D. Gray-Man (c) Hoshino Katsura

Please read comments at the end.


Enigma of the Heart

Chapter 2

"Mom…"
"…Mama…"
"…Mother…"
"Mommy…"
"…Mother…"
"…Mama…"
"-Mama…"

'My children…I exist for my children…'

XxX

"Baaakaaa. Wake uuuup." Allen called lazily from one side of the first class train compartment to the other, where a sleeping Kanda was sitting. They were almost at their destination. But Allen wasn't really making a big effort in waking up his 'comrade'. Really, who would want that jerk awake?

Unfortunately, Kanda, with his sharp ears and light sleeping, heard Allen and his insult, and cracked open an eye to glare at the younger. "Call me that again, baka Moyashi, and I may just impale you." Of course. No matter how many times Kanda made these death threats, he never really followed through. He usually toned them down from murder to intensive care, and if you were lucky, you could manage to get away with a few broken bones or injuries.

Allen waved the threat away, being too utterly bored to retort. "Whatever. We're almost at the station, so you might as well wake up a bit. As soon as we get off this train we have to find that Innocence." Allen stood and went to the door with his suitcase to go to the exits so he could be one of the first off the train. "I don't want to be in this country any longer than I have to be." No matter how accepting Allen Walker seemed to be, he did have some prejudices and dislikes toward some things. Kanda Yuu being one of them, the country of Canada being another. The place was usually colder than England in the dead of winter, scarcely habited, and from what he heard, some of the first people to live there, the Indians, were very hostile to white men. And Allen was very white, right down to the hair. So he wasn't all too happy to be in Canada. Or, it could just be that he wanted to go back to the Order as soon as possible to see Lenalee, who had just gotten back from Siberia. Either one resulted in him wanting to go back to England.

Though he had to admit, the scenery here was nice.

"Are you going to go, Moyashi? Or just stand there all day, blocking the hall?"

Allen glanced behind him irritably to Kanda standing behind him. Yes, he had stopped in the middle of the hall to look out the window, but Kanda didn't have to be so mean about it.

"Shut up, I'm going." He said, and proceeded to the nearest exit as the train pulled up to the quickly filling train station, Timcanpy fluttering in tow.

XxX

Canada was a lot more populated than Allen thought.

People filled the snow covered cobblestone streets of St Catherine's. Women bundled in multiple layers of furs, wools, cottons and silks gossiping with each other and staring at hats inside glass-protected stores. Men filed in and out of various shops and pubs, either relaxing in a good drink or buying precious gifts for their loved ones for the upcoming holidays. Children ran around underfoot while horse-pulled carriages trotted though the throng of people. Allen was honestly very surprised. It almost reminded him of London streets, everyone was so civilized. Then he saw a red-skinned man walk past him, his old black-coloured eyes wrinkled with age and sun, squinting --- glaring, as Allen would later say --- at the sixteen year old white-haired boy. That was when Allen remembered why he did not like this England-look-alike country. And also when he pulled up his hood.

"Any idea where those finders said they'd be?" Kanda demanded in his deep Japanese accent.

"Well, if you had read the travel itinerary before you had started on this little escapade, then you would know exactly where we should be." Allen replied sarcastically. Kanda always could bring out the worst in him. "But, then again, you never did read much, did you?" That earned him a glare and growl.

"One more, Moyashi, and you will be getting it." Now the Japanese was fingering the hilt of his katana Innocence, which was gaining quite a bit of nervous glances from passers by. Allen gauged the others irritation level, as well as his own, and came to the conclusion that a little bickering right now in a busy street was not the best option. A three-day train ride can severely raise anyone's' chances of snapping from tension, Kanda especially, and the two might just end up fighting 'Innocently' ¾ as Lavi liked to call their bouts with use of Innocence. And so Allen decided to be the 'bigger' man and just find the restaurant where they were to meet their three finders. Really, three finders for two Exorcists and one Innocence. That was unreasonable.

Allen turned to the street before him. "Well, Komui said that we were supposed to meet them in a place called 'The Blue Star Restaurant', somewhere relatively close to the station. Let's ask someone where it is." And so, a few minutes later, the two black clad teenagers had gotten helpful directions from a giddy and blushing bunch of young girls, who were more than happy to give directions and their names, it seemed. Ten minutes more of avoiding stares and sliding through crowds, they found themselves at the door of 'The Blue Star Restaurant'. One of the great things about being with Kanda, Allen grudgingly admitted, was that they could easily cut through any crowd, and that seemed to work in Canada, too. He just had that aura around him. The kind that said 'get out of my way'.

