Chapter One
Ashelia woke with a start, her blue-green eyes flying open in shock as she pressed her hands to her face and took in a deep breath. Her long brown hair, flew in her face and her pale skin was blanched with horror, she ran her good hand over the tattered, ripped remains of her once beautiful light, pink gown and looked down at her now bare feet. Her other arm was wrapped up in a white ribbon, covering the fact that her arm was not only her anti-AKUMA weapon but withered when not in use, she had a matching ribbon tied around her neck, covering almost half of the middle of her neck, hiding the what she knew was a huge scar that no one knew the origin of but herself.
She groaned, pushing herself up off of the ground, knocking off the leaves and dirt. Her first and worse curse hit her last night, the sickness knocked her flat on her back, only the sheer will made her able to make it this far into the forest. She pressed her hand to her stomach as it roared in protest, she hadn't eaten in a few days and she was deeply exhausted, even though she had slept through the night.
"Tai?!" she called looking around for one of the only friends that she had kept through the years of travel and curses. "Tai are you still here?!" She asked this question every morning, she was still waiting for him to leave or for his nature to take control and for her to have to kill him.
"I am right here little one," a man called, walking into the thicker area of the forest, a bag in his hand and a larger sack thrown casually over his shoulder. His thin yet toned arms were shown off with a sleeveless black shirt and his legs were made to look even longer with the straight legged black pants he wore. His cocoa colored skin and even darker colored, shoulder length, dreadlocks made his lean handsome face shocking to even the girl that knew his deepest curse. His deep green eyes made it shocking that this person didn't have a soul that wasn't in deep torment, and his lips were curved up in a gentle smile. "Put this on," he tossed the bag that was over his shoulder at the girl, without noticing that she fumbled with the bag before getting a decent handle on it, he turned and dumped out his second bag, "I'll fix us some food."
She pulled out a new thin black, silk dress that was cut to go down to her ankles, with a small slit in the side, the neck and the back were both cut with a scooped form. She glanced back at Tai making sure he was completely focused on the task he had assigned himself before she stripped off her clothes and ran to the nearby river that she could hear running, clutching her dress closely to her chest.
She tossed her dress to the ground, knowing that it was rather careless and that she might be wrinkling her dress but she had never really cared about appearances in the first place. She sat on the ground, naked and began to unwrap her arm and neck, taking seconds to unwrap the ribbons and tossing the toward the dress and then dropped her body into the chilled water. She took a deep breath and ducked her head under the water, allowing her hair to be saturated, knocking out any foliage or other random bugs from her hair, taking her time she allowed herself to enjoy the rare chance to get clean and breathed in deeply. This was what she needed to do, this was her punishment, this was what she needed to do to keep herself from becoming a monster.
Kanda wiped away the grim from the last battle as he and his group inched forward into the city that the innocence was supposedly hidden. He sheathed his Mugen and glanced around at his team, of course they would pair him with the fools Allen and Lavi. He sighed to himself and began to pick up his pace so that he could get this foolish mission over with, he just wanted to get home and rest, to watch his lotus, to watch it until it and he died.
"Come on Yu," Lavi through his arm around Kanda's shoulders, attempting to be friendly but only succeeding in annoying him, "cheer up!"
"Don't call me Yu," he hissed, pulling himself away from Lavi and walking forward. He could tell him to cheer up when he was connected to a lotus flower in life and he could never called him Yu, he swore only one person would be able to call him that…and she was the person that he couldn't die until he saw.
She was his best friend, the only person he ever allowed to call him by his first name and the only person that had ever trusted him with her every secret and vice versa. He hadn't seen her in over eight years and for all everyone told him and the facts he found she was dead now, death by the Black Order, and Malcolm had most likely killed her, but the facts pointed to an AKUMA attack. He bit his lip, that was what he had looked for every single area he had searched in, he had not only asked some people he had also checked every single cemetery.
He straightened his official order coat and then glanced down at his immaculate black dress pants and his shirt, then checked his long black hair that he had tied back in his usual fashion. This was not something that he was used to, watching and waiting, like he was officially searching for his friend alive, he had always kept his self like an objective person, knowing that she was most likely dead. He shook his head quickly and rubbed his neck in an agitated fashion.
"Are you alright Kanda?" Allen asked, shaking back his white hair and showing everyone the curse of his eye. He placed his withered arm in his order coat pocket and standing next to Kanda. "You seem very…on edge…"
"Shut up, Bean Sprout," Kanda turned on him, his eyes flashing though no one understood why Kanda hated Allen so much he still did…and at the moment Kanda looked like he would cut Allen's head off. "I have no desire to talk to you about my problems."
Allen backed off immediately, knowing once Kanda set his mind to something like this he would not go back on his word. Lavi slowly made his way to Allen's side once Kanda had focused again on getting into town and shook his head. "There is something wrong with Yu," Lavi whispered into Allen's ear.
"There is always something wrong with Kanda," Allen huffed, still stewing over the fact of how Kanda had shot him down. "Kanda is just a person full of problems."
"Did Komui tell you what he does everywhere he goes?" Lavi whispered, leaning in even closer to Allen so that Kanda wouldn't overhear.
Allen shook his head quickly, looking over at Lavi, shocked at the serious tone and look on his face, very un-Lavi like. "What does he do?" his mind automatically going to the worst case scenario, vampirism or killing.
"He always goes to the cemetery and looks over every grave," Lavi whispered, his face getting even more serious, running his hand through his bright red hair, allowing a bright green glance up at Kanda then back toward Allen. "There's a rumor going around that he was looking for a girl that was killed by the Black Order when they were little."
"I can hear you, Usagi," Kanda turned and glared at the pair, the look in his eyes even more deadly then it was when he had looked at Allen moments before, "And I gave none of you fools permission to talk about my life!"
The normal aloof look of uncaring on Kanda's face was gone and the look on his face was one of pure rage, of hate. "No one is allowed to speak of her, no one is to talk about my life and no one knows if she is dead!"
"But you think that she is," Allen whispered, compassion in his eyes, "or you wouldn't be looking in cemeteries."
Kanda paused and looked away from the pair toward the ground, biting his lip, the only thing that could prove that he did have any other emotions besides anger and frustration. "She was like you Bean Sprout, she had a curses much like yours…she had a withered arm that was connected with an innocence but she also had a sickness…that is not something I should tell you…" he sighed, looking up at Allen, "she was also loud and at times obnoxious, she was always honest with me, and she would always try to protect me when we were kids, she was my best friend…then she discovered her sickness and something…else, that was when the Black Order began to move against her…I never found out what happened to her, only what one of my partners discovered in a village, so I search for her where ever I go."
