Title: Winds of Change
Summary: Rie has always been spunky and outgoing but she has some reservations about the Black Order. When the exorcists come to her town to investigate Innocence, many things are about to change. Suck at summaries.
A/N: So I've had this first chapter done for ages and the idea for the story for even longer. Don't know what stopped me from posting it…..oh yeah; title issues. It took even longer to think up a title. I hate giving things titles…. Well I'm just gonna go to my happy place now while you read (runs through a field of flowers happily chasing a butterfly)
Chapter One
Hazy light drifted in through the half shuttered windows of the train. Outside the clouds were low over the land, enveloping everything in a deep fog. The sun was now rising though and the clouds would soon be gone, dissipated by the morning sunlight. Even now, the green grass still wet with dew was beginning to emerge from the fog, closely followed by the ancient trees of the forest through which they were passing.
Within a cabin on the train five people dressed in slightly varying black and white uniforms sat in silence, waiting out the train ride. The exorcists had been on the same train since yesterday afternoon and a couple of them were becoming quite restless despite the early hour. Allen was watching out the window, enjoying the sight of nature breaking free of the oppressive mist while Kanda sat on the opposite side of the cabin by the door, as far away from Allen he could get. Beside Allen Lavi was fast asleep against the wall, snoring away without a care in the world. He had flopped over onto Allen once or twice when the train ride became bumpy and sent him careening into Allen. Krory was watching the same scene as Allen, though with more enthusiasm, drawing the occasional glare from Kanda. Lenalee sat between the two, going over a map of their destination.
Krory, finally getting the hint from Kanda, settled back into his seat and looked over at the map in Lenalee's lap. "Excuse me, Miss Lenalee?" he asked politely.
"Yes, Count?"
"What is our mission again? And where are we headed?"
Lenalee had to work hard to hold back her laughter. Count Arystar Krory was such a nice man with a good heart but he was somewhat forgetful and impossibly naïve. It probably came from living inside a castle his entire life, never being allowed to leave. Until he drank the blood of an akuma, that is. He became a completely different person under those circumstances.
"We're headed to a town called Tharnis." Everyone looked over at Lavi when he spoke. No one had noticed him wake up. He sat in his seat with his hands behind his head and one leg resting on the other. "We're going to investigate rumors of increased akuma activity and some odd wind patterns."
"Oh, that's right." Krory was silent for a moment before continuing. "I wonder what they mean by 'odd wind patterns'."
"Dunno," Lavi replied with a shrug, returning his hands to his sides. He turned to Kanda with a big smile on his face. "What do you think Yuu?" Allen was hard pressed to stifle his laughter.
"Do not call me by my name," he said to Lavi with all the warmth of the Antarctic. Allen laughed a bit more, drawing a glare from Kanda. "Something funny, Moyashi?"
Allen returned Kanda's glare with equal force. "My name is Allen. Allen!"
Lenalee leaned back in her seat to study her map. She didn't want to get caught up in their petty argument, even if it was funny.
Krory turned to Lenalee again. "How much longer do you suppose it is until we arrive?"
She was about to reply when the finder sitting outside their door piped up. At his voice, the other three fell silent. "We will arrive in approximately seventeen minutes. When we do, we will have to find a place to stay, as we were unable to secure a lodging before-hand."
Allen thought for a moment before adding his opinion. "I think looking for a place to stay can wait. If there are as many akuma around as the rumors say then we should have a look around first." The others agreed after a moment of thought, even Kanda.
They travelled the rest of the way in silence, though 'the rest of the way' only consisted of about seventeen minutes, as the finder had said it would. When they disembarked from the train they found themselves in a town slightly larger than they had expected. From everything they had heard about this village and the maps they had been looking at they had expected to find themselves in a bit of a smaller place. Apparently they had been wrong.
They emerged into a bright city bustling with morning activity. It wasn't as busy as some towns at this time of day but it was busier than anticipated.
