Wow I really don't update as often as I should or used to do I? Blame finals week and other stories that are still on the drawing board.
Warnings: A lot of violence all of a sudden. Beware.
Stories that you may be able to look forward to so far (If there is one in particular you like please just say so in a Review):
(Kuroko no Basuke) w/Fem!Kuroko Princess and Knight AU- a (sort of) coming of age story about heroes, war, friendship, and one princess who wants nothing more then to be able to fight. It features Gaelic and Icelandic culture and names and rainbow haired losers.
(Ouran High School Host Club) The Commoner's AU- What if the members of the Host club were not born into wealth. What if Renge and Haruhi (mostly Renge) decided to open up a Host Restaurant as a business endeavor and they hired several handsome and some even financially struggling college students. May or may not end up being an Asian American AU.
Supernatural DGM Xover- (I talked about this one earlier but revised the outline a lot since then) A story on how the Winchesters came across the worst kept secret in all of Europe: The Dark Order and somehow became Finders, and how they came to be particularly attached to the Order's resident teenage Exorcists.
The location wasn't quite ideal. For one thing it was half the size of the original conference room, forcing all twenty (though now twenty-one) members of the board to sit in at a table more suited for twelve. They had to make due, however. Luckily, none in particular grumbled about the circumstances. Komui wouldn't even know what to do if some of them outright refused to sit down at the table.
"And how has their progress been?" This question came from an older Swiss woman just to the left of the scientist. She was one of the top arms dealers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He leafed through the manilla folder that he had brought with him finding the formal lab report and handing it to her.
"The improvements so far have been minimal. Lenalee and Allen's stamina and strength are both increasing steadily, but slowly. It has only been about a week after all. Lavi and Yuu show no physical changes outside of the obvious, being in possession of actual Innocence. There have been no attempted invocations, but we were planning on getting those started in a months time."
"Change a month to two weeks."
"Of course," Komui said as he jotted down the new deadline. Just what he needed, less time.
"And what of the remaining exorcists?" This question came from a young Japanese man. He owned a large portion of a medicinal powerhouse in the east, the rest of which belonged to his father.
Komui was hesitant. No matter how he worded this, it wouldn't sound very good.
He said, "Some of the others will be ready in only a few days time to undergo the new and improved procedure. These ones include Noise Marie, Miranda Lotto, Arystar Krory, Froi Tiedoll, and Bookman. However the others are where the issues lie. We have no way of proving that attempting the procedure on Timothy would work since he lacks a Remnant, aside from a scar."
"And what exactly is a remnant?" Komui had almost forgotten that this man was their newest member.
"A Remnant is a vessel that is meant to carry Innocence, but doesn't. This can be a body part, or an object, or in some cases even the person's blood stream. Timothy's was originally a red jewel at the center of his forehead, one that is no longer there."
The man nodded, a signal for the scientist to carry on.
"As for the remaining Generals, they are a bit, how should I put this? Flighty. Cross Marian, we've been afraid to inform of anything. He never was very fond of these experiments and has quite the bad habit of disappearing. Klaud Nine is just as bad, really, and I'm guessing you know the situation with Winters Socalo."
"Yes, I do." Even with all of the power the Organization has, they would still be questioned for managing to get a death row inmate pardoned.
The man at the end of the table, a small business owner who lived in Paris, suddenly stood up. "Well, if that is all, then I would very much like to make my rather important meeting across town."
"Actually, sir," Komui spoke up. "If I may request something?" Suddenly the full attention of the entire room was on him. "I would like to allow the exorcists that have homes outside of the city to leave for the remainder of the month."
"No, absolutely ridiculous, they must be monitored closely in case anything happens," said the Japanese businessman.
A politician from the United States added, "I wholeheartedly agree, letting them go now if ever would be a mistake."
"Don't be so ridiculous. With improvements coming so slowly all we would be doing by ordering regular tests would be wasting time and money," was said by ever so shrewd Swiss Woman.
"Then what about a proper vote?" These words came from the mouth of a British businessman whose expertise lied in the stock market. He generally tended to take charge in these meetings. "All in favor of allowing the Exorcists to go home for the remainder of the month?"
Eight raised their hand.
"All apposed?"
Nine raised their hand.
"We will speak of this more tomorrow. Hopefully by then we will be able to get a seventy percent majority agreement."
"Take a deep breath…and Exhale." Komui took back the stethoscope. Allen's breathing seemed to be doing just fine, great in fact. "Now I'll need to have a closer look at that arm of yours." Allen moved his hand towards the older man without any hesitation.