"My my, Kanda has emotions," Lavi smirked, trying to lighten the suddenly tense mood, "and I thought that you only had two settings in life, aloof and murderous."
"Shut up fool," Kanda hissed at him, glancing towards the forest, "let's set up our camp in the forest, it might be easier to get a hotel but it would also be more conspicuous."
"So we're camping this time?" Allen asked, the group following Kanda into the dense forest area.
"Yes you idiot," Kanda hissed, "in other words we are camping this time."
"Then let's go," Lavi called running ahead to the middle of the forest.
Ashelia slowly pulled herself out of the cool water and shook out her hair behind her, allowing the water fall to the grassy land. She pulled the silk dress over her head and twisting her hair back in a bun-like form at the nap of her neck, securing it with a clip that Tai must have put on her dress. Then she pulled on her locket, the silver locket shaped in an elegant oval with a flower pattern, holding it in the palm of her hand before she let it fall back to the center of her breast, before wrapping her neck in the dirty white ribbon.
Tai walked quickly into the clearing with new ribbons in his hand along with a simple egg on toast for breakfast. "Open your mouth," he ordered, sticking the food in her mouth and untying the ribbon from her neck and tossing it to the ground.
He walked around behind her, wrapping the fresh black ribbon loosely around her neck as she took a bite of her egg on toast and taking it out with her un-withered hand chewing slowly. "Where did you get the ribbons?" she asked, taking another bite of the first food she had had in a few weeks.
"From your old dress," he grabbed her free hand and began to wrap it as well, "You know that we will be having to leave soon, don't you?"
"My old dress was pink, light pink, and yeah," she agreed, swallowing the last of her egg and toast loudly, "We have already killed most of the AKUMA in this land anyway."
"Yeah," he agreed, trying to wrap the ribbon around her fingers, but failing miserably and hissing and throwing the ribbons down. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, "Why the hell do you even care about wrapping up your arm like that?! It's not like other's don't have this kind of arm too."
"It's not that," she whispered, pulling her arm to her chest and cradling it there, "it's just that I've never felt comfortable with this, the you are one of the only two people I have ever let touch it, and to tell you the truth I don't even like it when you do…"
He just nodded, not bothering to answer her when she seemed this vulnerable to him, "The others said that they were going to clear out the surrounding areas and meet us in the next area I had marked on the map."
She followed his example and nodded, she had no words, she was still thinking about what she had admitted to his…the others, the cursed would be in the next area with her…her family in so many ways…but he would never be there…never with her again, because she had convinced the entire order that she and the others were dead…just so they could be at peace, she had given her family peace and sacrificed her own happiness.
"Let's go," she whispered, standing and grabbing his hand with her good arm, slipping on her family's signature red trench coat with golden buttons and cross.
"Something is troubling you," he whispered, standing fast so that her feeble attempts to move forward were halted. "We will not leave until you discuss it."
She sat on the tree she was near and watched as Tai jumped up to the branch above her and studied her carefully. "You truly are not going to let me leave until I tell you…are you?" Tai only shook his head and smiled sadly. "Fine…" she sighed as she began to speak quickly about the troubles that over took her mind.
Kanda took the lead, walking swiftly through the forest like there were no roots, limbs, or debris on the ground like there was. He walked quickly, hoping to make it to the next town and beat the circus that was said to attract so many AKUMA, though for years, not one person had been lost from them. He stopped half-way through the forest, knowing that the fools behind him had to be tired, they had traveled through the night and the injures they had sustained no matter how small were probably already hurting them.
Slowly he pulled the bag from his shoulder and threw it to the ground, sitting on top of it gracefully, watching as the others fall to the ground, not caring that the bugs were crawling in their hair. There would be no camp, no tents or any fire as always, it was too hard to conceal themselves with that and it took too long to clean up after themselves. Kanda sighed, running a hand through his ponytail and then tightening it again after it fell loose.
He glanced over at the idiots as the lay on the ground, this, he knew, would be his only chance to go and check the area. Standing quickly, he didn't even bother to say anything to Lavi and Allen as he made his way to the other edge of the small clearing. "Stop!" Lavi called out to him, standing, trying to run over to him and only succeeding in tripping over Allen and landing on top of him.
"What do you want?" Kanda snapped as he watched the two wrestle on the ground for a while before finally standing when he spoke.
"We are going to go with you!" Allen shouted at him, struggling to stand up while he was panting for breath.
"Why?" he hissed, turning on him quickly, ''I do not want you to follow me anywhere."
"We can help you find your girlfriend!" Lavi shouted to him, gaining only a death glare as he disappeared into the further end of the forest.
Lavi rushed Allen up and ran after him, "Kanda you need our help! You know you need our help!" Allen shouted as he followed quickly behind Lavi.
"I do not need anyone's help, bean sprout," Kanda muttered without turning, "Go back to camp and wait for me, I will bring us some food back."
"You aren't going into town," Lavi disagreed, with a smile on his face, "town was that way; you are going into the next town over!"
"Are you trying to ditch us and get a head start on the mission!?" Allen yelled the accusation, stopping in his tracks.
"You are quite a fool bean sprout," Kanda answered, running ahead and leaving the other two in his dust.
"What is with you, Kanda!?" Allen shouted in the general direction of Kanda, waving his fist in the air.
"I think he wants to be alone," Lavi smirked, "too bad he's not going to be," he ran in the direction Kanda had without bothering to tell Allen to follow, but Allen followed after just as quickly without missing one beat. The campsite was left unattended as the three exorcists began the search for Kanda.
"Come on," Tai insisted, pulling her closer to him, only inches from being in his lap, "You have to tell someone or you might go insane, it has happened before," he smiled at her.
She smiled slightly at his joke, "I hate you," she hit him playfully on the arm, "You know that don't you?"
"Just tell me what's going on and we can go on ahead," he smirked, pulling her into his lap, leaning his head on her shoulder, "It's not that hard to do."
"It is when you think about what you are asking," she hissed at him.
"Is it that boy again?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her waist. "You usually get this way when it's about that guy."
"What guy?" she asked innocently, giving him puppy dog eyes.
"That old friend of your's, what did you call him again, Yu-Yu?" Tai laughed, leaning his head against the tree behind him.
She bit her lip and looked at the ground, "I didn't tell you that, how do you know about Yu-Yu?"
"Froggy and Alia told me all about Yu-Yu and your time with the black order," Tai answered, sobering up almost instantaneously, "we knew that you three were all members of the black order but we never knew that they tried to kill you…" he added the last part airily, almost silently.
"I don't want to talk about that," she hissed, cutting off that part of the conversation, "and yes I am thinking about Yu-Yu, I kind-of feel guilty about…"
"Convincing the black order that you are dead," he shook his head, "You know that it was necessary to tell them that, they would always be chasing us down to get us back into the order…" he stopped before he said what was in both of their minds…or so they could kill her.
