D. Gray-Man

Chapter 1, Meeting

I had been standing at the counter kneading dough for bread, when the door was forced open and slammed open. I grabbed the closest thing to me, the frying pan, and swung at the person entering. They fell with a thunk and I was left staring at the floor, where they were sprawled. It was a pretty cute red-head.

"Oh man, so not who I thought it was…" I muttered. "Marie, I'm gonna need some help."

Marie came out from the back, needle in hand, and saw my situation. "Oh, you're horrible, he's really hot! How can you hurt such a pretty face?" she teased.

"I thought he was the Evil One." I said in my scary story voice. "I swear, I had no idea."

"I'll get some stuff to help with the headache this dude's gonna deal with." she laughed.

I dragged him to the couch and somehow managed to get him on it. I brushed the flour off of my hands and went back to the bread. Marie knelt next to the couch and took care of him.

"Marie, don't get to friendly, he might be a rapist." I joked.

"Be quiet, I don't want to think about that." she responded hotly. "That would be really scary, like, my worst nightmare!"

I finished kneading the dough, and left it out to rise.

I had just gotten back to the bread, when a knock came at the door. I called for Marie, who answered it for me. In came a cutie, who was a little on the short side, a tall girl with boots, and a little golden golem. I stopped what I was doing and stared at them. They ran inside and went straight for the red-head.

"Lavi, what happened? Come on, we know you're awake!" Cutie yelled at his still form. Red-head sat up and grinned.

"Darn, I thought I could stay here for a while, I got a double strike! They were even taking care of me!" he chuckled. "But, that's kind of proper after you hit someone with a frying pan."

"I swear I didn't know it was a stranger! I don't go around just hitting people, if I'd have known, I wouldn't have hit you. I'm so sorry!" I apologized, bowing deeply. A curl had escaped the scarf on my head and had somehow landed up in my eyes. Strange how hair can do that…

"It's no big deal, I should've knocked. It's so my fault." Lavi responded.

"You didn't knock, you moron?! What's the matter with you? That is so rude!" Cutie shouted.

"Jeez, relax Allen, I knew that there were pretty girls to help me out. I wouldn't have done it otherwise." he gave another grin.

"You're a horrible lecher, you know that?" I retorted angrily. "I can't believe you'd do that!" I stormed into the kitchen and cooked angrily; the food would probably taste worse than usual, but that was fine with me.

"Aw, come on, I didn't mean it that way!" Lavi yelled after me.

"Then how did you mean it? Please explain it to me!" I shouted. "I am such an ignorant person, I can't understand your perfect logic!"

"Wow, you got owned, Lavi." Allen laughed.

"Please don't fight…" Boot Girl muttered. They both stopped suddenly and looked toward her. Well, at least I knew they didn't need a woman, they had her. I rolled my eyes and slammed a pot on the stove.

I heard the door creak open and I crept up behind it with my frying pan in hand. I saw the familiar red hair and swung.

"Don't come back until you're sober! I will not have a drunk in my house!" I yelled at the top of my voice. "Stay out!"

"I'm not even drunk this time. I was coming to warn you." I heard him groan as he rolled back down the front steps. "My old apprentice is in town and I wanted to get out."

Marie ran down the steps and kicked him in the sides. "You promised to bring me back some fruit!" she grumped at him.

"Sorry, but what I came to tell you was more important at the time. Next time, I'll try to be more considerate." he apologized sarcastically. His sarcasm was totally lost on her as I watched her nod.

"Whatever, what did this apprentice look like?" I asked, wondering if that's who these people were.

"He has white hair, a scar over his left eye, and a parasite innocence on his left arm. He's pretty short, too." Cross said quickly.

"Oh, in that case, are you in the mood for visitors?" I asked smiling broadly.

"You're kidding me. I just got the news, I'm always faster than HQ." He griped. "Damn, they finally caught up with me." He laughed quietly to himself. "Well, if they're here, we might as well accommodate them!"

"Yeah, we have been, especially because I hit one of them in the head with a frying pan, thinking they were you…" I murmured.

Cross laughed loudly as he walked into the house. "Well well, what have we here? I have a feeling we have some moochers!"

"Cross!" the three shouted in unison as they stood up suddenly. The girl wobbled a little bit and the guys caught her. I rolled my eyes and stomped into the kitchen, I was getting fed up with that girl. Marie was standing at the counter, eavesdropping on everything they said.

"Ew, get away from me, you're filthy, I only let girls near me if they're filthy! You're disgusting! Go take a bath!" Cross yelled and we heard a thump. I sighed and walked back out to the living room.

"Okay, who's first? The bath is this way, I'll begin running it if you have something to change into." I said bowing, being servant again.

"Lenalee, you go, you need it more than we do." Allen said nicely. I gritted my teeth and ignored the impulse to punch the wussy girl. I didn't want to get in any more trouble than possible. She followed me, relaxing in the hot water after I had gotten the water to the right temperature. I power-walked my way out, ignoring her completely.

"Um, do you have any clothes I can borrow? I want to fit in here, and I don't have anything." she asked in a sweet voice that made me want to puke.

"I'll see what I have." I answered shortly. I rummaged through my clothes, trying to figure out if anything I owned would fit her, or anything of Marie's. I found a long dress that I hadn't worn since winter, because of the heat. It was a dark color, that would probably look stunning on her, I'd have to dress up to even stand out a little bit.

I gave her the dress and helped Marie prepare the table. Lavi and Allen bathed and looked so happy to be clean. I went to Marie's and my room to "freshen up." I put on my favorite dress, the one I'd made especially for me. Cross had never seen it…well, nobody had except Marie, who helped me with measurements and color. I even added a touch of make-up.