Allen pushed past the restaurant door, which lead to more of a bar than a restaurant. He glanced nervously around the smoky and crowded dining area, almost dominated by the long bar on the left wall, filled with alcohol and drinkers alike. Allen suddenly felt a bit queasy. This place reminded him very much of where his Master used to spend all of Allen's gambling money when he was younger.

Kanda entered behind him. "Well," he said. "Where are the finders?"

Allen looked around the bar, and failed to see any yellow Black Order jackets. He shrugged in response to Kanda's question and sat at the nearest open table, which was quite close to the front window. "It seems that they are not here yet, so we should just wait. I'm hungry, too." He cleared a few breadcrumbs from the table and popped open his suitcase, taking out the information file to review through it again. Timcanpy curled himself up in in his suitcase, falling asleep among the spare clothes. Kanda sat across from him and merely leaned back in his chair.

The packet said that there was a lot of Akuma activity in this area. This was most likely caused by the presence of Innocence. According to reports, Akuma would suddenly just appear in the streets and start shooting at the crowd. Then, just as suddenly, there would be a great flash of green light and the Akuma would have just vanished. The green light could be explained by it being the Innocence fighting the Akuma. But it was odd because no one ever saw anything that could be described as Innocence. No unusual weapons or items, no odd body parts, nothing. It just seemed to come out of nowhere -

"Hello, how may I help you?" came a pleasant voice beside him. Allen jumped and looked to see a smiling young woman with two menus, a round tray, and a pad of paper and charcoal beside him. She was very good looking in his opinion. Honey blond hair pulled up into a bun, a heart-shaped face inlaid with bright blue eyes hidden behind oval reading-glasses perched on her nose. She wore a simple black skirt with a white blouse-like top that did nothing to accentuate her obviously grown-up woman's body. She was definitely curvier than Lenalee, Allen thought with a slight blush. He guessed that this woman was a waitress here.

"Ah, yes." Allen said. "Could we possibly get something to eat?"

"Of course!" she replied, and offered the menus to Allen and Kanda, who opened them and searched though the food options. Kanda, not finding anything to suit his fancy, sniffed and asked for a water with a bread basket. Allen, however, was very interested in the menu. It had a lot of different foods that he had never seen before. What on Earth was poutine?

"Well, umm, what would you suggest?" He asked the woman.

The woman smiled. "Everything, I would have to say, is very good. Though, might I suggest the Buffalo Steak? It is very delicious. And it comes with a side of our special poutine, if you wish."

Interested by this selection, Allen agreed. "Alright, I'll take two of those. And the Caesar salad, with an extra side of fries, the baked potato with butter, sour cream, and onions and extra cheese, a New York Cheesecake, blueberry pie, and a water and earl grey tea. That's it."

The waitress, obviously stunned by the amount of food ordered, wrote it all down, and took the menus, saying that she would be back soon and scuttling away to the kitchens. Kanda sniffed at the younger teen. "You do know that ordering so much food scares some people, right? It's unnatural." he said.

Allen glared back in irritation. "Of course I know it's unnatural, you moron. And you do too, last I recall. It's because of my Innocence. That and I'm still not done growing."

"Oh, yes, when are you going to get around to that? Aren't you overdue by about five years?"

"Oh, shut up!" Allen snapped back. "I'm growing! I grew three inches in the last month!"

Kanda sneered. "Really? Or was in your new shoes?"

"Just be quiet, ass-hole." Allen huffed. The two were getting enough stares as it was, they didn't need an argument to earn more.

Allen returned to his information packet, determined to ignore Kanda. And while he was doing a fair good job at that, he couldn't focus on the papers in front of him. Instead, his attention wandered to eavesdropping on other's conversations. At one table a couple were flirting. At another, grandparents were discussing which gift would be perfect for Mary-Lynn. At yet another, women with nothing better to do were gossiping about so-and-so's laughable gardening techniques. Why anyone would garden in the dead of winter, Allen did not know. But as his hearing drifted over to the bar he heard a bunch of men talking about the strange monsters who kept popping up.

