to save him, probably with that vampire guy's help." David frowned, then widened his eyes in comprehension. "But he won't be able to suck all the virus blood out since it'll have spread by then and they won't have known."

"Right…that woman has the Innocence that can reverse injuries. They'll try to heal him, but that exorcist will just get the virus, too."

"And," Road added, drawing her tongue over her lips, "just in case he gets out of this one, I have something else planned for him. I'm not letting that little runt get away; he and I have a score to settle." David put his revolver away and crossed his arms, almost-but not quite-feeling sorry for the Finder. When Road got him where she wanted him, he knew she wouldn't waste time at making his life torture.

"I was worried but it looks like things are going to turn out better than we wanted," he said with an expression of anticipation.

"Aren't you glad she told you to wait to shoot again, Mr. Trigger-Happy?" The Akuma asked pleasantly, causing Road to giggle and slap hands with the Level Four.

"Oooh, burn!" The female Noah chortled. "Good one!" David massaged his forehead and gave them a unpleasant glare.

"Sometimes I hate working with you guys."


Author's note: I usually just write about the exorcists' point of view so it was cool to switch over to the Noah for a change. They have an important part, not just because they work for the Earl and are part of the main bunch of antagonists. It's fun to write about the Noah, which I was surprised to find myself think at first but I got into switching the viewpoint to them.
It's also kind of fun to make up new theories about Innocence and the Akuma virus. I'll have some more made-up theories about Innocence later; I'm looking forward to that. I hope everyone's looking forward to new chapters too. I hope making a part two didn't make the story too hard to find, but I felt like it was a good idea. I've never written anything this long before so I never thought about making the story two parts. So hopefully it works out! :)