The arm was smooth, and had a rather hard surface. It was now a deep charcoal black rather than a blood red. The color and texture ended right above his bicep where it blended seamlessly into skin only to appear again in a ring right above it that wrapped all the way around his arm. At the shoulder were similar two structures as well as symbols that almost looked like kunai that went just above those that wrapped all the way around his shoulder and over his collarbone. On the hand was a faintly glowing green cross. The fingers ended in wicked claws.
He took one last look at the scar on his chest. It was healing and even clearing at an incredibly rapid rate. At this rate, soon enough there won't even be a scar anymore.
"You're good to go, Allen." The boy began to collect his shirt. "Just remember to buy a thicker pair of gloves. You just may find your usual ones to be less effective then usual."
"I will, thank you." He bolted out before his shirt even cleared his shoulders.
The man slumped back into his seat. Today would be the second set of procedures. There wasn't much improvement to be made to the procedure itself outside of a bit of low level pain medication that they were able to confirm would not mess with the results. He really didn't want to have to do that all over again, but he would for at least another month or so. Maybe longer if the person sent to retrieve Cross came back any time soon.
"I got your paperwork, chief." It was Reever with yet another little piece of hell in his arms. Komui slumped further back into his chair. "And you probably want to take a look at the top piece. It seems that the board came up with a right answer to that request of yours." Komui sat up straight so quickly he almost fell out of his chair. He scrambled to grab the top sheet and scanned it quickly.
"We are pleased to inform you… that your request was granted. The Exorcists are allowed to take temporary leave, but are required to return back in two weeks time. Until then they must regularly report back to you through email or phone. How often is left entirely to you." He felt like leaping out of his seat so he did.
"Oh Reever, this is magnificent. I must go tell the others immediately. We haven't a moment to lose." He ran right out the door.
"But sir. Your…paperwork." Komui wasn't getting this done any time soon, was he?
Allen sure was lucky that there was no club meeting this morning or Kyōya would have his hide, no doubt about that. He struggled to get on the last pieces of his uniform. Why did ties have to be so complicated? It looked like a rumpled mess.
"Allen, we have to go. You're going to be late."
"I know, I know. Just give me a minute, I'll be down soon." He tugged on his new gloves before making his way down the stairs. He winced slightly when he noticed that the glove didn't do as much as it could hiding the fact that he had claws now. He didn't think he'd be able to explain away all that as a birth malady to the Hosts. He'd try and see if he could file them down again tonight.
"Okay, I'm ready to go."
"I hope you really are. Grab whatever you can eat and get in the car." He grabbed a few things: A banana, or two. A few protein bars. Also, an entire tumbler full of apple juice (he really missed not being able to drink that in the morning because of his heart pills.) Just a few things, really. He got in the car after Neah, who sped off as soon as the car door was closed.
"You've taken care of everything you had to make up, right?"
"More or less," is what Neah would have heard had Allen not been to busy trying to eat both a banana and a protein bar at once.
"Sounds good enough to me. How's your weight? Were you able to check this morning?"
"Yeah, it's getting better. I'm up to 55 kg, now."
"You are eating those special bars still right?" Allen nodded. Neah still didn't look pleased. "It isn't natural for someone to gain two centimeters and then lose about four kilograms. I mean, you were already skinny before."
Allen didn't really say anything in response. He's been worried about having to tighten his belt suddenly. He wondered vaguely if he should tell the twins that his measurements have changed a bit.
They were pulling up to the school just as Allen finished his final protein bar. Tumbler in hand he got out of the car door and yelled a quick thank you before hurrying up the steps. The halls were mostly empty, just a few of the usual late arrivers, a group that he was not normally a part of. Accursed jet lag.
The one minute warning bell chimes and he realizes suddenly that he won't make it to the classroom in time, at least not at this pace. He starts jogging. The classroom is just at the end of the hall. He's almost there.
He opens up the door and sees that the teacher hasn't even started calling roll yet. He takes his seat with a sigh of relief. The bells rings.
Sitting down he realizes something very peculiar. His heart beat, while it may be a bit fast from the stress of the moment is actually quite steady. He doesn't even feel out of breath or in pain. He actually feels kind of refreshed. He fails to hold back a smile.
Kanda went back to the fundamentals. Simple stances and simple maneuvers for the sake of becoming familiar with this strange new sword. Mugen has always been a good katana. It was a gift from the Old Man, a sort of reminder of where he was born. Tiedoll was pretty damn surprised when Kanda told him only a few months later that he wanted to learn how to use it, and since then he has, and he has done so very well.