"It's not that I feel so bad for convincing them that I was dead, it was convincing Yu-Yu that…I told Day-day to make sure that he believed that I was very dead."
"So you took extra caution on him, why?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"He would have looked for me, he would have left the order and searched," she looked at the ground.
"He was that good of a friend?" he asked, tightening his grip on her waist, remembering the feeling of loss when he lost his sister.
"He was like my brother, I don't know if he was my little brother or my big brother at times, but still," she smiled to herself remembering the how often the reversal of roles came between the pair as they were children, "and then at times I think that we both were something…more…"
"So why didn't you just tell him that you were still alive and let him come with us?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I didn't want him to get hurt and with us, getting hurt, even killed is almost inevitable," she whispered, "Froggy and Alia can't die and the rest of you," she smiled gently, "just kind-of showed up."
"Thanks a lot," he laughed, knocking her onto the forest floor right on her rather large butt, "now we know how much you care."
"Of course," she hissed, standing and rubbing her butt in a very unwomanly-like fashion, "it's not my fault you guys all kind-of gravitated towards the group."
He kicked the back of her leg almost causing her to fall once again, she caught herself barely then turned to glare at Tai, "So what I am chopped liver?" he asked smoothly.
"No," she smiled up at him, "you are the one that saved me from myself when you found me after killing that first Noah. You are one of my best friends and I will never ever leave you though."
"Is that so?" he asked, smirking, "Do you really think that you will stay forever?"
"Don't be so pessimistic," she hissed, kicking him this time, "Now let's go before the other's beat us back to the circus, remember I have to sing to start out the opening."
"Come on," Tai jumped up, pulling his jacket neatly down and throwing Ashelia her own jacket. She pulled on her smooth red jacket, fingering the golden buttons and her own design over her heart, smiling. She grabbed a hold of his hand and entangling their fingers together and pulling him with her ahead into the forest, not even bothering to check the ground beneath her.
"Pay attention to where you are going!" Tai yelled ahead at her, "You have to pay attention, there are roots down there. WHAH!" he screamed as he fell doing a face plant on the ground, gaining a mouth full of soil and dragging Ashelia under him.
"You are such a klutz," she laughed rolling out from under him without bothering to wait for him and stood, sitting on top of him. "Why can't you go faster without falling, or are you too used to floating like a bum?"
"You're such a brat!" he shouted at her, as he stood himself, dusting absolutely nothing off of his pants like a moron.
"I know," she smiled at him, taking his hand in her own again and skipping forward further into they were completely out of the forest.
"Do you even know where we are supposed to meet the others at?" he mocked her, pulling her so hard backwards that she fell into him.
She stopped, biting her lip, and looking at the ground, "No," she mumbled, her face blushing from behind the newly formed curtain of hair.
"Exactly, that's why I am going to lead," he pushed her behind him and led her toward a small café at the end of the street.
Kanda growled to himself as he heard the fools that he was forced to call teammates break through the trees after him, rather loudly. Why did Komui think it was entertaining to place him with the most imbecilic two people in the entire Black Order, why couldn't Marie had come with him or anyone else, why those two idiots? He ran his hand through his ponytail, pulling on it slightly, then shaking his head as he walked forward once more, down the street towards anything away from those two.
"I'm hungry!" Allen complained loudly, his stomach growling loudly on cue, "Can we stop somewhere and get something to eat?"
"Again Bean sprout?" Kanda hissed, turning on him quickly with his eyes flashing, "We just stopped in the other town to eat."
"I am sorry but having a parasite type innocence makes me really hungry," he whined, wrapping his arms around his stomach, "I need to eat or I am going to be weak when we fight again."
"You're weak anyway," Kanda hissed.
"I am not!" He shouted back, releasing his stomach long enough to shake his fist in the air and allow his stomach to growl.
"Come on Yu," Lavi smiled, not noticing the death glare that Kanda was shooting him for calling him his first name, "I am hungry too, let's stop."
"Yes, because you dying of starvation would not be a bonus for me at all," Kanda hissed under his breath then he nodded, "if it will get you two to shut up I will do anything."
Lavi and Allen smiled, leading Kanda to a tiny café that was on the busy French street they were walking. The café seemed homey inside, warm with the colors of brown, beige, and white that usually wouldn't have worked for a café like this one but seemed to only make this one more appealing. A small fire was burning in a fireplace in the front next to one of the several tables they had set up, were a couple already sat with their hoods pulled up.
Allen stopped suddenly, his eye activating and locating every AKUMA within a twenty mile radius, including the one sitting at the table that the waitress was leading them to. They took their seats, Allen facing the back of the man, that he was still staring, his forehead creasing. "Why are you staring Allen?" Lavi whispered, embarrassed at the blatant way he was staring at the only two people that were with them.
"He's not human," he whispered, watching as the man stiffened, clearly hearing them.
"I'll be right with you!" a waitress called, wheeling over a table full of food toward the couple. "You had the chicken pan seared rice, right?" she asked the man, who nodded slightly, then she looked over at the girl anxiously, "and you ordered everything else?"
The girl smiled widely enough that Allen could see it through the darkness that the hood created around her face, "Yes," her voice was light and airy, though Allen could tell that this was not her natural voice.
The woman looked down at the multitude of food and then the small table at which they were sitting, "Ummm…" she paused, not knowing where to put all of the food that they had ordered.
"You can just leave that here if you want to," the man laughed, his voice deep and almost threatening, though the waitress didn't notice, Allen could feel the threat almost directed toward him.
"Yeah," she smiled again, none of them pulling down there hoods to meet the woman's eyes, "it'll be okay if you moved it if you want to."
"She's worried that someone will trip over it," the man laughed, the waitress smiled at him again and moved the cart behind the woman and handed her one of the many trays.
"Thank you," the couple stated together, the girl already eating as soon as the woman left, quite quickly Allen noted.
"That man is an AKUMA," Allen whispered, watching as Kanda began to unsheathe Mungen, "but both of his souls are intact, they are working together and the inner machine isn't feeding off of the other."
"What?" Kanda stopped suddenly, as if he had just been shocked, or as if he had just heard something he shouldn't have.
"So Ashelia do you think that the others will find us here?" the man asked the woman once again, trying to pull her attention away from her food.
Allen watched her drop her fork on the table and look up at him slowly, "I thought that you said that we were supposed to meet with them here?" she hissed.
"No," the man laughed, "but I could hear your stomach the entire way here, what was I supposed to do other then take you to eat?"
"You are such a jerk," she hissed throwing and bit of her food at him, which he quickly dodged…and hit none other than Kanda.
