Arc One: Broken Promises
Part 2
.:My POV:.
When I return to my room, I find a familiar face standing in front of my door.
I stop in my tracks for a moment to realize who she is. "Black pigtails, fair skin, skinny build, tall boots… That's—!"
She turns and notices me looking at her. Suddenly her face breaks into a smile and she jogs over to me. She extends her hand in a friendly gesture and says brightly, "Hello, I'm Lenalee Lee! You must be Lian Aburakoji. It's very nice to meet you."
I shake her hand, not taking my eyes off her. "Nice to meet you," I drawl, distracted by my own thoughts. "I can see why Bak-san likes this girl…"
There's a clear, plastic package nested in the crook of Lenalee's arm. She notices that my gaze has drifted to it and holds it out to me. "This is your new uniform," she explains, "You don't have to go through the usual innocence check and whatnot because you've already trained in the Asia Branch. We got your information and made an outfit accordingly."
I take the package and examine the outfit. "Thank you! It's a very nice uniform," I say gratefully.
She returns the smile and replies, "You're very welcome! Oh, and Lian-san…"
"Yes?"
"After you eat breakfast, please find me and I'll take you down to meet my brother, Komui. He's the Branch Chief."
"Alright, thank you again for everything, Lenalee!" I say, clutching the new uniform to my chest happily.
"No problem," she says with a wave.
I go into my room and pull the clothes out of the package. I place the skirt neatly on the bed and examine the top layer.
The uniform is black with silver trimmings and a silver crest on the right breast. The sleeves are short and the jacket has a mandarin collar. I put on a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath the top and white stockings underneath the black pleated skirt.
Finally, I tie my hair up as I walk down to the cafeteria.
"B set ready!" someone shouts.
My attention is drawn to a window where I can hear the sizzle and stirring of meals. I take the place of the person who just ordered and lean in the window curiously.
Suddenly, a dark-skinned man with sunglasses, dreadlocks, and a frying pan in hand is in my face, smiling. "Next! What do you want?" He realizes that I am not a familiar face, and before I can think of a reply and he says, "Oh, you must be the new exorcist!"
I chuckle good-naturedly and introduce myself, "I just transferred from the Asia Branch yesterday. My name's Lian Aburakoji, it's nice to meet you."
"I'm Jerry, nice to meet you, too!" he replies. Banging the spatula on the pan, he asks, "What would you like to eat, Lian-chan? I can make anything you want."
"Hmm… Could I have white rice, miso soup and barley tea?" I think out loud. "About this size," I add, forming a circle with my hands about four inches in diameter.
"Even the tea cup?" he teases.
"Uh, oh, I didn't mean… You know just… a regular cup," I stutter bashfully.
We both have a good laugh, and I take my tray and look around to find a seat. Walking around, I think, "Wow. There's a lot of men here… hardly any girls." I spot Kanda sitting alone at a table near the exit of the cafeteria and I can't help but wonder, "Why does no one sit with him?"
I feel someone tap me on the shoulder and turn around in response.
A person wearing an ecru-colored jacket smiles kindly at me. He has short, brown hair that's spiked up a little bit. His eyes are hazel-colored and he looks very young; in his twenties about. "You must be the new exorcist, right? I'm a Finder, my name's Elias Lorenzc," he introduces, extending his arm.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Lian Aburakoji," I reply, shaking his hand. "It seems that finders and exorcists don't seem to mix though," I add, nodding at the teenage samurai.
"Ah, him? He doesn't get along with anyone really," whispers Elias, "the last exorcist that joined us became rivals with him right away."
"Oh, really?" I whisper back, eyeing the lonely exorcist.
Sucking air into his teeth, Elias mutters, "Yeah…" He faces me once again and changes the subject, "So, anyway, Lian-san, would you like to eat with me and some other finders?"
I tilt my head to the side and say, "I guess so."
Elias introduced me to all of his friends, and we became friends very quickly. I learned all their names even; Seth, John, Lance, Tyrone, Michael and the only female finder I've seen: Alona Ventura.
"So, Lian, you're not completely new to the exorcist business, right?" asks Lance.
Lance Collier is a mid-twenty year old man with a medium build and dirty-blonde hair. He's about six feet tall and his eyes are dark brown. He is sort of the loud-and-proud type of guy, but he is respectful and kind.
I nod while taking a sip of my tea. After swallowing, I put the cup down and reply, "General Tiedoll recruited me and sent me to the Asia Branch to train. Then he sent me a letter telling me to go to the European Branch to start doing real missions."
"That's strange isn't it?" Alona pipes up, "You can do missions at the Asia Branch, too."
Alona is a cheery kind of girl who loves her meat (her plate was piled high with meat dishes… for breakfast.)She has deep blue eyes and thin chestnut-brown hair that clings to her neck, and she is just an inch or two shorter than me.
