Title: Ame Futte Ji Katamaru.

Summary: Before the infamous Kanda Yuu the exorcist, there was Kanda Yuu the child experiment--Alma. A what-if story of his childhood.

Ratings: T for safety. Some violence and language too. No pairings.

Author's Notes: Hello, hello-Kazegetsu here. Before anyone asks, the title literally means 'after the rain, earth hardens' which means that adversity builds character or after a storm, things will stand on more solid ground than they did before.

Okay, I know for a fact that these things probably did not actually happen in either the manga or the anime but this is a what-if story so bear with me here. Please, please keep your criticism to grammar, writing style or things related to the story as I do not want a 'dear Kaze, u suk caus tis didnt happen in the real D gray man!!!1!'.

Thank you.

~.~.~.~

Chapter one-Carnage

Three children stood at the entrance of the dojo, one about seventeen years of age, the second one ten and the last but a baby of three.

They watched the retreating backs of their parents until they turned the corner out of sight. The young girl screaming and bawling her eyes out as she saw her mother leave, her pudgy little hands opening and shutting in the direction of her mother wanting to be picked up, the adolescent boy quickly scooped her up and shushed her. Cradling her gently in his arms he hummed a lullaby under his breath. It was the first time he could remember his parents leaving them alone without a caretaker but Hatake was a man now and could look after them and run the family dojo at the same time and his parents trusted him to do all that. One of their relatives had just passed away and their parents were going to pay their respects, they were to be gone for a week at most.

The boy felt a hand ruffling his hair "You'll make a good wife someday Yuu-chan." Kanda Hatake neatly sidestepped the attack to his shin laughing, it was a good thing Yuu had his hands full with Naoko or the boy wouldn't just be satisfied with a missed attempt to his leg.

Yuu settled for a glare, careful not to jostle his sister who was calming down "Don't say stupid things baka nii-san." He hissed.

Hatake just grinned at the insult and headed back into the house, Yuu just behind him. He could hear his younger brother muttering quietly to Naoko and smiled to himself.

When Naoko had exhausted herself from crying and gone to sleep Yuu set her down on a futon on the dojo floor so he could keep an eye on her while he did his daily katas. He loved the art of the sword and would spend hours diligently practicing, already surpassing even the older students in the dojo. What he lacked in strength he made up in speed and his brother always helped him with his skills, giving him tips and sparring with him. It was the only time Yuu could get his older brother to be completely serious with him and treat him like one of his students. There was not one of the Kanda dojo students who could say that Hatake favored his brother over them because Hatake, for all his joking around and somewhat childishness, was known for taking his responsibilities seriously and being just.

After two weeks had passed and their parents had not returned, Hatake was beginning to get worried. There had been no word from them to say that they would be arriving late or that they would be staying on. He couldn't very well go out and look for them and leave the children alone nor could he take them with him. He decided to give them three more days and if they had not come back he would call in a favor from a relative who knew where the other village was.

"Nii-san, when is otousan and okaasan coming back?" Yuu asked after another three days had passed with no sign of either parent, never pausing in the middle of his kata.

"Your steps have to be lighter." Hatake reminded "I don't know, Ara-san went to look for them yesterday, they're probably okay. No, don't jerk it; it has to be smooth from one movement to the other you know. Yes, like that." Ara was an uncle of his, though not related to the deceased relative whom his parents went to pay their respects to, and had been concerned once he heard about it and had set off immediately to look for his younger sister and her husband. The trip took two days or a day and a half if you went on horseback. His parents had no reason to stay after the three day ceremony after all.

Akimoto Ara arrived at the village before sundown and was greeted with devastation. The houses were in rubbles and it was very quiet, he dismounted from his horse to cautiously look around. The old school had also been devastated with large holes burned into everything as if the whole village had been shot down. Ara gasped when he saw the clothes lying around. It was as if whoever did this had put the villagers' clothes in the shape of a prone human face down without the actual body inside. Instead, sand was liberally piled over it in probably what looked like the shape of arms or legs but most of it had been blown away by the wind.

"What kind of monster..." He whispered the smell of death was everywhere. He ran towards the direction he was sure the house his sister had gone to was and skidded to a stop not daring to believe the sight before him. The whole place was filled with blood and clothes littered the place. The smell of death was the strongest here but he could see no bodies, he stepped forward, no longer even sure of what he was doing and froze in shock when he saw a necklace he had given his sister for her wedding gift lying on the floor next to clothes that looked like hers. His stomach heaved and he threw up, coughing and trying to breathe. When it was over he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tears welled up in his eyes as grief threatened to overcome him.

"Mister, why are you here?" He snapped his head around to see a young girl about seven years old just standing there and looking at him with innocent eyes and a curious expression on her face. He recognized her immediately as one of his sister's nieces who sometimes came over to the village to visit as well as the daughter of the deceased relative.