The air suddenly thickened around Kanda as agitation then murderous rage became clear on his face, Allen watched as the girl's hands come up and cover what he thought was her mouth, though one hand was covered in a ribbon. "I'm am so sorry!" the girl shouted, standing suddenly as Kanda stood as well turning to face her, with his sword drawn. "I didn't mean too…" she paused; Allen could feel her sudden shock, as she turned away.
"What is wrong with you?! You shouldn't be such a moron and you wouldn't have a problem right now!" Kanda turned on her placing his sword where he imagined her throat would be.
"I don't want any trouble," she muttered, looking down at the floor kicking at the floor like a child, "I was just not thinking and…"
"Ashelia," the man hissed, pulling at her arm and forcing her behind him, "you owe him no explanation, it was my fault."
"Ashelia," Kanda repeated slowly, sheathing his sword again and turning away, "it's alright, Ashelia."
The girl merely nodded, looking down at the ground, "Thanks," she whispered, Allen watched as her thick locks fell in her face, noting how long they were, long enough to rival Kanda's.
"Ashelia," Kanda spoke again, "You have an odd accent, where are you from?"
Allen could feel the strange look that was sure to be on her face, "I am from the US," she answered, watching as the man flipped back his hood and gave all three of the boys a look that melt their faces, "the southern part of the US."
Kanda turned on her quickly, strolling up to her, and ripping the hood down from her face, accidentally pulling her hair down from her clip letting it fall to the ground with a loud clatter. He stood in shock as the all too familiar eyes blinked up at him slowly and she bit her lip in an all too normal way. He stepped back, stopping himself before he pulled off her jacket and made sure it was her, "Ashelia…" he stopped, he couldn't figure out what else to say, her name was enough for him at the moment even though it might not have been for her.
She didn't say anything, she just stared her eyes going quickly from his face to his clothes then to his hair, and for some reason a smile touched her lips, "Yu-Yu," she whispered, she stepped forward clumsily, trying to get around Tai.
"Don't fall you klutz," Kanda shouted, rushing forward in a simple movement and catching her with his upper arms.
She laughed as he sat her back on her feet, smirking slightly, "That would be the first thing you would say to me after all of these years, huh, Yu-Yu? Then again you were never good with hellos or goodbyes were you?"
"Shut up," he growled at her, then he pulled her close, "You weren't very good at talking at all were you?"
Allen and Lavi both watched in shock as Kanda tightened his grip on the girl, refusing to believe for a moment that this girl was a real, living creature, that she wasn't an AKUMA that the earl sent to him to make his life hell. Then he felt Ashelia move her hands slowly up his back, holding onto his jacket tightly and the other hand moving up to his hair, hiding itself there. He breathed in her scent, taking in the sweetness of vanilla that hadn't disappeared with her aging, he wondered in the depths of his mind if he had a scent that she had noticed as well.
"Why did you come here Yu-Yu?" she whispered into his jacket, he could feel the sobs that she held back in her chest as she spoke, her heard the sadness in her heart.
"Why did you make everyone think that you were dead?" he asked in return, tightening his grip on her making sure she couldn't run away from him again.
"I couldn't risk them tracing me," she whispered.
"Then why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" he asked almost silently, pulling away far enough to look at her face. "I could have helped you with something; you know that I would have helped baka."
"I also couldn't risk leading Revilear back to you again, Yu-Yu," she answered, "I just started to help lead his attention away from you, if he even thought that you knew anything he would torture you until he found out where, when and why. Since you were just as shocked as everyone else they never thought to ask you anything, even though you were my best friend."
"Were?" he asked slowly, "What is that supposed to mean?"
She smiled shyly at him, "I thought that you would hate me, after all of this time I thought that you would have forgotten all about me and moved on."
He smirked and let her go, "I did," he said with something akin laughter in his voice, "I just knew that I recognized you from somewhere and when you said Yu-Yu I kind-of remembered."
"You liar!" she shouted at him, hitting him squarely on the chest, knocking him back a few steps, "Your such a jerk! Maybe I should have called you poopy head, then you would have remembered something wouldn't you?!"
"You never forget anything do you?" he asked, shaking his head, "and if I do remember correctly he was aiming at you and you just so happened to pull me in front of you."
"Yeah and I had to wash it out of your hair," she shuddered at the memory, then she reached her hand up to his hair again, "I thought that you would have cut it all off as soon as I left."
Kanda turned away from her and tightened his ponytail subconsciously, knowing that she had loosened it. "I just got used to it after a while, no point in changing what I was used to already," he walked back to the group of fools he was paired with, "and apparently they thought I was used to fools after all the years with you because they put me with these two. Thanks a lot, baka," he growled at her, enjoying the fact that he could still push her buttons after all of these years.
"You are the one who's a BAKA Yu!" she shouted, pouncing on him and pulling his hair, "How dare you say that to me after all of these years you poopy head!"
"Why am I the fool!? How did we even become part of this conversation!?" Lavi attempted to rant over Ashelia but only ended up as back ground noise.
"And you are the one still acting like a child, calling me the same pointless names you did when I first met you Baka," he pushed her away with one hand, knowing with her short arms she couldn't reach him from his own arm's length.
She glared at him, listening as Lavi quieted his own threats to stare at the pair, wondering quite honestly who would win this battle of wits. Allen stood in his own type of shock watching as the pair stood in close combat but had a large amount of care that flowed between the pair, and one of these people was Kanda. Kanda hadn't allowed this amount of emotion from him since Tiedoll appeared in their lives, who in the world could this girl be and how could she be so different from Kanda himself?
"Is she the girl that you have been searching the graveyards for Kanda?" Allen blurted out without thinking. Watching them he noticed how much their posture and faces changed as they let Allen unthought-of words sunk in to their own thoughts. The girl that Kanda continued to call dumb and a klutz turned red and the look of anger in her eyes as she watched Kanda turned quickly into hurt and worry. Then Kanda's face only changed from amused anger to pure murderous hatred, more hatred then he had had in his eyes when Lavi had asked him if he was really a boy in front of the entire black order.
"What have you been doing, Yu-Yu?" she asked, biting her lip and staring at the ground, "You couldn't have…you were…" she stopped, not sure what else to say, not knowing how to ask him what was in her mind.
"I don't know what he is talking about," Kanda murmured, though the look on his face as he glared at Allen then his eyes wondered to Lavi, who cringed back and held up his hands in defeat, then to Tai that only sat eating his rice without breaking his eye contact with Kanda, smiling. "That boy is just a Bean sprout he doesn't know what he is talking about."
"Kanda where are you going?!" Lavi shouted, watching as Kanda stomped toward the door, forgetting that this is supposed to be a happy reunion with his friend and leaving without a word.