I shrug. "I don't know why I didn't do missions in Asia. It may have something to do with General Tiedoll, specifically." I take another large spoonful of soup and rice; I haven't even finished because people have been talking to me so often.
"Aah, that doesn't really matter does it? Lian-san is with us now and that's that," Seth yawns.
"Yup, she's our Lian-chan now!" Alona chirps.
"Our Lian-san," Lance seconds.
"Guys… you shouldn't manipulate her name like that," Michael mumbles.
Seth and Michael are best friends. They're so close they could even be brothers. Seth has reddish-brown hair and Michael has dark-brown hair. Both of them keep their hair at jaw line-length and they're both about the same height. Michael is much more soft-spoken than Seth, and Seth seems like one of those acts-like-he's-lazy-but-really-hard-working types.
Sweat prickles my forehead. Laughing half-heartedly I reassure Michael, "It's alright… I get that all the time. Especially with Japanese honorifics…"
"Oh, you're not Japanese, Lian-dono?" John inquires with a quizzical look on his face.
John is a large dark-skinned man in his early-thirties. He's about six feet five inches and very muscular. He's got a kind disposition though.
Finally, I've finished my meal. Wiping my mouth I answer, "Well, I'm half-Japanese and half-Chinese. My dad is Japanese and my mom is Chinese; but I lived in china most of my life so I'm used to Chinese honorifics."
"Oh, oh! What's the Chinese honorific like '-san?'" asks Alona excitedly.
I look up at the ceiling in thought. "It's a little weird to pronounce… you might not really get it."
"It's alright, Lian-san, just tell us," Elias says with a grin."
I laugh lightly and nod. "Okay. In China I would be called Xiaojie. It refers to unmarried women. It's kind of like '-san' but in Chinese we have separate honorifics for women and men. More than '-chan' and '-kun' in Japanese."
"Jaojee-eh?" Alona sounds out slowly, looking at me to see if she has it right.
"That's wrong, Alona!" Lance snaps, "It was more like 'Shao-jie,' right, Lian-san?"
"You are both incorrect," interjects John, "It was more like 'Shiow schee-ye.'"
They continue to bicker and quibble for some time until everyone hears a loud "SLAM!"
I turn around to see the samurai glowering at our entire table, obviously ticked off.
He strides over to us angrily and barks, "Shut the fuck up! You Finders barely do anything, and you think you have the time to be goofing off like this? Go do something worthwhile!"
John looks like he's about to strangle the exorcist, as do Lance and Alona. Seth is glowering at him and even Michael looks mad.
Elias looks the most hurt and full of rage. He's emitting an aura of malice that could be felt for miles. Sizing up to the Japanese exorcist he growls, "Don't use that superior tone when talking to us. We work just as hard as any of you exorcists do."
I feel a sharp jab in my chest when I hear him say "exorcists." He says it like it's some sort of disease like tuberculosis or rabies.
The exorcist snubs him, but I stand up before he can say anything.
Elias suddenly feels bad, I can see, because he immediately apologizes, "Lian-san, I didn't mean exorcists as in you—"
"Be quiet Elias," I command. I push him aside and glare right up at the irritable teenager. I grab his collar and pull him down so he can look me straight in the face. "If you want a fight; I'm right here. Don't bitch to my friends about something I started."
The whole cafeteria is quiet.
"Che," he mutters, knocking my hand off. "You're annoying."
"Don't talk to Lian-san that way!" Alona snarls.
"Alona!" I say warningly. I place my hands on my hips and say pretentiously, "I don't even know your name. Why don't you tell me?"
"You don't need to know," he says after a short pause.
I spot the same sword at his hip as I did the first time I met him. "That must be his innocence," I think. I pull out the fans from the garters on my stockings. Slamming the ends together I say, "Innocence Activate, Second Dance: Shirabyoshi!" The rose-colored katana appears in my hands and I swing it at him rapidly.
With equivalent speed, he unsheathes his own sword and blocks me. "Who's the one looking for a fight?"
I smirk and press my blade harder against his. "I'll fight you for your name, you little samurai. If I win you also have to stop annoying the Finders, how about it?"
He gives me an irritated grin and grunts, "You really are an annoying woman. Alright then; I accept."
Our swords spark and we slide back ever so slightly. Sheathing our swords, we don't break eye contact.
"Tonight at five in the training room then?" I suggest.
"Don't chicken out." He walks away first, taking his meal with him. He drops it off in the dish drop off as he leaves the room.
"…Lian-san," Elias says with a tone of concern, "I'm grateful that you stood up for us, but that person is…"
I smile at him, looking more confident than I actually feel. "I know, Elias. I could feel his power from the moment we crossed swords." My innocence reverts back to their original fan state and I put them back in their garters.