"Sora? Sora! What happened here? Are you alright?" He choked out, moving towards her.

"I've just leveled up to number two, isn't that great? You'll be my celebratory kill then, congratulations." She said brightly, Ara's eyes widened in confusion.

"What are you tal--" His voice was cut off mid-sentence into a scream as he was pierced through his abdomen, Sora smiled as she drove in her spear-like fingernails deeper into him enjoying his strangled howls. Brutally jerking her elbow she dislodged her nails from his body as blood spurted everywhere, putting a finger to her mouth Sora casually licked off the blood of one hand Ara tried to scramble away but he found that he couldn't move, he opened his mouth to scream but couldn't, he could only watch on in terror as she came closer.

When it was over she giggled.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The level two akuma wandered through the forest hoping there would be more humans to kill, she had gone through another village population out with the help of two level ones that resided there who she recruited to work for her. There was an innocence from the village just ahead mistress Road said. Earl-tama would love it if she brought it back and maybe kill some exorcists too. She felt powerful, more powerful than before. And where were those exorcists that were supposed to be so strong? She had not met even one in her massacre. Then again, she never left anyone to tell the tale so probably no one knew about her little bloodbaths. Especially in far out villages like those.

She reverted back to her human form signaling the others to do so too when they got to the edge of the forest "Don't kill anyone until I tell you too, our mission is to retrieve the innocence and report back to Earl-sama." She ordered.

The level ones nodded and took off to the village, probably going back to their host's family if they had any there in the form of relatives or friends. Sora had cousins she could stay with so the level two prepared herself by sticking leaves and branches to her hair and rolling around in mud to make it look like she had been through the forest from her village.

"Sora-chan?" Yuu gasped when he saw his disheveled cousin in front of him, she looked like she had spent a night or two in the forest as her clothes were torn and she was filthy. She looked like she had cried her eyes out and then some by the redness around them.

"Nii-san! Nii-san!" Yuu called, Hatake came running. Wondering what was making Yuu yell.

"Sora-chan?! What happened to you?" Hatake ushered her in "No, never mind. We'll get you cleaned up and tend to your wounds okay? You should get some rest first."

He got Yuu to run a bath for her while he quickly got something for her to eat. He knew that if Sora looked like she had made it out of her village alive what of their parents?

Once they got Sora settled in Hatake told Yuu to go feed Naoko. Sora looked up when he came into the room she was staying in for the time being and closed the door firmly shut behind him.

"Sora-chan?" Hatake said quietly, he didn't know if she was ready enough to give him the answers he needed as she looked like a leaf could break her, but he needed to know and he needed to know now.

"Tell me what happened. Did Ara-san come to the village?" Hatake asked his voice low and comforting.

"Monster." She whispered "Monster came and killed everyone. I am the only one alive." She broke out into sobs, covering her face with her hands as Hatake bowed his head and leaned on the door sliding down to a sitting position. Otousan, okaasan. Gone. He swallowed, feeling tears prick at his eyes. He had suspected as much when there was no sign of Ara five days after he went. How was he going to tell Yuu? What were they going to do now? He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something clatter on the floor and footsteps pounding away from the other side of the door. Standing up quickly he burst open the door and his heart sank when he saw the wooden katana rolling on its side obviously recently dropped.

"Yuu? Yuu!" Hatake called as he ran from the room. When he was out of sight Sora uncovered her face and smiled.

Yuu ran as fast as he could though he didn't know where he was going. Running was good, running was fine, and running didn't make you think of all the bad things. He focused on the sound his feet made on the ground and tried to make them lighter to see if he could make as little sound as possible. Something in him knew that if he just did that and nothing else he wouldn't have to think of his mother and father never coming home. So he ran.

Hatake punched the wall in frustration, he didn't know where Yuu was, he had a traumatized girl in the house and Naoko was crying so loud he was sure the neighbors could hear her. That wasn't the point and he knew it but his parents were dead like he suspected them to be but that fact did nothing to alleviate the sudden pain and loss. He was the man of the house now, the thought hit him like a ton of bricks and he stood there with a fist still on the wall dumbly as the emotions he had tried to suppress threatened to burst out.

There was a knock on the door which broke him out of the numbness that was starting to creep up. He went to the door absently wondering why it was so quiet all of a sudden; perhaps Yuu had come back and picked her up. Or Sora? He remembered she had a little sister Naoko's age so she probably went to quieten her down. He was not two steps from the door when he found that he couldn't move anymore, he made a sound of surprise that never left his throat when everything went black.

The two exorcists outside was greeted by a small girl, about the age of maybe seven or eight, who answered their knocking. She was wearing a simple yukata with a pair of obi that was a little big on her.

"Yes? Gomen for not answering sooner but I was looking after the baby." That little brat was easily taken care of and so was the boy. Ah the look of fear in his eyes when she slashed his throat was priceless. She had to quickly stash him in her room after that. She hoped the blood wasn't too obvious.