"Kanda!" Ashelia shouted one minute too late as the door opened, slamming right into Kanda's face and knocking him to the floor, twitching.
"I told you guys she would be in the café with Tai 3!" a boy shouted behind him, his voice oddly high pitched for a male, as he stepped over Kanda that hadn't moved from the floor. "What are you doing here 3? And not eating too3? Are you taking my advice and going on a diet3?"
Ashelia looked up, anger showing on her face and in her anger marks, glaring into his bright green eyes. His clear pale skin was shining with a thin sheen of sweat and his smile proved he was very unrepentant; the light brown hair on his head was swept to the left covering part of his eye and down to the center of his cheek. He took a deep breath and laughed lightly, combing down his bangs with is fingers. He tightened the inner ribbon around his waist of his red and gold coat that looked something like a black order jacket, and kicked a the ground with the his army boot covered leg that was also partly covered with tight black skinny jeans.
"Who's girl on the floor?" he leaned over Kanda's face then his own turned red, "OH! This is a guy! A hot guy! And you know him?"
Ashelia didn't answer as she pounced on top of the man in front of her, kicking him thoroughly in the stomach, "You are such a stinking jackass!"
"Mama you have a potty mouth," a high pitched female child voice laughed, as Kanda grunted loudly.
Everyone glanced down at Kanda that seemed to be turning blue as two little girls jumped up and down on top of his stomach and lower chest. Their blonde curls bounced with every as the two children that couldn't be more than six or seven years old, jumped. They glanced up and smiled twin big toothy grins at the group in front of them and then lay on Kanda's chest staring at him their matching knee length red jackets covering everything underneath and the ribbon on their blonde hair matched their own jackets. The twin girl's blinked their large brown eyes at Kanda and both of them placed a pale hand on his forehead.
"What are you doing on the floor?" the twin that hadn't spoken before asked Kanda.
"He is being crushed by two little girls," a rather large man laughed as he stepped carefully around Kanda with a blonde woman at his side.
"Come on," the woman called to them as they stepped away from Kanda a safe enough distance not to squash him with a misstep. Though when the two girls followed they didn't show the same consideration as they stepped on his face and jumped on the man.
The blonde smiled sweetly allowing her classic blue eyes and long, slightly curled blonde hair that fell at her waist cause Lavi to do his normal strike face. Her lightly tanned skin had a slight blush to her cheeks and her thin white tee was barely seen from under her waist length red jacket and her short black skirt was allowed everyone to see her long legs and her white tennis shoes.
The man on the other hand was not seen in any way shape or form, his jacket covered his bulky form and a large hat covered his face. The large hands were seen coming out of his sleeves and allowed everyone to see the slight green tint to his skin. "We didn't tell you to step on the man's face," he grumbled, his voice gravelly and deep.
"Kevin, close the door before someone else…" Ashelia called out to the first boy that had stepped into the shop a moment too late as another child opened the door and wondered blindly on Kanda's face.
Ashelia's face blanched in horror as the others of the group laughed, the child looked up at the others with a blank look on her face, that only the people in front of her understood. Her pale eyes where glazed over with a blank look in them, they kept a milky blue complexion that blindness would have on them while they continued to follow the movements of the others unlike a blind child. Her skin was pale and seemed to be pulled almost too tightly over her high cheek bones, though her face was completely one of a eleven or twelve year old. Her inky black hair was curled and fell over top of her shoulders, down to her waist and her blunt cut bangs almost covered her eyes. Her thin gloves were made of lace and covered the tips of her fingers to her elbow, but the tips of her fingers were made of what seemed to be leather, and matched the lacy dress that they could see under the red jacket that fell loosely at her waist. "What are you laughing about?" she asked, completely confused as she stood on Kanda's face.
"You standing on my friend, Em!" Ashelia shouted, suddenly shocked and embarrassed. She ran over and lifted the girl by her shoulders and sat her near Kevin.
The blind girl looked down at the floor and then her hands flew up to her mouth in shock not before seeing her mouth shaped in a small o of horror. "I am sooooo sorry!" she shouted at Kanda bowing deeply, though it was clear by her accent and complexion that she was not Japanese, Chinese, or any other Asian group.
Kanda lay on the floor, twitching like a bug that had been stepped on but not squished, so Ashelia leaned down and bent on her knees next to him. She shook him slightly, "Come on Yu-Yu," she smiled at him softly though his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, "We've been through worse than a bunch of kids stepping on you and a door hitting you in the face."
Kanda blinked slowly, his eyes shifting slightly to stare at the girl smiling at him, who was now giving him a smile so big that it showed most of her teeth and a dimple that no one would have guessed that she had. "That doesn't work on me anymore," he hissed, but she continued to smile at him and he sighed and sat up on the floor.
"If you kept laying there you would have gotten hit again," she giggled, placing a hand on his which was laying on his upper leg, "and then I would have had to give you some medical treatment again…" she grinned and him again as if they were all missing some big private joke.
"Not on your life," he growled, leaning in very close to her face their noses almost touching.
"Pweeze," she said in a baby like voice, her smile dropping from her face turning immediately into a pout, her eyes turning into saucers and that looked like they were about to pour over with tears.
Kanda backed away from her almost immediately, his frown turning more pronounced and embarrassment covering his face. "That doesn't work on me anymore," he stopped leaning back even further until he almost fell and an uncharacteristic blush faintly covering his face.
"Looks like it's working to me3," Kevin laughed as he edged his way over to Lavi, nudging him slightly.
"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" Kanda shouted, standing and shaking his fist at him.
"Awww," Em smiled widely grabbing a hold of Kevin's hand, "seems like he really likes her."
"He doesn't like anyone," Allen muttered, crossing his arms in front of his chest and glaring at Kanda as if he wished his head would pop off.
"I think he likes her," Lavi pointed toward Yu as he began to charge toward them and then was suddenly stopped by a tug on his ponytail by Ashelia. He spun around quickly, their eyes connecting as she suddenly smiled at him, standing on her toes and kissing his cheek without preamble. Lavi almost fell over laughing as Kanda blushed and Ashelia hugged him closer to her. "Told you, Yu likes her…a lot," Lavi laughed again.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Kanda yelled at them, trying to get away from Ashelia and what seemed to be her unbreakable hug.
"Yu-Yu," she mumbled into his jacket, refusing to let go of him despite him thrashing about to get away. "I missed you."
He stopped fighting and looked down at the girl, everyone could see him fighting the smile from his lips, "Stop hugging me," he murmured, placing one hand on her head and the other around her back, "it's embarrassing and improper."
"I'll show you embarrassing and improper!" she shouted at him, stomping on his foot and kicking him in the stomach. "After all of these years you think that you would have learned what to say to a girl."