This was not the same Mugen. This Mugen was perfectly balanced. This Mugen was always cool to the touch even though it sent comforting heat up and down his arms. Whenever he had this Mugen in his hands he could hardly make a single error even when performing the most advanced moves. It was so perfect it was actually a little disorienting.
Nothing was more disorienting then being able to hear it sometimes, though. He'd be meditating only to suddenly hear this voice, entirely unidentifiable, but somehow trustworthy. He turned for another wide arc only to jerkily pull back. People should know better than to interrupt his katas.
"Sorry about that kid. Didn't mean to sneak up on you." It was Skinn Bolic, one of Allen's relatives. He had a small cut on his hand. Kanda just sat down at the nearest bench and sheathed Mugen. He'd been at it for about an hour and a half anyway. It was time for a short rest. He mumbled an apology before toweling himself off.
"What are you here for?" Kanda asked after a moment.
"I need to find Tiedoll, we were supposed to have a meeting, and he didn't show. You know where he is?" That was just like the Old Man, wasn't it?
"Last I heard, he went to sketch the London Eye for about the twentieth time. He left about an hour ago, so he's probably scrambling back by now already, remembering that he had something important to do."
"Thanks, guess I'll just go now." Kanda laid back against the bench, towel over his eyes and reached for the water bottle that he knew would be there. He was waiting for the sound of the door opening and closing before he would continue.
He heard the doorknob turn but nothing else. He lifted the towel from his eyes only to see the back of the rather large man still facing the door, god knows why. The man turned. There was a neat gash at the center of his forehead that was dripping too much blood for it to be safe. Kanda almost thought the gash was getting bigger by the second. The man gave him almost no time to grab the wooden training sword on the rack to Kanda's right, before he lunged.
Kanda blocked Skinn's hand with the makeshift sword. The man was much stronger than he looked and that was saying something. Kanda began striking to slow down, or hopefully knock out, but any hits to the stomach, shoulders, neck, back, everywhere really, did virtually nothing. It only managed to make the jackass fight back with more force. His moves were wild but his stance seemed unshakable, and the only thing trying to aim for the usual weaknesses in guys this big accomplished was a few too many close calls. It was trying to finally land a good strike on the man's head that really screwed him over.
Skinn, or whatever the hell he was now, grabbed the training sword and easily threw it to the side out of Kanda's grip. Next thing he knew he was flying into the wall. The impact hurt like a bitch. Those ribs were definitely broken. Did he have a concussion? He couldn't tell.
His vision was spinning. He couldn't get ahold of himself. The only thing that was clear was Mugen against the wall only a few feet away and Skinn who he's pretty sure wants to kill him right now. He didn't really care why, he just knew that he didn't feel like dying today. Kanda gripped the bench that he had knocked over as best as he could and pulled himself up. If he could just get his hands on it. The bench tipped over once more leaving him on the floor, reeling. He could barely touch it now. His hand closed around the bottom end of the sheath.
That alone gave him strength. He pulled himself up fully and faced his opponent. He threw Mugen's sheath to the side. The man it seemed was about to charge once more until he recognized the sword in the teen's hands.
"You know what this is, don't you Noah." The Noah didn't say anything. By now the lines on his forehead would probably be fully formed stigma, if there wasn't so much blood covering them. His skin even had a tinge of gray to it.
The man bent down and picked up the same wooden sword that he threw aside earlier in the fight. He made the first move, one blocked with ease. Mugen made a deep gash in the training sword. A few more and it would fall apart. Skinn kept on striking, each blow blocked, though Kanda knew he can't keep this up for very long. Mugen wasn't able to take away how his head wouldn't stop pounding and his chest wouldn't stop throbbing. The man's next strike landed too close for comfort and the wooden sword wasn't as damaged as he would like it to be at this point. Sword in hand, he ducked down and lunged. The Noah suddenly halted and slumped forward. Kanda was supporting a lot of his weight at this point.
Kanda let go of his sword's hilt entirely and Skinn collapsed. The end of Mugen is sticking out of his back. The young man's knees gave out and his hands slid along the ground. He looks down at them.
They're covered in blood, and suddenly he's not here, he's some ten year old at the Asia Branch that just killed his best friend, and he didn't know what to do. Did he really just do that. He looked back to the…man. He struggled to his footing and limped out to the hallway of his house. Maybe Noise was still home or maybe the Old Man came back already.
"Help! Somebody, help!"