"There are more people around than I thought there would be," Lenalee said. She sounded nervous. Allen knew it was because she didn't want to involve innocent people in fighting the akuma, if only by accident. He felt the same way.
"Don't worry, Lenalee." He gave her a kind, gentle smile, conveying his unspoken agreement. She returned his smile, a wordless thank you.
Kanda agreed with them, but for different reasons. More people meant more possible akuma as well as more obstacles when the fighting began.
Krory broke into everyone's thoughts. "So we look for clues now, right?" he asked. "Should we split up?"
"I don't think so," Lavi replied almost at once. "In this size of city it would be best to stick together. Safety in numbers, right?"
"Che." Kanda seemed somewhat annoyed. "I don't need people like you around."
"Of course not," Lavi said happily. "Yuu doesn't need anybody."
"Say that one more time and I'll cut you." Lavi, somewhat cowed by the murderous expression on Kanda's face, decided that silence was in order.
None the less they stuck together as they struck out to look for clues of Innocence. They spent quite some time doing this and found a couple of useful tips. They confirmed the increase in akuma, though none had tried to attack them yet and also learned some more about wind.
"It's very strange," one old woman said. "The odd winds happen only on the outskirts of town and very rarely do they travel inwards."
"Can you tell us any more about the wind ma'am?" Allen asked.
"Let's see." The old lady thought for a moment before continuing. "Ah yes. It goes against the rest of the wind, in somewhat of a shape."
Lenalee looked somewhat confused. "Could you explain a bit more please?"
"Of course, dearie." She looked so happy to be helping them. "In one place the wind will be blowing as it should but in some spots, and never the same ones mind you, the wind has changed. It's not constant either. The winds move differently as well. It swirls and twists in a cylinder that bends and weaves across the sky. You can even see it, if the moonlight is right."
"Moonlight?" Krory was the one to speak this time. "This only occurs at night?"
"Yes, only at night," she confirmed. "And not every night either. There seems to be no pattern, really."
Allen nodded at her words. "Thank you for all of your help."
"Oh not a problem dearies. Happy to help any time." She waved goodbye as they walked away down the street.
Once they were out of hearing range of anyone around them they began discussing what they had heard from the old woman. "Well this is definitely Innocence," Allen said aloud.
"You expected otherwise?" Kanda asked with a sneer.
"Kanda, be nice," Lenalee reproached him gently.
"Do you think someone already has the Innocence?" Krory asked.
"It's possible," Lavi admitted. "Probable, actually, since the wind is moving, though whoever has it may not know that they do."
Before anyone could say another word a little kid of about eight of nine years old came barreling towards them. He bumped into Krory as he ran past, knocking him sideways a bit.
"Children have such energy," he said happily. Kanda stared after the child suspiciously before turning back to the others.
"Krory, check your pockets," he said. The others turned to him with confused looks.
"Pardon, sir Kanda?" Krory asked.
"I said, check you pockets."
Without asking another question Krory began to search his pockets. After a moment be began to panic.
"What's the matter Kuro-chan?" Lavi asked.
"My money!" His voice had raised an octave. "My money is gone!"
"What?" Allen seemed almost as panicked as Krory.
"It appears that child was a pick-pocket," Kanda said calmly.
"What do we do?" Krory cried.
"We chase after him of course!" For some reason, Lavi sounded excited as he bounded off after the kid. The others followed close on his heels.
Though the young boy had a head start on them all five were much faster than him. However the kid was a local so he knew all the twists and turns to take."
Finally he dodged down an alley and the exorcists had to take a sharp turn to keep up with him. The lot of them tripped over each other. They stood up as quick as they could and looked down the alley desperately, afraid they had lost the kid. What they saw wasn't quite what they had expected.
At the end of the alley stood a girl with black hair in spikey pigtails reaching about midway down her back. Her bangs, thought, were dark blue. She had the boy by the arm and was looking at him sternly.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Kaleb? Don't steal from people."
