This idea sprung into my head over the course of the day, and I liked it. We'll see how well the first two or three chapters go before I continue, however. Enjoy. Read. Review. I don't own D. Gray-Man.
First chapter, I admit, starts out a little bit on the dry side. It will get better though.
Baby-sitting
She sat patiently in the large chair, swinging her petite legs back and forth, new gray shoes shining as they hit the candle light with every to-and-fro movement. Both hands stayed neatly at the child's side. Each of her palms was dirty and bruised and a little bit bloody in places. But, if they hurt, she did not show she was bothered. She simply sat there, quiet as she could make herself, staring out into the room she was placed in. It was vast, bright, and warm; in almost every way a change of pace from her normal whereabouts. Of course, this didn't mean she was enjoying the setting. The annoying little ruffles on her dress caught for the fourth time on the tip of her shoe. With a small arm, she reached down and undid the tangle.
From outside the doorway, a great many very frustrated and concerned people observed her. Head Officer Komui, hair unkempt, as he'd been awakened about the matter in a hurry and therefore had no time to fix it or put on his hat, cleared his throat and walked into the room. The small child looked at him with a pair of huge, gorgeous eyes. "Hey there sweetie," he spoke softly. "You're Amber, right?"
She just looked blankly at him. Nothing showed in her face.
"... Was there somebody who told you to come here?"
Her head tossed the other way, and Komui was left facing her hair, which was no more or less responsive. The man shook his head with displeasure, and returned to the curious group standing behind the door. The Science Department wasn't having any luck.
"She seems a little fussy, doesn't she?"
"Anti-social would be a better term."
"Hey now, she's only a little kid."
"So? What's you're point? That attitude is awful. I don't care why she came here, she has to leave. The Order doesn't have time to keep their eyes on children!"
"Hey, have a heart! Maybe she'll talk to somebody else?"
Reever shook his head, not quite agreeing with the pessimistic men, but coming close. "All of us, and a few Finders, have tried to reason with the kid. She just doesn't like us."
For half of the day, people had been going in and out of the room, and so far, not one of them had gotten a second remark out of little Amber. They knew her name only because it was mentioned in the piece of paper she insisted on carting around until she gave it to Reever, and she only did such after he identified himself as a Black Order loyalist. She was a strange one, to be sure.
"Now, now," Komui waggled his finger. "Maybe there is some other reason. I can remember Lenalee acting similar when she got upset after her first mission, right?"
Johnny gingerly put a finger to his chin. "Maybe we should ask Lenalee to talk to Amber. After all, she's better with kids than most of us."
"Excellent idea!!" Komui, pleased with any course of action to draw his sister nearer, jogged off to find her. The Science Department watched him go, but as soon as he rounded the corner, their focus was again on the young girl who had showed up at their door without known reason or cause. Her hair, blacker than night, swayed with the rhythm of her feet.
"Maybe she doesn't speak English?"
"I don't think that's it. How would she have known how to get here if she couldn't get directions from anybody? She's only a kid."
"Maybe an Akuma dropped her off."
"Quit! Geez, she is only one little kid!"
Amber narrowed her eyes. She didn't like them much, this much she knew already. It was clear she'd be treated very much like a baby for as long as she stayed. But, when they weren't staring at her, measuring her with their eyes, she'd sneak glances at their faces. All of them looked funny. It was nice to see imperfect faces again. She was especially fond of watching the younger man with the huge, scratched up glasses.
But she wasn't going to talk to any of them, no matter how friendly they looked.
First, because friendly was bad.
Second, because she'd been specifically told that she needed to see "exorcists", not "friends of exorcists".
It was then in her train of thought that another person came in. It was a girl this time. She was smiling with tenderness and she came over, the man with glasses shut the door behind her. They looked similar. Amber guessed that this must be his sister that she'd heard about.
"Hello there, Amber," she spoke kindly as she approached. "That's your name, right?"
The child looked at what the older girl wore. The uniform was different, more official. "Are you an exorcist?"
Lenalee blinked, surprised. "Why, yes I am."
Amber nodded, her tiny body sliding clumsily off of the chair. "Good, because I need to talk to an exorcist." Her arms groped around inside of a tattered old canvass bag, crudely sewn together like a potato sack. Out she pulled a white envelope. "A Mister Cross told me to come here and talk to you."
--00—00—00—00—00—00—00—00--
"Come on Kanda!! This is very important! You can even think about it as a mission!"
"Baby-sitting is not a mission. It's a chore and I don't have time for it." The samurai was relaxing for the first time since he returned from is last mission. Kanda was slouching in a rather comfortable chair, and had no intention to move whatsoever. "Besides that, what makes you think that of all people, I would get along with a kid?"
"I think that little Amber would feel more comfortable around somebody with... well, malice!" Komui tried to reason with him, and had thus far gotten less than nowhere.
"I doubt it. Lavi's good with kids. Make him do it. Or how about the Beansprout? He's childish enough as it is, so he's sure to get along with the little brat."
"Kanda, I'm not kidding. You're really one of the only people in this world who'd be able to handle this little girl."
"... Komui, that was pathetic, even coming from you."
The Head Officer sighed. "I know you hate kids... and most people in general... but as a superior, I'm ordering you to watch after her."
"You're kidding?!"