"I saw one the other day, I kid you not!" said the first gruff voice. "Big, ugly lookin' things, with great cannons sticking out every which way. Just came outta no where, I swear. And just started shootin' at stuff. Everywhere! I could barely get outta the way!" The other men with him began laughing. "I swear, this is true! Almost caught my leg with one of them bullet things. And then, there was this light, A great big green light, just lit up the entire street. And then the thing was gone. Just like that!" He snapped to emphasize his words. "I dunno what happened, but it really was something else."

A second man commented on this story. "I think you've had a bit too much brandy Tom." he said laughing. "You got away from that? Those things are lethal! Kill everyone in sight!"

"I think you've been getting into the brandy!" a third man guffawed. "They don't kill everyone!" He suddenly turned serious. "But I do hear that they are getting more common. Especially around this area. We have to be careful. One guy who survived an attack said that it was his friend who morphed into one of these monsters. It could be some sort of weird witch magic or virus. If this report is true, than any one of us could start killing at any time."

"Maybe if I drank a little more we'll all stay normal." the the man named Tom said into his cup. The other two laughed and resumed making fun of their friend and his drunken ways. Allen brought his attention back to his own table. If what the men said was true, then the 'monsters' were definitely Akuma. And if they were showing up more around here, than the Innocence was close. Lucky for them.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered to Kanda. The other nodded and started picking at the tables edge.

"The information we were given proved to be right." he replied. "We have a load of Akuma on our hands. Be sure to watch for them, Moyashi."

Allen twitched. "Don't call me that, BaKanda." Kanda just smirked. Behind him, the door of the restaurant opened and a gust of cold wind came with it. Along with a few voices with suspicious sounding dialogue.

"Look at the time! Now we're late!" a young sounding man said. "Let's just hope that the Exorcists were held up, or it'll be our heads!"

"Don't look at me!" a childish girls voice said. "It wasn't my fault that one of us needed to get that stupid fur coat!" she accused.

"Hey, it's cold here!" said the third, also male. "And I don't want to look like a fool with an out-of-style coat. I may not get a salary, but that doesn't mean I have to look like it."

"Whatever." the first said. "Let's just wait here for now."

Allen and Kanda stared at each other as they heard this odd conversation. Had they not said 'Exorcists'? Kanda turned to the door and Allen looked over the elders' shoulder. What was revealed to them were three finders brushing snow off their uniform - and in one case fur - coats. The one who they suspected to be the first was slightly shorter than Kanda and built, with messy coffee brown hair and matching eyes. He looked barely older than seventeen. The girl with them was thin, and lithe-looking. She was just shorter than Allen and could have been the first's twin, if not for her minimal height, apparent age and pout set into her face. She was probably closer to twenty-five than seventeen. The last with the ridiculous fox fur coat was tall and burly, probably reaching seven feet. He had shocking wavy red hair and bright blue eyes. After sizing up these three characters, Allen had decided that they must be their finders for the mission. Kanda was hoping dearly that they weren't.

"Oi," Kanda called to them. The three looked up wide eyed at their beckoners, finding two teenagers and a sword decked out in black and red Black Order Exorcist colours, both bearing the rose cross upon their chests. The girl gave a little 'oh' as she realized that they were indeed the late ones. "Are you three the ones sent to help us?" Kanda continued. The three nodded and Kanda cursed silently, turning back to glare at the table.

Allen smiled at them. "Well, come sit down. We have some things to talk over." He waved a hand over the two other chairs at the table. The girl and her 'twin' sat opposite one another, while the taller man grabbed an extra chair and sat between Kanda and his male companion. At Allen's words and gesture, they looked very uncomfortable. Allen noted this. "I'm not going to berate you or anything. I just want to discuss the issue of the Innocence." At this, the three seemed to relax considerably. Though not enough to look Kanda's glare in the eye.

"I'm Allen Walker," he continued. "This is Kanda." he said, gesturing to said grouch. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He shook hands with all three Finders. Kanda barely nodded to them all. "I'm Jon Collins." The younger boy said. "These are my fellow Finders, Jennifer Hutch and Abier LeBlanc. We will be assisting you on your mission." It was immediately obvious that Jon was a leader figure of the three. Allen was happy for that - he seemed to be the most level-headed. "Any questions you have, just ask." Jon added.