I walked back out to see Marie had done the same, only she wore the dress I'd made her. It was a rich purple, that accented her tan skin, and looked perfect on her figure. I'd added little pearls into the lace around the neck and sleeves to make it appropriate for balls and parties.

All the guy's eyes were traveling from one girl to the next, trying to figure out which one to fixate on. I noticed Allen stared at me for a little bit, it looked as if he was trying to figure out what I was. I smiled at him and presented everyone to the table. Allen stared in wonder at all the food, and as soon as we sat down, he ate ravenously, eating a lot of everything. Marie and I stared at him a while before eating. I didn't eat as much as I usually would, not being hungry for some odd reason. I noticed Marie was the same way. I sighed and cleaned my plate, Marie's, Allen's, and Lavi's from the table. Cross took Lenalee's plate and gave me a worried look as he handed me her plate.

"I doubt anything is going on between her and Allen, relax." he whispered to me. I felt my face turn bright red and I gaped at him. "It's easy for me to read, I've known you for a while, you're like an open book to me." he smiled at me. When he did stuff like that, I understood why so many women were taken with him.

I brought out dessert, a carrot cake with a picture of a rabbit eating a carrot on the frosting. I had worked really hard on it, I was kind of sad to see it eaten. I knew it would be an awesome cake, though, and that comforted me a little bit.

"Wow, it' s so fancy! How'd you do that?" Lavi asked me.

"Marie helped me a lot on the frosting, I worked mostly on the cake part." I said proudly.

"It almost makes me sad to eat it, it's so pretty." Lenalee said, making me grit my teeth again.

"When can we eat it though? It looks delicious!" Allen stated, licking his lips.

"Dig in, I'm not hungry, I'll go change into my pajamas and try to relax a little bit before going to bed." I responded, ignoring all of the curious looks being sent my way, Marie followed me.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale, it is the mark again?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, it's been under control, I'm just tired." I said wearily.

"I know what you mean, it makes me tired just trying not to hit that girl. She's so irritating! They all dote on her, it's driving me nuts!" Marie yell-whispered to me. I felt my chest rumble with the laugh I was trying to hold in.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go to bed, just come back when you're tired." I whispered, putting on my nightgown. I crawled into bed, covering myself with the quilt and curled into a tight ball. I felt waves of pain wash over me, panting as they got worse. I groaned softly in my throat from the pain, I closed my eyes tightly, wishing it away. It about an hour for the pain to recede, leaving me completely wiped. I fell asleep hard and slept soundly until morning.

"Anya, it's morning, get up, we need to make breakfast." Marie whispered in my ear, shaking me awake. "Come on, we need to get started, we have three guests."

"Sorry, I'm just so tired, I'm up. Let me put on a robe and I'll be right out. Sorry, Marie, I didn't mean to sleep so late." I apologized for the first time this morning. I was positive I'd apologize many more times before morning was through.

The others were waiting in the living room, eyeing me as I came out of my room. Cross looked a little e bit worried,

"I'm fine, I just overslept." I said to him. He nodded, but kept looking at me like I'd pass out or something. I began cooking breakfast with Marie, listening to them talk the entire time. They thought I couldn't hear, but I had excellent hearing. I heard a mention of leaving, and us staying here.

"Oh I don't think so!" I yelled, startling them. "I will not be left behind here, it's your fault we're even her in the first place!" I pointed to Cross, "You can't just ditch us whenever you please, like all your hussy friends! We actually can help you out, as you well know Cross!"

"That's right, her especially! She's helped you out more than a few times! You'd be in prison if it wasn't for her!" Marie shouted from the counter. "I can help, too! We are not just baggage to be left behind when not wanted anymore!"

"We didn't want to bring you along because we were afraid you'd get hurt." Allen tried to explain.

"Like we're really afraid to get hurt, we aren't like your little friend on the couch there." I growled, not realizing what I'd said.

"As if you'd know!" Allen roared, standing up and walking right in front of me. "She hurt her legs trying to save an entire ship! But you wouldn't know would you, Miss Hypocritical!"

"Really? I keep getting the afraid aura from her, but maybe that's just her bravery hiding itself behind a façade." I glared deadly at him. "I can usually pick up the right mode from people, unless of course, my radar is out of whack." I said sarcastically.

"It probably is, after you hit Lavi in the head with a frying pan!" Allen countered.

I felt my dam of emotions and self-restraint leak. I turned around, letting him think he won. I whirled back around and struck out with my fist, catching him in the cheek. He staggered slightly, caught off guard. I watched as he put a hand to his cheek, feeling for the bruise.

"That just proved my point, you are definitely too dangerous to have around." Allen said quietly. My dam now had a serious crack in it.

"Really? Well then, since I'm so dangerous, maybe I should just prove how dangerous I am when I'm pissed." I snarled, reaching to the tie in my dress for the knife I kept there. I whipped it out and held it right between his eyes, "Shut up or get the hell out of my house."

Cross jumped up and grabbed me, pulling me into the next room. "Stay in here until you've calmed down a little. I'll talk to Allen, he was wrong. I'll see if I can get them to let you come along."

I sunk down onto the chair in there, slumping over, feeling the urge to cry. I held my face in my hands, feeling the sleepless nights and too many years of living so wary of everyone and everything. I heard the door crack open, showing Allen's face behind it. I threw the knife at the door, using dead accuracy, he was pretty fast to shut the door, though. I heard it thunk in deep and sighed. The best stress-relief on the face of the planet.