From the strange authouress who brought you Bleached Armageddon and Nameless comes…

Of Librarians and Other Interesting People

By Inuyoshie

Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray Man.

Chapter One

Rain pattered steadily on the roof of a rickety carriage. The driver was a middle aged man who grumbled that he didn't get paid enough. The passengers were an Exorcist by the name of Harold Teeman, and a young woman named Artemis. Harold was explaining his job to Artemis, who nodded along.

"I can't believe there aren't any Akuma in your homeland," Harold remarked, awe in his voice.

"Our island cares for her inhabitants. Once someone dies, their soul joins the earth. Those left behind understand this, and don't feel the need to try and bring their loved ones back." Artemis smiled warmly.

"Hm… perhaps the island is a rather large piece of Innocence," Harold mused, fingering a silver ring on his finger.

"Maybe," Artemis nodded. "Thank you for letting me travel with you,"

"Oh, it's nothing," Harold replied. "You seem like such a nice young lady… eh; I just sounded like an old man, didn't I?" Artemis laughed.

Suddenly the carriage came to a shuddering halt, and the horses screamed. Harold stuck his head outside, froze, and slowly turned to Artemis.

"Miss Artemis, listen to me very carefully. There are a large number of Akuma out there, as well as a man. I really hope that man isn't what I think he is… regardless; I'm not going to survive,"

"Mister Teeman I could help-"

"Yes you can." Harold pulled out four shining pieces of Innocence and took off his ring. "Take these and run,"

"Wait," Artemis pulled out some clay and molded it into replica Innocences. "Perhaps this will hold them off for longer,"

"Good idea. Now run, and get this Innocence back to the Black Order," Harold told her. Artemis nodded her face terribly sad. She hid the Innocence in a pouch on her leg just as an Akuma shattered the carriage. Artemis went flying and landed in a puddle of mud. She stared at the looming Akuma as they swarmed Harold, tears threatening to spill over. Then, she noticed him.

He looked very out of place. Perhaps it was his fancy clothing, or the murderous aura he gave off. Artemis knew he was not human. He was one of the Soulless.

Artemis ran like hell.

----

Harold found that the replica Innocence Artemis made for him was more useful than he though. It actually transformed into a semblance of the knuckle blades his Innocence was supposed to be, but wasn't nearly as strong. He barely slowed the Akuma down and began to run, only to be stopped by a man standing in his path.

"Now where might you be going, Sir Exorcist?" he asked, a frightening grin stretching on his face. "You wouldn't want to leave an innocent town defenseless against all these Akuma?"

"Hm. You're one of the Noah, aren't you?" Harold replied.

"So you've heard of us? Hm… then you certainly know what we specialize in," the man advanced on Harold as he was shot from behind by two Akuma. "We destroy innocence,"

As the dying man fell, the Noah reached into Harold's coat and took out the shimmering items. Harold watched him crush them one by one, and died laughing.

"Joke's on you… Noah…"

---

Tykki Mikk stared at the dust in his hand. They were fakes. Each one of them fake. Well made fakes… but still… fakes. He turned to the Akuma he was given and sighed.

"A finder probably has them," he remarked.

"I… saw a girl run into the nearby city," One Akuma spoke up, pointing into a bustling city. The rain slowed and a grin spread slowly across Tykki's face again.

---

The Soulless.

Artemis had always been told stories about them, ever since she was little. It was her grandmother's favourite story.

When the earth was first formed, humans were created by one god, and elves by a goddess. This goddess made all the 'mythological' creatures, and her favourite was a fiery songbird, the phoenix. The phoenix fell in love with a human, took on the form of a woman and bore a child. Around this time the humans' god announced that there was going to be a great flood. Like most of the Goddess' creations, the phoenix didn't believe this, but sent her child onto the ark as a stowaway, just in case.

The phoenix child was discovered, and sang to keep from being thrown over board. Noah and his people were pleased by the child's song, and decided to keep her as a pet. However the phoenix child had other ideas, she wanted to be free and fly the skies. Once the flood was over, the phoenix child fled, and Noah chased her. Ever since, his descendants have searched for the phoenix child, no matter where she fled, or how many children she had. Around here the stories surrounding Noah's children get fuzzy, like they sought to destroy humanity or that demons worshipped them as gods or other nonsense like that, but now Artemis wondered. The man there matched the traditional descriptions of a Soulless descendant of Noah perfectly. And the feeling… the sense that every cell in her body screamed for Artemis to run away and hide…

Her sandaled feet slapped the wet pavement viciously, adrenaline throbbing in her veins. Artemis really wanted to revert to her natural form, but doing that would be foolish. People tend to notice giant winged white snakes. Artemis slowed her running, ducking into an empty alley.

Luckily, Artemis was using Soul Protect, a technique developed by the Muse people to hide from such predators. So that Soulless man didn't know she was a Muse. Hopefully. So as long as Artemis lay low… she'd be okay.

But there was the Innocence… Artemis had no clue where to take it. Her familiar Kirikiri could probably figure it out, but Artemis would have to undo Soul Protect to use her. Also, Kirikiri was Aretmis's only weapon. Using the snake would leave her vulnerable to attack.

Artemis decided to lay low for some time. Straightening, the young woman patted the pouch that held the Innocence and stepped out in to the street. She carefully walked down the side walk, going over options in her head.

---

Inuyoshie's after the chapter special

So this is me trying my hand at D. Gray Man stories. I like Tykki a lot… ~ I don't care how you spell his name. I hope I kept everything in character. I also hope no one is too confused about Artemis. More about what she is and her past will come up.

Also, this has LavixOC in it. Lavi's OC will be referenced to throughout the story, but you won't meet her until later. I'm thinking of putting an AllenXOC in here too and making it yaoi… or maybe I should give him to Kanda. I don't know… do give advice? Thank you. Please review, it makes me happy inside.