Chapter 2

The past few days here moved by slowly, allowing me to bond with a few exorcists and grow comfortable in my surroundings. In the mornings, Allen shares buffet-sized breakfasts with me and tells me stories about his past missions. Lenalee took me into town to shop for new clothes and necessities for my room. Kanda trains hand to hand combat with me in the afternoons but Lavi is the one who spends the most time with me.

I lay in my bed, looking up at the ceiling and enjoying the silence of my room. The sun has just risen and Allen will be at the cafeteria for breakfast soon. My stomach rumbles loudly. "I guess it's that time." I laugh.

I get up walking over to the door, rubbing the creases out of my new uniform. It really is a magnificent uniform, the sturdy black coat goes all the way down to my thighs, with sleeves that stop at my elbows. The silver buttons keep the coat fitting to my body, showing off my curvy figure. The neck of the coat cuts down into a V shape, with a collar that flares up around my neck. When I was out with Lenalee, I bought several pairs of fitting black cargo pants that I could easily move around in, that way I could wear them with my exorcist's coat.

The boots that I had worn to the order were completely ruined by the time I had arrived, but luckily I found a sturdy black-leather pair that come all the way up past my knees, when I was out shopping with Lenalee.

My long black hair rests wildly at my back, partially tangled in my chain. I separate the hair from the thick metal chain around my neck, pulling the chain down to my collar bones. With all my clothes in order, I pull open the door and walk out.

"Good morning beautiful." I hear the familiar calming voice behind me.

"Lavi?" I ask, turning around to see the the emerald eyed exorcist leaning against the wall by my door. When did he start waiting outside my door?

"How long have you been here?" He hops up from the wall and places himself next to me, walking with me to the cafeteria.

"Only ten minutes or so, I know you like to eat with Allen around this time. Let me walk you down." He tells me. I couldn't help but grin, no man had ever showed such an interest in me, especially not someone as attractive as Lavi.

Lavi and I sit at a table with Allen, eating our breakfasts. "You parasitic types sure do have an awesome appetite." Lavi laughs, watching Allen and I clear plate after plate of food. I can't help but feel a little embarrassed at the obscene amount of food I was scarfing down in front of Lavi. But he seems so use to it, almost entertained by our bottomless stomachs. After a few minutes of stacking empty plates, I finally stop, unable to keep up with Allen. I lean back in my chair, feeling full and happy.

"Yuu!" Lavi yells mockingly. I look up to see the tall, blue-haired exorcist standing behind Lavi. "Don't. Call me that!" He yells at Lavi, smashing his head into the table. I jump back startled by the fierce aggression. Lavi sits back up rubbing his forehead.

"Why you gotta be so mean Kanda?" He asks his attacker. Kanda just scoffs at him before stating his business.

"Komui assigned us a mission, he wants us to bring the new girl."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Lavi asks, standing up. "When do we leave?"

"Right now." Kanda tells him, turning for the exit and walking away.

"Come on Sage!" Lavi yells, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of my chair, following Kanda.

Before long, the three of us are on a train and on our way to a small town in Venice. According to Komui the woods around the town are supposedly cursed. Towns people who enter the woods reportedly attack each other with no recollection of the event after leaving the woods. So far, twenty people have been killed by this mysterious 'curse'. Komui believes that innocence could be involved and wants the three of us to go and check it out.

We sit in a cabin on the train with a finder waiting outside the door. Kanda sits opposite of me, leaning against the window. Lavi sits next to him, leaning against the cabin door. They let me have the other seat all to myself, so I take advantage and stretched my legs out on the bench.

"Hey Sage, I don't think we've ever actually seen your innocence. You told us you're a parasitic type, but what part of you is made up of innocence?" Lavis asks me. I move my hair behind my back, uncovering the V neck of my coat. The low cut collar reveals a glowing green shape identical to the one on Allen's hand.

"This is the only visible part of my innocence, at least right now. My innocence is actually inside my body, I'm not sure where exactly but it's there." I explain to him.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Lavi leans in closer, trying to get a better look at my marking. Kanda scoffs at us, grabbing the collar of Lavi's coat and pulling him back.

"Go to sleep. We have a long night ahead." Kanda orders, leaning back against his window.

Regardless of how cold he acts, I couldn't help but feel comfortable around him. I close my eyes and lean against the window, snuggling into my coat. Before long, the constant rocking of the train and the soft breathing of the two exorcists across from me lulls me to sleep.