"YOU would think after all of these years that you would learn that you need to control your emotions better than this," Kanda groaned, standing up from his bent over position.
"You should know," she hissed, walking back over to her group, then she turned back to him for a moment, "that I will never change, I didn't change for that man…and I won't change for anyone else."
Kanda opened his mouth to answer, but Ashelia's stomach beat him to the punch with a roar of hunger. Ashelia blushed slightly, wrapping her arms around her abdomen and walking back over to Tai, "I think that I am still hungry," she told him, grabbing another plate of food then continued to sit on the floor behind the booth and scarf it down.
"Doesn't she remind you of yourself Allen?" Lavi asked, nudging Allen in the ribs, glancing back at Ashelia as she grabbed another plate and passed it to the taller of the twins, who she called Alex more than once.
Allen watched her suddenly, very closely, noting the similarity in both of their innocence in their arms and the way she had spoken to Kanda, well except the hugging that is. She passed another plate of food to Alice, the other twin, and smiled softly, patting her head. Allen saw it then, how the same they are, he grabbed his arm and held it tightly, what was this he suddenly felt?
The others grabbed plates off of Ashelia's cart eating what seemed to be very slowly as Ashelia continued to eat as quickly as possible. "Why don't you tell her you need her back at the order?" Allen suddenly heard Lavi speak, though he could tell it wasn't to him.
Allen turned toward the sound of the quick whispers exchanged in the background of the sound of eating, which was making Allen even hungrier though he had yet to notice. Allen's eyes zeroed in on Kanda and Lavi hidden in the corner of the room to an untrained eye it looked as if they were caught doing something horribly wrong. Allen was shocked that he hadn't noticed Lavi and Kanda sneak away from him but he was more shock that Lavi had made him stay and talk to him in such an intimate position. The angry look in Kanda's eyes, even from this distance, shook Allen, wondering what Lavi could be saying that would make Kanda this mad.
"I am not taking her back to that place," he growled at Lavi, trying to push Lavi out of the way but he just stepped in Kanda's path trying to get him to listen.
"We live in that place," he hissed, trying to push Kanda back but it was like hitting a brick wall, "You like living there and so do I, why do you talk about it like it's horrible."
"I was the reason she was there in the first place," Kanda shoved Lavi into the back wall, glaring at him with enough fury to make Malcolm Rovelier back down. "She will not be forced back there because of me."
"What did they do to her that was so bad that made her run anyway?" Lavi asked, his voice quiet instead of the powerful voice that Allen had heard a few moments ago.
"They tried to kill her," Kanda murmured, looking toward the girl that Allen knew was behind him, "they found out something about her and then Rovelier tried to convince the generals to kill her, they all disagreed but the greater part of the order…the heads of the Order, they all agreed with him…I don't know what happened from there."
Lavi just stared at him, the look on his face one of confusion and shock, almost as if he didn't believe that that could ever happen in the black order. "Are you serious?" Lavi asked, lowering his voice even further as he noticed the second group looking over at them.
"Why would I joke about that?" Kanda hissed at him, moving his second hand up to his throat and then tightened his grip so that Lavi almost turned blue, "And I will never ask her to go back there again."
"What are you guys talking about?" the bulky man seemed to appear out of nowhere placing his hand a top of Kanda's arm, "You really shouldn't be choking your friend."
Kanda dropped Lavi loudly to the floor, on his butt which he rubbed thoroughly to ease his pain, "What is your problem, Kanda?"
"Why are you three here?" the large man asked, letting go of Kanda's arm and bending down so that the blackness that was supposed to be his face was even with Kanda's.
"We are here to catch up with a circus that apparently attracts so many AKUMA," Allen spoke before Lavi or Kanda choose to.
"Why do you want to know?" Lavi asked, while Kanda in the background was complaining about how they were not supposed to tell anyone about their mission.
"You can follow us then if you are going there still," the large man asked, "well you can if you remember my name that is?"
Kanda stopped, this man knew him? How he didn't really know anyone outside the black order, not that he cared to know anyone else, in fact he didn't want to know half of the people there. Had this man been in the black order once, which would be the only way he knew him, unless he knew… he stopped that thought and shook his head. "I don't know you," Kanda answered flatly, "You have me mistaken for someone else."
"You're Yu Kanda, a second generation exorcist in the group under General Tiedoll, you have been in a group with Daiysa Barry and Noise Marie, until Daiysa Barry met with a tragic end thanks to a Noah named Tyiki Mikk. Your innocence is a kutana blade you named Mugen and you grew out your hair after you escape from the order when you were ten years old and met up with your old best friend, a little girl a year younger then you. Do you want me to keep going Kanda?"
"Who are you?" Kanda hissed, stepping away from the probing eyes he felt hidden in the darkness of his hood.
The large man laughed loudly, throwing back his hood and revealing the face of two people instead of one that everyone expected. A man's face was connected to his body, the skin was a light green color, shocking most of the people in front of him, but his eyes on the other hand were a deep brown and his hair was trimmed close to his scalp so that you could only tell that it was dark. His cheek bones were well defined and showed through his taunt skin, the rectangular shape of his head lead to a defined neck that disappeared into his jacket.
The other form that protruded from his back just looked like a caramel colored fuzz ball that seemed to be hacking up a lung. The creature looked up suddenly, with one of her large green eyes closed and tears coming out of them both and streaming down her face. Her light brown skin was lightly blushed and the caramel colored hair was in an small afro-like state, light curls made it stand at least four inches from her scalp. Her lips were plump and let the lips a shade darker then her skin, her face a perfect oval.
"You are still back there Carm?" the green man asked, looking back at the girl that was still coughing.
"You almost killed me!" she shouted at him, her higher pitched voice contrasting deeply with her ride.
"That's the risk you run riding on my back," he laughed.
"It's been a long time Froggy," Kanda murmured, bringing everyone back to him, "So both you and Alia decided to follow Ashelia when she left…" he glanced over at the blond that had yet to be named, who smiled and raised up a hand in greetings though her mouth was full.
"We couldn't leave her alone," the man named Froggy answered, "She was a ten year old girl with a devastating blood disease, we didn't think she needed to be alone any longer then was necessary."
"Did your master know that you were all leaving?" Kanda asked slowly, looking at the three that had been a team apparently in the black order.
"No, our master did not," Alia spoke up as she stepped over to the group, noticing that Ashelia was apparently deaf to this conversation as she grabbed another plate and continued to gorge. "He most likely figured they had tried to kill her while we were near and was killed as well when we tried to help her."
"He never was the type to worry about the students in the first place," Froggy added.