"I'm Gora Kimimoto and he's Roger Bluemouth." One of them said pointing to the other one wearing sunglasses. Gora smiled and pet her head "We're just here to ask a few questions so...is that blood?" Roger's eyes took her in; her yukata was three sizes too big and covered every inch of her body. It was obvious she was hiding something.

"Give it up Akuma, we know you're one." Roger growled, Gora turned to him in surprise and looked back at her translating it in the same tone of voice. She took the bait and screeched transformed into her true self, the signal for her level one minions who were situated just a few feet outside the house to immediately change into their true form. They were taken care of easily by one of them who wore sunglasses while the other went for her throat.

"Uh-uh. Bad boy." She smirked, holding a finger up. The exorcist found he couldn't move. Gora had just finished off the level ones easily and was running towards her with a long thin metal rod. She slashed at him with her long sharp fingernails but he dodged it.

"Lightning-I bid you come!" He shouted, a flash of light came from the sky and landed on the top of the metal rod and coated it from top to bottom with light so bright Sora had to shield her eyes. She barely had time to react any more when the rod pierced her through. She screamed as the lightning of the rod smashed into her leaving the rod a normal metal one once more.

She slumped down to the ground as Roger was freed. He went near her warily, the one with the sunglasses reached out to pull the rod out of her when he was pushed out of the way. A shot rang out as he found himself making an acquaintance with the hard ground underneath him.

Gora looked up and found himself just inches away from where the long and deadly nails had been slashed for one last ditch attempt to get him, any closer and he would have had been skewered "What the hell?"

His companion had activated his innocence just in time and smoke was coming out of his left glove. His innocence shot energy out of the finger of his left hand glove and were currently set on high.

"Little shit wasn't dead." He explained grimly, helping his partner up.

"Thanks Roger." Gora said. Most of the villagers had run from the scene, clever of them, but some of them had hung around to watch the free show. Since they were there might as well make themselves useful.

"Oy! Whose house is this?" He asked in Japanese in their general direction, Roger stayed silent as he did not understand the language.

"The Kanda family dojo." One of them piped up while the rest were still gawking "What was that?!"

The two exorcist ignored the question "Is this girl one of the family?"

"Yes, she's a cousin of theirs." A women stepped forward "I am Akimoto Hina, a relative of the Kandas. Could you tell me what happened here? Are the children alright?"

"Please stay here Akimoto-dono." Gora said, Roger had already entered the house and he had to jog to catch up.

"Find anything?" Gora asked, reverting back to English. Roger held up a hand motioning him to be quiet. They searched the house opening rooms.

Roger found a teenage boy dumped in a room, blood was seeping out of his wounds and it was already clear to him the Asian was dead before he felt for a pulse.

Gora sank to his knees not believing the sight before him, a little child-just a baby-had been brutally killed and beheaded. The blood was everywhere.

He felt a presence behind him and turned around thinking it was Roger but found himself face to face with a child.

"Akuma?" The word was out of his mouth as quickly as he moved back out of range and activated his innocence.

"Naoko?" The child's hands flew to his mouth as silent tears dripped down his face "Nii-san?" A sob escaped from his lips as his whole body trembled. It looked real enough for Gora even though he didn't deactivate his innocence "I'm sorry."

"Yuu! Yuu! Come back here!" Gora heard Akimoto's voice from outside meaning she and the rest of the villagers were still alive, this couldn't be an akuma then.

"Was this your sister?" Gora asked quietly as he shut off his weapon. The child swallowed and turned to look at him nodding slightly. Yuu had seen a man in the room Sora was staying in, the floor stained with blood, closing his brother eyes and he was old enough to know what that meant. Gora moved closer to the child slowly, Yuu backed away and ran from the room as tears blurred his vision. He could dimly hear people calling out to him but he continued running even with his legs aching from his earlier running. He headed into the forest he knew so well from his games with his friends or when he trained on his own losing his pursuers quickly if there were any at all.

"Shit, Roger!" Gora yelled to his fellow exorcist, he made to chase after the boy but Roger held him back shaking his head.

"Boy'll come back on his own; we've got to find the innocence before any other akuma finds it first. He's their problem now, not ours. We can't waste time looking for all the kids in the world who's lost something." Roger said quietly. Gora looked towards the direction the kid had taken off and looked back to the house shaking his head.

"Not right, isn't right for a kid to lose so much so young." He said, something clouding his eyes.

"That's what we're fighting for ain't it?" Roger answered already moving away from the fight scene, Gora following after with downcast eyes.

"You're gonna have'ta let go of any idealism you got sonny boy." Roger said over his shoulder gently yet firm "We're fighters, not sympathizers. This is war."

TBC

I don't think Roger and Gora is going to show up again so don't expect them. In other news I think I need a Beta so please feel free to offer. Criticism is welcome and any reviews will make my day.

~Kazegetsu~