"No, I am not!"
"Why the hell do I have to?!"
"Kanda, she doesn't like to be around any of us because we're too nice. She even said so. You're the least friendly person I have on staff. It's a job you were born to have!"
"What the hell kind of retarded child wants an unfriendly caretaker?"
"One who's parents were arrested for the slaughter of ten people," he stated bluntly.
"... Che... She must be a real moron."
The Chinese man, unable to really say anything further because that would spark further argument, and he'd end up losing eventually, led the unhappy Kanda to the room where Amber was.
She'd been moved up to a bedroom on the top floor where people were taking shifts "entertaining" her. It seemed, however, that she was plenty happy to find her own activities. Lavi, who was reading as Komui went off to convince Yu to help out, looked down at the girl. When he glanced to where she had been, he found that she'd moved. And, without him even noticing, she'd plopped down next to him and was staring at his long-winded and extremely dry history-book-of-the-day. "Um, I can find you something more interesting to read," he began as he watched her. Her eyes moved in a scanning movement. Either she was reading these things that even he barely comprehended, or she was very good at acting.
"No, that's okay." Her voice was a pitch to match her body. It wasn't really squeaky, and it wasn't nearly as high as some of the other little girls Lavi had heard in his years of travel, but it certainly was a raised pitch.
"Really, this 'History of Slavery in the Americas' isn't something most girls your age read."
"Well, they're missing out on some very interesting things."
"... How's that?" He was a bit flabbergasted; not only because she was reading it, and she thought it was interesting, but also because she properly used the word 'interesting'.
"Well, think about it! If all of the girls my age knew the awful origins of this inhumanity, when they grow up they wouldn't have to hesitate before getting involved in stopping it! Knowledge of this kind could make the world a better place, if the world weren't already filled with morons."
"... Amber, how old are you?"
"I'm eight."
"You... you talk like you're a lot older than eight."
"Yeah, lots of people tell me that."
The Bookman rubbed his forehead, still watching her check over the literature. He was starting to think there wasn't an ounce of childhood left in her veins.
"What happened to your eye?" Never mind. Asking questions about things most people would try not to comment about; the true sign of childhood.
Lavi inquisitively pointed at the eye patch. "This? I got shot in the eye when I was little."
"... Ouch..."
"Yeah, that's right." He patted her on the head and flipped the pages in the book. Right then, the door swung open and two more men entered the room. The first Amber saw was Komui, that spazzy guy with the coffee addiction. She knew because he was still holding that silly pink mug with the bunny on it, and it smelled like coffee. Very strong coffee, actually. The second one she'd never seen. He was very tall, and thin. His structure was really quite twig-like. At his side was a Katana, a very handsome weapon to be sure, and she supposed he was an exorcist too, as his uniform had the same colors as the other two that had visited. But, with his height and leanness, and that long, very well-managed hair, it was difficult to tell what gender he was upon first glance.
The voice gave it away.
It came as a simple "che" and was more than enough make Amber pick her head up and stare at him. He didn't act so disgustingly kind upon first sight as everybody else she'd come across that day. The first preference was met.
"Alight, Amber, this is Kanda. He's going to taking care of you for a while, alright?"
"..."
"Good then! Well, I'm off. Come on Lavi, let's let them get acquainted!"
Lavi was slow to react. He thought Yu was awesome, of course, but wasn't dumb enough to believe letting him stay alone in the same room as an eight-year-old was a good idea. He feared there would be a lot of carnage.
Kanda stared at the lithe little creature, the door being slammed shut behind his back. She was puny, hardly fit to be an exorcist at all. So why had that moron Cross told her to come? And what was Komui's big deal with her anyway? There was no way she'd be a threat. She wasn't old enough to be some kind of spy, and surely wasn't smart enough either. Further more, he detested children, and he didn't know how long it would be before people realized this. He had better things to do than sit around playing "Mister Mom".
Amber tuned around, perhaps having lost interest in the new visitor, and began fumbling around with a pile of toys that had been delivered. Komui, the genius he was, thought maybe she'd enjoy them. Actually, it was Lenalee who had suggested it, as all of the toys she'd crammed into her closet gave her nightmares to gaze upon. Even Kanda had to admit, they were eerie- broken and hollow. Either way, Amber was just a normal little girl who probably loved dolls, and toys, and sweets and things of that nature. It was even more reason for him to hate the girl. Her very existence stood for everything he was against. But, she was small, and eventually would end up running to the Moyashi when she found out that he was evil and feared he'd collect her head when she slept.
There was a "thunk" sound. Kanda raised his eyebrows. He couldn't quite see what she was doing, so he stepped closer.
The scene was very... very disturbing. He couldn't help it. Kanda opened his mouth. "What are you doing?"
"Decapitating dolls."
"... Why?"
She stared up at him, looking a tad disgusted and mostly shaming towards the question. "I need a reason to hate dolls now too?" At that, she grabbed another doll, whose hair was all ripped out and eyes rolled around in its head, and brought down a hard elbow on its neck. The head snapped off, flew a few good feet before hitting the dresser, and then rolled next to Kanda's feet where it sat staring at him. She examined a cloth doll of equal appeal and hummed in thought. "Can't break this one," she mumbled. "I'll have to hang it out the window instead."
Jesus, this little kid had some issues.