"Who was your sensei?" Allen asked the girl behind him, turning swiftly, trying to ignore his stomach and sitting in front of her in the booth. "Sounds like mine, was your sensei Cross?"
She laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand to keep the food from coming out of her mouth and covering Allen, "I wouldn't have worked under that womanizing, alcoholic if my life depended on it. I feel sorry for you to have to work under him, twenty bucks you have more debt than me and Yu-Yu have hair."
Allen looked away, being inwardly crushed by the debt that Cross had left him with, and barley looked up enough to nod at her, "So…much…" he chanted, slowly rocking back and forth. Ashelia bit her lip, looking up at Lavi who was now clearly in shock trying to pull Allen out of it. Suddenly Ashelia pushed a plate piled full of her steaming food in front of him, which clearly made his stomach growl and made him attack the food and forgetting the mountain of debt on his head.
"Why did you say we could follow you to that circus?" Lavi asked, watching Allen as he grabbed another bowl of food and almost got his hand bitten off by Ashelia. "Are you guys heading that way?"
"No," Kevin looked up from his large bowl of soup, "we work there 3."
"What do you do?" Kanda repeated, looking over at Ashelia with a shocked look on his face, but she only shrugged.
"We sing the opening for every show," Alia answered.
"Emma is the fortune teller, Alia helps the daredevil, Froggy helps with animal training, we just have a bunch of different talents that allow us to get extra money if we get back in time," Alice smiled, jumping on Kanda's back.
Kanda stiffened and slowly pulled the child, by the shoulders and held her in front of him, the look of shock on his face was priceless. "What are you doing?" he asked her.
The small child looked hurt, though it didn't stop her answer, "I was waiting for you to ask what your girlfriend does."
"My girlfriend?" Kanda repeated his eyebrows rose.
"ALICE!" Ashelia shouted, watching as she squirmed away from Kanda and ran over to her, "What did I tell you about saying things like that?!"
"I'm not Alice," the girl smiled, "I'm Alex…and I'm sorry mommy."
"You are Alice and you have to stop lying," Ashelia was bent down to the child's eyelevel and was scolding her thoroughly, while Kanda stood, still inwardly shocked by the words mommy and girlfriend both being used by that little girl to describe Ashelia.
"What do you do?" Lavi asked, still staring intently at Ashelia.
"I do a little of the traipse work," she answered, ordering the girl silently to sit at the booth and finish eating.
"Even with your arm?" Kanda blurted out without thinking, but the look on his face was unrepentant as he continued to stare Ashelia down, as if she was doing something wrong.
"My arm isn't useless Kanda," she hissed, pulling the ribbon without preamble off of her right arm, reveling the withered blue-colored arm.
"If you ever call me that again I will cut off your hair at the neck," he threatened, pulling out Mugen and holding it at her throat level.
"Big deal," she laughed, "it's not like it does anything but get in my way."
"Then I will just cut off mine," he smirked evilly, lifting his Mugen up to his own ponytail.
Ashelia's face dropped, horror coating her face as she jumped on his back and yanked at his cheeks. "YOU'RE A MONSTER, Yu-Yu!" she shouted at him, making him drop Mugen quickly to the floor and cross his arms across his chest. "If you cut your hair," she suddenly calmed, her voice dropping to her normal tone, "I will just have to find someone else's hair to love."
"Is she bi-polar?" Lavi asked Froggy, not noticing that the girl had made his way over to him.
"Yes," she answered his question with a smile, bringing his attention to her as she stopped in front of him, "now just play along," she whispered, without moving closer to him. She pulled off his bandana allowing his longer hair to fall in his face, letting it fall, and letting her hands burrow into it. "Your hair is just as soft as Kanda's, Lavi."
"Soft playing with that fool's hair!" Kanda ordered, "And stop calling me Kanda!"
"Okay!" Lavi shouted, throwing his fist in the air in triumph, not jumping as he usually would have because he was enjoying Ashelia playing with his hair, "It's about time you let me call you by your first name Yu!"
"I was talking to her you moron!" Kanda shouted, throwing the closest object he could find at him, "You have to call me Kanda or I will kill you with my bare hands."
Lavi fell to the ground, rubbing his head with both hands, as he looked up at Kanda with tears in her eyes, "Why do you take out your lovers spat on me?" Lavi whined as Ashelia pulled away his hands and looked at the large lump on his forehead.
Kanda only stared at him, his eyebrow twitching and anger marks covering his forehead, watching as Ashelia kissed Lavi's forehead and patting his head sweetly before helping him up. Kanda ran his hand through his hair, growled and glided over to the pair, pulling Ashelia into his chest. "Stop coddling him, Ash," Kanda ordered, lifting one hand and pulling back his hair into his ponytail again, "He is the next Bookman, he doesn't need you to tempt him with emotions."
'"What did you just say!?" Lavi shouted, one hand still covering his 'wound' while the other clenched into a fist.
"Stop acting like what I said isn't supposed to be true," Kanda ordered, glaring at him as if Ashelia wasn't there.
"Be nice, Yu-Yu," Ashelia pressed her hand to his cheek, cupping it in her small hand, though Kanda covered it with his own, as if he hadn't noticed he was doing so.
It was quiet in the room for a moment, until the tension was too much for the younger children and they shouted a several sudden complaints into the air that no one understood. Tai stood slowly placing most of the plates on the cart and Kevin silenced the children. Kanda glanced down at the girl in his arms and then back at Lavi then sighed, he pulled his hand and Ashelia's away from his face and walked back to the larger group, leaving Lavi stewing and Ashelia staring after him.
"Ashelia we are going to be late," Tai murmured, placing the last plate on the cart and tossing her a crepe as he pulled his jacket even tighter around his form.
Ash shoved the crepe in her mouth and looked down at one of her toy-like watches, as she gasped, almost choking on the dessert. She ran out the door without looking back at the others as she raced to the crowd she knew would be gathered awaiting the group. Tai sighed as he watched his friend run out the door, he shook his head as he tossed the price of the food and the waitress a fairly good tip, she deserved it with them out here. Motioning for the group he followed Ashelia down the street already crowded with people that were sure to be watching them in a few moments.
They all followed him out the door, running down the street without looking back and noticing that the exorcists were following the group. Ashelia was taking the shortest way she knew and every person in the group knew it, the exorcists were following them blind, that fact left everyone in the group a little stunned at their blind faith in them, foolish was another word that popped into several of their minds. ''Where are we going?!" Allen shouted, finally answering the question that they were waiting for.
''The circus!" Alice shouted, smiling broadly from her perch.
''Why?" Lavi asked, raising his eyebrows, the brows disappearing under his bandanna.
''They work for one,'' Kanda whispered, appearing suddenly next to them, watching the ground, almost awkwardly as he ran. "Didn't you listen to them in the café?"