The train comes to an abrupt halt, sending me flying out of my seat and onto the floor. "What the?" I look around the cabin to find Lavi and Kanda missing. The lights on the train flicker then die out as deafening thunder cracks through the night. It takes my eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. "Lavi? Kanda?" I call out in the emptiness, only to be answered by silence. Lightning fills the cabin with a burst of light and I can hear a loud crash from down the hall. I get up cautiously, peeking out the door. I wander down the narrow hallway, searching for Kanda and Lavi. There's another crashing sound at the end of the hallway, but the darkness prevents me from seeing the cause. "Guys?" I call out. Lightning fills the train once more, revealing a large black wolf. "No. Not you." I feel tears begin to well up in my eyes. The wolf snarls at me, its teal eyes glowing in the darkness. It takes a step forward, promising to attack. "Go away!" I scream, turning around and running down the hall. Its heavy pawsteps dash after me down the hallway. "Please, stop." I beg it with tears streaming down my face. The wolf doesn't let up. It tackles me, bringing me down to the floor. I flip onto my back, facing the wolf. It snaps at my face, trying to bite at my throat. I grab its muzzle, attempting to keep its jaws shut. "Go away. Go away. Go away." I cry, closing my eyes in the struggle. The dark wolf breaks free of my grip and rakes its claws against my chest. I scream in pain and use all my strength to kick the wolf off of me. As soon as it's off, I scramble to my feet and dash for the cabin I had been sleeping in. The wolf chases after me, close behind. I bank into the cabin, slamming the door on the nose of the wolf, but the beast is relentless and it smashes the door away. I fall back against the window, sliding onto the floor. The wolf takes its time, growling in front of me. "No. Please!" I cry, gripping my chest, my fresh wounds burning. Our eyes meet and I'm paralyzed with fear, I close my eyes and wait for the pain of the wolf's next strike.

"Sage! Sage!" Instead of a snarl, I hear the worried voice of Lavi. Hands firmly grip my shoulders instead of heavy paws. "Open your eyes! Its ok! You're safe now." He tells me, shaking me to reality.

I open my eyes to see Lavi kneeling on the floor in front of me with Kanda standing behind him, a distressed look on his face. I look down at my chest, my hand still clenching my coat at the place the had wolf scratched me. The wound is gone and so is the intense burning that came with it.

"You're crying." Lavi tells me with obvious pain in his voice. I take my hand from my chest and wipe the tears off my face. What had I been doing in my sleep? I knew that I had been crying in my dream, but I didn't know It had translated over into real life. I look at my wet hand, noticing it shaking.

"Hey, are you shaking?" Lavi asks me. I grab my shaking hand tightly, pulling it against my coat to try and hide it.

"You were screaming." Kanda says from behind Lavi. He isn't looking at me anymore but he still looks distraught. I must've really been going at it.

"I-I'm so sorry I woke you…" My voice betrays me completely, coming out shaky and weak.

The sound of my voice sets me off completely and I suddenly can't control my whole body. I begin to shake uncontrollably, my heart pounds rapidly in my chest.

"Sorry." I say again, barely able to speak the word.

"Sage!" Lavi yells. In an instant I'm being pulled forward, my face planting into Lavi's coat, his arms wrapped tightly around me.

"It's ok." He tells me, his voice is so calming I can't help but relax a bit.

He holds me tighter and I grip his coat, burying my face in it. His scent is so nice, he smells like smoke, not like cigarette smoke, it's like a woodsy smoke, as if he had been covered in the smoke of a campfire all day. I sit there, in his arms, waiting for the fear to pass.

I'm not sure how long we sat there for, but I had nearly fallen asleep when Lavi finally moved me to the bench seat.

"I'm sorry for bothering you all so much." I apologize. Kanda and Lavi take a seat across from me. "Does that happen often?" Lavi asks, crossing his legs.

"No, really, this was just a freak thing." I tell him. Kanda scoffs, his eyes boring into me.

"Like hell it was."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say defensively.

"Your room is right next to mine. I can hear you. You scream like that every damn night." I can't argue with him at that point. I want to apologize again but I'm too embarrassed.

"Why the hell didn't you do anything about it Kanda!" Lavi scolds.

"Because I'm not going to wonder into a woman's bedroom in the middle of the night."

"You can't just ignore that!"

"Guys, it really isn't a big deal. I'm really sorry you had to hear all of this, I didn't know I was actually making a fuss out loud." I interrupt them, smiling for reassurance. Lavi sighs, leaning against the wall.

"We'll be there soon." Kanda says, looking out the window once more.

I bunch up against the window, hugging my knees. Lavi rests his head on his fist, watching me from his seat. I close my eyes once more, bringing my hand to the glowing-green mark on my chest. I brush my fingers over it, feeling it react to my touch. Damn you. You stupid thing. You're suppose to be helping me damn you. I take my hand away from the mark and pull my coat over it, ready to go back to sleep.

By the way, for those of you wondering what the old title of this fanfic was, it was called The Wolf and The Rabbit

The rest of the Author's notes from here on out will be originals from when I first wrote them.