Neko watched the houses and people go by as she bounced up and down from the uneven footfalls of the stranger on the cobblestones. She became worried, as the more people who witnessed the pair running down the road, the more people began following them... Neko knew well why; while the town tolerated her, they still thought of her as a child, and a man running down the road with a young girl wasn't acceptable, even if she was the town witch.

'...More people are chasing us, can't you run faster? They're catching up...'

'I know that, pipsqueak, if I could I would!'

Suddenly, they made a sharp turn into an inn, ran up the stairs therein, and ran into a room. The stranger slammed the door and locked it.

Neko realized that the stranger had, contrary to his previous gentleness, thrown her rather roughly onto the bed so he could lock the door. She slid off the bed, and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, fidgeting with the hem of her dress and her fingers.

The stranger turned around. '.. Make yourself comfortable, we'll be here for a while...' Neko watched as he listened for footsteps in the hall, and finally decided to sit on the edge of the bed.

He finally came away from the door, and he settled in a chair by the window.

He began talking,'First, I think we need to be introduced. I am General Cross Marian, an exorcist for the Black Order. The Order has one purpose- to continue fighting The Millenium Earl, who terrorizes humanity quietly with Akuma, what we fought earlier, and what you say you can sense. Akuma are born from tragedy, and when someone mourns a loss alone, The Earl comes before them and asks them if they want to see the person they lost. If they say yes, he creates an Akuma with the lost ones' soul, and that akuma turns and kills the one who called it, causing more loss and tragedy. It's a neverending cycle, which is why we tell people not to mourn alone. But, exorcists fight The Earl, the akuma, and the Noah, who are the Earl's brethren, so humanity is safe. And so, we all have to have weapons to combat the akuma. Even though you aren't an exorcist, you have one as well, so you have an Innocence.'-at this the girl cocked her head in confusion; the man in front of her was not describable as 'innocent' or 'pure', you could tell that by the way he held himself when he walked, but, sensing confusion, he slightly backtracked-'N-not like your purity, not that sort of innocence, that has nothing to do with it! Innocence is the name of the element, and I'm really not sure why; it's just that way. But, it reacts differently than any other element, for the most part. It has three ways of interaction with the one chosen to use it, though, depending on the Innocence itself: it can be parasitic, an equipment type, or a crystal type. That last one is the only one that isn't obvious as to its interaction type; there hasn't been quite enough research on it. But, yours must be either parasitic or probably more crystal type, I would assume.'

'What if it's not an Innocence?'

'That'd be impossible, and I know how it feels to be around it, especially a strong one, like that one.'

'...But, I can't really control it. And, there's a voice in my head when I use it. It's a female voice, and she's always been there, or at least, since I started killing those things.'

'...A voice, eh? It doesn't surprise me that you can't quite control it, it can take a while to get used to.'

'Well, I'm not sure why I grew wings, I usually just kill them how ever. It's weird. They're weird. This is all just weird. I guess now that I know some stuff, I can try to act normal about it to the villagers.'

'You know I plan on taking you with me when I leave, right? Your style is underdeveloped, you don't use even close to the amount of power you could be, and you have to be acknowledged by people other than me to be an exorcist.'

'...You know, I don't really mind the thought of leaving. So, when and where are we going, General Marian?'

He considered something for a moment, then,'...Oh, no, you're my apprentice until further notice, and you'll call me 'Master'; 'General Cross', or 'General Marian' ain't gonna fly. We'll be leaving for France tomorrow. But, your name is..?'

'Ah, Neko.'

'...No last name? Odd...'

'Eh, I don't really like to have a last name.'

'Hmmm... You live alone don't you? There's no one you have to ask to leave?'

'Mmm. It's complicated, but my parents don't live in this country anymore. They gave their consent for me to be on my own, but this country's government still questions my freedom, if that's what you call it.' And, with that she shrugged her shoulders.

The conversation ended there, as they moved to opposite sides of the room, and spent the rest of the afternoon in relatively awkward silence. General Cross contented himself with drinking as he sat in a chair and surveyed the ground below through the window, and occasionally he would light a cigarette, much to Neko's disgust and dismay; of all the gross smells she found pleasant, tobacco smoke was not one of them.

When the sun began setting, and the General took notice of this, he spoke, breaking the long silence.

'Neko it's getting late, shouldn't you go to bed?'

'I guess so... But, there's only one bed in here... It would be wrong for me to sleep in it when it's your room... I could sleep on the floor, I'm used to it anyways...'

The General stood. 'You can't sleep on the floor, it's February! You'll freeze!' Looking out the window, he saw flakes in the sky. 'Look, it's snowing! You'll really freeze if you sleep on the floor now! The bed is big enough for the both of us. Now, go to bed!'

Neko awkwardly looked at her feet. '… … But... I... Umm... We can't... Be in the same bed together... I'm a girl an' you're a guy... T-that would be awkward...'

'I never said we had to cuddle or something; our body heat will keep us warm as long as we're in the same bed. Go. I'm not going to bed now, so it's fine.' He shrugged and sat back down.

While Neko decided she would lose the argument either way and went to bed, she thought that was even worse; she curled up into the bottom corner under the covers, as close to the edge as possible.