"And it's the fair that you idiots are supposed to be chasing for two," Alia groaned, shaking her head at the morons that the order was clearly gathering to fight for them.
''What do you do the kids do Froggy?" Allen asked, excited by the fact that they actually found someone had something of the same past as him, but remembering that they have not heard what the children do yet.
"We really don't have time for that,'' the large man, which they had dubbed Froggy answered.
''We are running, what else could we be doing as we run?" Lavi asked, starting to pant as they gained distance.
"Focus on running,'' Alia answered, jumping over another pile of trash, not even noticing that it was at least up to her waist.
"We have to be there for the beginning of the show or we will be out of a job,'' Tai yelled back, repeating what he had said only moments ago.
''We know!'' Allen yelled back, "You just told us this!"
"Then jump!" Ashe shouted back, jumping over the trash in front of her, right before Allen fell face first into a group of trash cans. Allen's once white hair was now colored brown with grime, as banana peels took roost on his right shoulder and several half eaten food items took their own places in his vest and on the outside of his clothes.
Ashe stopped suddenly; giggling as she watched Allen pushed himself up and attempted to push his own hair back. "All of you go on ahead," she giggled, jumping backwards and landing nimbly in front of Allen, "I'll help him and meet up with you all later."
"But…" Kevin was the first to break the group's momentary stunned silence, "we need you to be there, you are the best singer they will want you there too.''
"They will want me there, they don't need me to be there," she growled, her temper flaring at the disobedience of her order, "You all will be fine and I will be there before the show will begin, they won't even notice I'm gone if you hit all of your notes Kevin, you are just as good as me."
"Yes ma'am," they suddenly mumbled, much to the displeasure of Kanda and the shock of Lavi, but at once they were all gone, though the only reason that Kanda and Lavi had left was because Froggy had shuffled them ahead, leaving the girl with Allen.
"So…you didn't jump," she laughed, walking gracefully back to Allen's side and binding to her knees. She laughed as Allen's pale skin tinted red as he continued to try and clean himself. "You aren't getting very far doing that on your own."
"I'm fine," he muttered, flinching as even he heard the embarrassment in his voice, "You should just go own ahead…"
"Oh shut up," she giggled slightly, plucking the banana peel that he had still managed to miss in all of the messing with his hair.
Allen blushed, looking away from her as he felt her hands batting his away, shocking him as she didn't flinch away from his cursed arm, and began to methodically clean his hair. Her hands parted hair and cleaned away the grim that was possible, the fingers traced his scalp, relaxing him. "So-o-o you and Kanda, you know each other?" Allen stuttered out, feeling that the moment was too intimate.
"He was my best friend," she smiled softly, picking out another piece of someone's crumbling bread, "We were raised together, he protected me and I in turn befriended him."
"I don't understand how you could do that…" Allen muttered, glancing up at her for a second, feeling his heart flutter for a second at the loving expression on her face. "He is so rude, so callous, so…awful..."
"He wasn't always like that, you know?" she answered pulling away for a second, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a bottle of water, "Bend down for a little bit." Allen nodded slightly bending down so she could pour the water over his head, rinsing out the grim enough so that his hair was only a light gray. "You are as good as it's going to get," she said standing and throwing the bottle into the trash can.
"I bet he wasn't always like that,'' Allen scoffed, standing swiftly, "Thanks," he muttered as an after-thought.
"He really wasn't, when he was little he would protect me, he was always the one that would stop anyone that would raise a hand to me when he was there. He was the boy that would never ever let a person raise their voice to me or say a cross thing to me. He was always a person with a bad attitude and would snap at people, but of course he would have that soft side that he would let other people see but it was like when everything happened between me and the order…it was like he got hard, he refuses to let anyone see anything besides the snarky side of him. It probably didn't help that the only two people he ever really got close to were completely exiled from any place where they could contact him."
"I never thought of it that way, he just always seemed like…" Allen mumbled, shaking his head.
"He never needed anyone, never wanted anyone?" Ashe sighed, shrugging slightly, smiling a half smile. She held out her hand out to him, which he took slowly, as if waiting for Kanda to jump out of the shadows and kill him. "What's wrong?" she questioned, raising one of her eyebrows.
"Just waiting for Kanda to come kill me," Allen answered, shifting his eyes back and forth between their clasped hands and then back to her eyes.
Ashe giggled slightly, pulling him forward again, "Come on Allen, let's try to catch up," Ashe glanced down at her watch and sighed, "I already missed the opening we should be able to make it on time for my traipse act."
Allen nodded as they began to run again, though Ashe didn't let go of his hand, "I have a question for you, Ashe," Allen questioned, flinching slightly as they ran into the sun light outside of the ally and into the once again busy streets of France.
"What's up?" Ashe asked, pushing through the crowd of people, pulling Allen behind her.
"How in the heck did you convince the circus to let you do those type of stunts with your arm…ya know…the way it is?" Allen finished awkwardly, hoping not to offend her, as they pushed through another group of people.
"You mean how it looks all dead?" she laughed, suddenly stopping motioning in front of her, "This is the circus!" She waved her hand in a dramatic motion showing the world the large big-top, it's red and white strips a huge beckon for the world to come and see what's inside.
"Woah, it's huge!" Allen gasped, mouth agape in shock, "You work for this place!"
"I do," Ashe smiled, pulling Allen forward, "but I think I'm a little more late then I thought..."
"What do you..." Allen was cut short, as a frilly tutu was caught...with his face, "What?"
"Ashelia!" a tenor voice of a rather short man broke through second question as he shoved in between the talking pair, "Your act starts in less then five, you have no make-up, no costume," he snarled as he snatched the tutu from Allen's hand and waved it in her face, "and you weren't here to sing the opening for the show! What do you think would stop me from firing you right this second!?"
"Besides the fact if you let me go that your circus would be without almost all of it's attractions?" Ashe asked snidely, smirking at the thought of this short chubby little man finding a new group that was as willing as herself and the others to work for him.
The man stopped short, the pale face underneath the too large top hat grew into a slight purple with rage, though he did bite his tounge. "Get dressed and do your makeup, do not be late or you are done."
"Sure sure," Ashelia quipped as she turned, throwing the tutu over her shoulder and slowly walking away, swaying her hips. She had almost disappeared into the tent when she stopped and turned slightly, "That is Allen and he has two friends that should have came eariler, you should give them some really good seats, so they can see the show!" Then she closed the door to the tent behind her, leaving two gaping men behind.
"Does she do that alot?" Allen looked down at the man he assumed was the ringmaster.
"Shut up, follow me," the ringmaster hissed, facing the ground as he shoved himself and Allen forward.
"I'll take that as a yes..."