"Okay, here's a question." Kanda said rudely. "Why did Komui feel that he needed to send three Finders for two Exorcists and one Innocence?"

"Kanda!" Allen scolded. "Not so harshly, please. Not everyone is so used to your attitude."

"Well, they better get used to it." he snapped.

Allen simply ignored Mr. Rudeness. He was right, the new Finders were just going to have to get used to Kanda. But from the looks on their faces, that was going to take a while.

"He is right, though." Allen commented. "Why did the Order send three Finders for two Exorcists and one Innocence. Usually, they send only one Finder. This mission doesn't seem all that difficult."

Aiber looked a bit abashed, Jennifer started fiddling with her napkin. Jon replied again. "Well, you see, we're having some trouble...locating the exact whereabouts of the Innocence."

"You said it was in Canada, right?" Kanda asked.

"Yes."

"You said it was somewhere in St. Catherines, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then," Kanda interrupted. "It will be here. It's your jobs and ours to actually find the Innocence."

"It's not that simple." Jennifer spoke up this time.

"What do you mean?" Allen asked.

"The Innocence keeps moving, with the attacks in tow. Just when we think we have a definite location, the attacks stop where we are and we hear about them somewhere else. And the patterns of it's movement are as unpredictable as a butterfly's flight." She took a breath. "Luckily, though, a majority of the attacks seem to be in this area right now."

"So?" Kanda said. "We just wait until another attack happens and we capture the Innocence. If that's the case, you only needed one Exorcist."

"Don't you remember what was in the report?" Allen asked, getting irate with Kanda's attitude. "If the Innocence is powerful enough to evade and destroy a battalion's worth of Akuma in one flash of light, then it's powerful enough to try and fend off those who want to capture it. That's why we need two." He looked at Jon. "Right?"

The Finder nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"But why did I have to be partnered up with this baka?!" Kanda complained loudly. "Why not someone else who's a little more competent?!"

"Oh, so that's what you're so pissy about right now? Who cares?!" Allen exclaimed. They were starting to gather stares again. Lucky for the rest of the guests, though, the Exorcists waitress hurried over with their orders, another waiter carrying the second half of Allen's 'lunch'. She set their meals before the fuming two, and turned to the other three at the table.

"I'm supposing that you are with these two?" They nodded, and the waitress beamed her best smile.
"Well, then, may I get you anything?"

The Finder's ordered variations of Allen's meal in much smaller portions, and the waitress left again with a smile.

It was then that Allen discovered 'poutine'.

"What is this?" he wondered aloud, poking at the gravy-and-cheese-curd-covered fries. It didn't look very appetizing.

"That's poutine!"Aiber answered excitedly. He had a deep voice, but sounded slightly childish, despite his appearance.

"Is it any good?" Allen inquired, spearing a gravy covered french fry with his fork. The cheese curds had long since melted under the heat of the gravy and stuck the fries together in long, gooey, white strings. He watched as the cheese strings snapped and coiled on the bottom of his fork.

"Yes!" Aiber replied. "It's amazing! It was the first thing I tried when I came to Canada. It's just perfect!"

Allen was still unsure. "If you say so." But when he took his first nibble of the strip of fried potato, he was instantly surprised. It really was good! The gravy was slightly salty, but tasted like the best gravy he had ever tried. The fries were perfectly crunchy despite, their wet condiments, and the melted cheese was delicious. In all, it was probably one of the best things he had ever tasted.

Allen noticed Aiber and the other Finder's watching him carefully, while Kanda merely bit into his bread roll, uninterested.

"Weeell?" Aiber asked, an eager grin on his face. "How do you like it?"

"It's..." He took another bite, and carefully chewed and swallowed before talking. It was rude to talk with your mouth full, you know. "It's awesome! I've never tasted anything like it!

Jennifer winked. "Welcome to Canada, Sweetie."


So, I'm not too sure if I should be posting this or not. It's probably a bad idea, considering my updating habits. But it's a story that I've had going through my head for a while, and I'm really excited about it. As far as updating goes, I think I want to keep it where I update it every two weeks. Let's see how it goes!

As usual, reviews wanted, I'm always looking to improve!

~Raven