Hello all.

First off, my apologies for taking so long, recently the real world has been rather taxing. I hope to update more frequently in the future.

Also, many thanks to all readers and reviewers... Thanks goes out to Diclonious57, Kyuu333 (whom I also thank for support for Remembrance!) and waterlit... Thanks also goes to lupyne, who although with "pretty much zero knowledge" on -man, is still kind enough to read and review! Thanks a lot, all of you...

Additionally, I will be staying true to (most of) the manga storyline, although I will borrow from the anime. Chomesuke's story is not really specifically sketched out, and I hope I can make that interesting without deviating too far from the manga.

That being said, thank you all for reading, and I hope you will continue to enjoy this fic.

hawk

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Chosen – Chapter Two

High in the dark night sky, the crescent moon loomed large and ominous, casting a faint shadow across the earth. Chomesuke traced the edge of the shadow with her eyes, lightly resting her chin in her cupper hands as the wind played with her long brown hair. Straightening up, she surveyed the surroundings from her vantage point on the roof, and saw nothing other than a dusty dirt path, the surrounding forest and plenty of trees. With a soft sigh, she settled herself on the rooftop again, continuing her vigil.

With luck, they would survive the night, make it safely to Edo, she wouldn't get captured – here she shuddered involuntarily – and then what? She didn't really know. Still, she comforted herself in the fact that she had a goal for now, and that helped to distract her from her impending doom.

---

"Wake up cho..." Chomesuke shook Lavi's shoulder gently, then roughly. "Bookman Junior cho! Wake up!" The apprentice Bookman yawned, then sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The Akuma went on to awaken the rest of the motley crew while Lavi blinked a couple of times, attempting to stay awake.

She triumphantly stood in the corner of the old warehouse and counted the humans as they groggily got to their feet. There was Lavi, "the redheaded imbecile" according to Bookman, Lenalee and Miranda, both exhausted and tired, Krory, a rather sinister-looking yet naïve and gentle man, and the three sailors, Kie, Masao and Chaoji. One, three, four, six... "Hmm..." Chomesuke muttered to herself, a slight frown playing on her lips.

"Hey. Shouldn't we be moving?" The voice of Bookman cut through the morning air, and they saw the silhouette of the old man framed in the doorway of the house. "Hai!You're up early cho!" Chomesuke smiled. Bookman didn't return the smile. "As you said, it's a long and dangerous road, so the faster we start, the faster we'll reach." Chomesuke nodded curtly, then fell silent.

After five minutes of yawning and complaining, with a lot of herding by Bookman and Chomesuke (particularly on Lavi, Bookman had to physically drag his apprentice off the floor by his ear), the odd company set off on their trek once again.

---

Tsch. The soft sound of metal hitting the dusty floor. Chomesuke immediately froze. If she were human and alive, the blood would have run cold in her veins, but seeing as she wasn't either of that, her immediate reaction was to spin around, her pink kimono whirling about her, but saw nothing. An instant later, she found a thick purple thread wrapping itself quickly around her waist like a lasso, with its other end trailing off into the darkness off the path.

"Chomesuke!" Lavi was the first to react, instinctively reaching for her. But it was no use as the lasso tightened, pulling Chomesuke to the floor and backwards, hauling her off the path into the darkness. "Run away cho!" she yelled back at them, her voice raised in pitch and urgency. The lantern had she held clattered uselessly to the floor as the pink kimono rapidly vanished into the darkness.

Chomesuke was dragged quickly backwards, skidding across the dusty floor. Before she could react, the Akuma leapt across to her and struck her multiple times, eventually impaling her on a glowing purple network of suspended lines resembling a spiderweb. Chomesuke struggled weakly, but could not break free, knowing that it was useless against the superior Level Three, and resigned herself to her fate.

The Level Three landed softly on the dusty path, carefully dusting his hands. It was then that the small gang of humans arrived on the scene, huddled together, while Lavi and Bookman tensed as they saw what they were up against.

---

Truth be told, they weren't all ordinary humans. The three ex-sailors were human enough, and at this point of time were scared stiff. Lavi, Krory, Lenalee, Miranda, and even Bookman were Exorcists – a select group of people who had the inborn ability to control certain supernatural powers granted by the mysterious material "Innocence". In using the Innocence, the Exorcists stood a chance of destroying Akuma, obliterating the mechanical workings and freeing the trapped soul within.

Lavi, Krory and Bookman were ready to do battle, although none of them were well prepared or experienced enough to face off even a single Level Three, even together. Lenalee and Miranda were also Exorcists, but were fatigued, exhausted and unable to use their weapons due to their excessive usage before their arrival on Japan. Miranda still winced at the memories – her Innocence had not been enough to save the shipload of sailors, of which the three with them were the only survivors – and despite encouragement and support from the other Exorcists and sailors, she still mentally beat herself for it.