"Ow! Let go of my arm!" he complained loudly.
"Give me the wallet," she said.
"Look at them!" he told her. "They've got plenty of money. They could spare me some!"
"Kaleb!" She tightened her grip on his arm.
"Ow! Fine!" He handed the girl the wallet and she immediately released his arm. He took off at a dead run past her as soon as he was free.
She walked over to the stunned exorcists and held out the wallet. Her eyes wandered over each of them, pausing for a moment on Kanda before continuing. "So, whose wallet is this?" she asked.
Krory took a step forwards. "That would be mine," he said sheepishly.
Smiling, she handed it back to him. "You should be more careful."
"Yes, I will. Thank you."
Kanda looked at her suspiciously. There was something oddly familiar about this girl. "Who--" He was interrupted before he could say anything else by Lavi. He had managed to make his way through the others without being noticed and was now standing directly in front of the new girl.
"My name's Lavi," he said sweetly. "And what might yours be?"
She stared at him for a moment before smiling coyly and winking at him. "Hey there, cutie." She added a little giggle at the end. For some reason, in the background Kanda was resisting, though just barely, a very strong urge to rip Lavi's head violently from his shoulders. Strange.
Before Lavi could continue Lenalee interrupted him. "Thank you, again," she said as she shot a glare at Lavi while dragging him back a pace or two by the back of his clothing.
The girl turned to Lenalee now, Lavi all but forgotten. "No problem. That boy has been doing that a lot lately," she sighed. "I wish his parents would pay more attention to him."
"His parents ignore him?" Allen asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "But it's not my place to get mixed up in their family affairs." She looked at them again before asking "You guys got a place to stay tonight?"
"Not yet," Allen replied. "We were going to find somewhere now."
"You guys might be out of luck," she said sadly. "We have a festival going on within the next couple of days so all the inns are filled."
"Really?" Lenalee sounded worried.
"Yeah." She thought for a minute before an excited look crossed her face. "Hey, I know! Why don't you guys stay at my place? I have more room than I need."
"I wouldn't want to impose," Lenalee said softly.
"This is too much of a hassle," Kanda mumbled.
The girl gave him a funny look before replying. "I insist," she said. "It's been a while since I've had company anyways."
Allen was unsure about accepting. This girl was just an innocent bystander. If there were akuma here and they stayed with her then they would only cause her trouble.
"We'd be happy to!" Allen looked up with a start to see the others already following the girl down the alley and Lavi walking beside her with his usual stupid grin. Allen gaped after them for a second before following. He didn't necessarily approve but what was done was done. Besides, she seemed nice enough.
They reached her house shortly and at first they thought it was nothing more than a small, dingy apartment, but when she let them in, they were proven wrong again. From the outside it looked like several apartments, but inside they were all connected.
"How did you get a nice place like this?" Krory asked while looking around.
"Relatives, for one," she replied. "Good job for another."
"I see."
"Do you want something to eat first or do you want me to show you to your rooms?" she asked politely.
"I would prefer to see the rooms," Kanda replied coolly while looking around in mild approval.
"Only if you say please," she teased. Kanda gave her a menacing glance which she returned with a cheery smile.
"C'mon, Yuu," Lavi said, drawing out his name. "Say please!" Kanda didn't even look at him as he began to draw Mugen from its sheath.
Swiftly the girl walked between them, preventing any further altercations. "Before I show you your rooms there is something I would like you to see." All five exorcists looked at her with interest as she walked towards a large, dusty chest on the other side of the room.
It creaked and groaned loudly as she lifted the lid, scattering dust into the air. She got on her knees and began to rummage around inside the trunk. The others were becoming more interested now. Except Kanda that was, who was standing slightly back from the others with a bored expression on his face.
"Aha!" she exclaimed after a moment, drawing out what she had found in the chest. The exorcists couldn't see what she had found, as she was blocking their view. No one saw the evil grin that played itself across her face before she turned around.