Lenalee was by far the most experienced of the lot – but she was exhausted and incapable of battle – ironically, due to a battle with the first Level Three they had encountered, on their journey to Japan – which she had only narrowly won at a high cost, and would have died if it was not for Chomesuke's timely intervention.

And so, with the element of surprise on the Akuma's side, Lenalee and Miranda out of commission, and Chomesuke helplessly held hostage, Lavi, Krory and Bookman faced increasingly stacked odds against the solitary Level Three which leered at them now.

---

The Level Three, knowing this, laughed, a cold, heartless laugh. "What now?" it snickered, smirking at the group of humans.

True to his form, Lavi disregarded the cold stance Bookmen were supposed to have, as well as the cold glare from Bookman, and charged at the Akuma. A small, black mallet in his hand suddenly grew larger, imbued with an eerie green glow. His Innocence which took the shape of a hammer, he reasoned to himself, was the only way to save Chomesuke, and so into the fray he charged. Lavi yelled, and in response, the mallet doubled in size, its enormous bulk crashing down onto where the Akuma stood a second ago. Lavi frantically looked around for it, before being punched viciously in the gut by the smirking Akuma.

Krory charged forward, and latched himself onto the Akuma. An otherwise comical sight – a middle-aged man literally hugging a tall metallic armourplate – Krory's teeth contained an odd form of the Innocence, which forcefully grew his teeth out into fangs, capable of sucking Akuma blood and thereby destroying them. It helped that Akuma blood helped, to some extent, to strengthen Krory and to increase his bloodlust in battle, and so he looked forward to his first taste of Level Three blood.

He didn't get it. His fangs barely pierced the armour, while the Akuma looked on him with mock concern. "What, you alright?" Krory said nothing of the awkward situation, partially because a blow from the Akuma sent him stumbling backwards, eventually causing him to fall painfully.

Lavi raised his hammer once more. A large circle of light expanded outwards from his hammer, with the Japanese kanji for fire etched onto it. An additional benefit of this particular weapon, he thought, was the choice between brute force and elemental magic. And in this case, his tactical mind reprimanded him, brute force would definitely fail.

"Hi Ban!" The Fire Seal was executed, a large pillar of flame issuing forth from the circle and engulfing the Akuma squarely within it. The flame burned without smoke, swallowing up everything in its path. The ancient stone tiles blackened, the rough wooden ruins of a shelter flared up, were reduced to ashes, and disappeared. Lavi grinned slightly.

Until he heard the laughter.

From within the flaming pillar, the Akuma was laughing. And when the fire finally dissipated, it cracked its neck and fixed its gaze on the slightly panting Exorcist. "That the best you can do?" Lavi didn't respond, but gripped his hammer tighter, slowly circling the battlefield while never taking his eyes off the Akuma. Unfazed, the Akuma casually strolled over to where Chomesuke was suspended, the kimono-clad figure trying her best to shrink away from it.

"Or shall I just eat her first, hmm?" The Akuma taunted, drawling out its words, and then leaned close to Chomesuke, rasping a gray tongue across her cheek. Chomesuke flinched, her eyes shut tight, and braced herself for the cold teeth of the Akuma on her neck.

---

Why was Chomesuke leading them anyway?

The answer: Akuma.

The group was originally supposed to follow another converted Akuma, one of Sachiko's close friends, after Chomesuke had completed her task of guiding them to the shores of Japan. How ironic. What was not ironic, however, was when their future guide was attacked. Mere seconds after they had met, three Level Three Akuma had ambushed her, pinning her down. And then, they each took a bite from the twisting Akuma, ripping off bits of the inner mechanical workings as well as pieces of flesh.

"When Akuma density is abnormally high, like in Japan, this kind of thing happens," Chomesuke's voice was more subdued than ever. "Akuma bloodlust is hard to control, and every so often they attack other Akuma, kill them, eat them, to satisfy their hunger." The group of humans had remained silent through the ordeal, many choosing not to look as the trio polished off their unfortunate victim, eventually only leaving behind pieces of scrap metal.

It was a miracle that they had survived at all. Chomesuke had pushed them into the banners quickly enough, saving them all from the Akuma's keen eyes, although she could have sworn one of them looked at the banners for a longer period of time than what was comfortable, although the lure of food soon re-attracted the Akuma.

"Still, that's not nearly enough... Akuma bloodlust can only be properly satisfied by humans," she smiled sadly, despite herself. "In here, no one is safe... Not even Akuma."

---

"What's an Akuma doing amongst humans, anyway, hmm?" The Level Three crooned softly, still not letting Chomesuke out of its sight. Not that Chomesuke was going anywhere anyway, the unfortunate Level Two being effectively trapped in the larger-than-life spiderweb. A weak "cho..." was all Chomesuke whined in response, and this did nothing to assuage the Level Three's curiosity or hunger, and in fact Lavi could have sworn that it licked its lips.

Once again, the Level Three leaned closer, its face mere inches away from Chomesuke's neck, and this time it bared its fangs.