It took a long while for Neko to get used to sleeping in a bed, and before she had gotten comfortable, her new master climbed in the bed...

Cross had thought to leave his clothes on; his new apprentice was a girl, and she seemed very uncomfortable around him... Maybe she'll get used to me, I'm not that intimidating... He decided to stop thinking about it, and to go to sleep. They would leave tomorrow, and once they got to the Order, they wouldn't have to be so close...

Neko awoke the next morning, and it took a few moments for her to realize where she was. Sunlight flooded the room, and she noticed an empty wine bottle on the bed beside her. '...So this is what hit me...' she muttered sleepily as she remembered being woken as the sun was just coming up and the room had been barely lit by the dawn; she had woken suddenly at something hitting her back, but went back to sleep when it didn't happen again. She looked across the room, and noticed a huge pile of liquor bottles on the floor, spreading from the foot of the bed to the door to the room and the door to the adjoining bathroom.

She sprang from the bed and began sorting through the bottles. 'Ahhh! Oi, I didn't turn him into a bottle, did I?! Master, Master~?!'

Cross popped his head out from the pile of bottles. 'No, I'm right here.'

Neko sighed her relief. 'Thank goodness, I thought I'd never find you if I had turned you into one...'

As he climbed out of the pile of bottles, Neko scurried under the bed. '...What's wrong with you?' he asked.

'...You don't have a shirt on...' Her reply was muffled by the skirt of the bed.

'God, you're so touchy.' He dressed himself the rest of the way; he had taken his shirt off when he became warm from all the alcohol he had consumed. 'There, I'm dressed, come out here so we can leave.'

'We're leaving already? Ok...'

They left the inn; the streets were white with snow. Neko thought about her new master. I'm not sure how to feel about him, he's nice but he seems weird and awkward...I just hope I don't have to sleep in the same bed with him again, that was so awkward... Just as she thought this, a carriage was quickly approaching, and Neko, carelessly lost in her thoughts, was in the middle of the road, directly in it's path.

Cross noticed his ward wasn't behind him, as she had been, and looked out to see her in harm's way. He screamed her name to get her attention as he ran to her, and pulled her out of the way just in time.

Suddenly Neko was pulled close to someone... Too close. She realized it was her new master, as the smell of alcohol was heavy; strong arms enveloped her middle, and she felt one of his hands brush against her side. It was an accident on Cross' part, but Neko, taking offense, began squirming to get away.

Cross pulled her tighter; as touchy as his new apprentice was, she was gonna run when he let go...

And, he was right; as soon as she got loose, she was gone. Instead of them both getting on the earliest train, Cross had to chase Neko around the little village, through alleys and through crowds of people. He finally caught her, and almost had to bind her to get to the next town with her.

In the next town was the train station; they would ride the train until they came to a port town on the Channel, and from there ship to France. Which meant that Neko could possibly get her own room for the rest of the trip...

But, alas, Neko was dismayed when her master told her she would be staying with him again, for both. It wasn't his fault, it was the Order's; they were the ones who though 'How likely is it that, if he brings back an accommodator, it'll be a pretty girl? He can room with them until they get back.' And so, as much as he would have liked to satisfy his picky new apprentice, he could not.

Neko was pushed into their room on the train, and was disdained at how small it was; she had thought the room at the inn had been small, but this was awkwardly small. She and her master, whom she had yet to fully trust, would have to stay in such close proximity for hours...

Cross settled with lounging on his side of the room; he reclined in the corner by the window and put one leg on the seat beside him, one foot planted on the floor. Neko contented to sitting in the opposite corner, looking out the window. She felt the awkward in the air...

The voice suddenly decided to talk. 'Neko, do you feel safe with... him?'

Well, yes, a little. He doesn't seem unkind or... Too weird, anyways... He's a little awkward, but so am I, so what's it matter?

'But he gives off a certain... Aura, don't you think? It's not very appealing to me...'

Well, I guess he is a little intimidating; but most guys are intimidating to me so...

'Sigh... I just don't know if you should trust him...'

I'm sure it'll all work out. He's seems like a nice person. Neko smiled as she concluded the mental conversation. The female voice had always helped her since she had been there; she had been the one to tell Neko she could make things materialize, such as her broom, or her weapon of choice, a short sword. The voice had even told Neko how to make medicine on certain occasions for friends, or hurt animals Neko had found. This was another part to her 'witch' reputation: she could make 'potions', which she made from specific herbs the voice told her about. The voice was a good friend, but Neko still thought on her own, and took her own advice before the voice's if she thought it best, like now.

'What are you smiling at? Something outside?' Her master asked with the same slight smile he had in the garden.

'No, the voice was talking to me; it's kinda rare when she does, so it's fun talking to her.' Neko continued smiling.

'Ah... She... Is she your Innocence, I wonder?..'

'I don't know... I'm still confused with the Innocence thing, really...'

'You'll understand it when we get to the Order... Hevlaska can explain it better than anyone, and she'll be one of the first people you meet.'

'Is Hevlaska an exorcist too?'

'... I guess you could say that... You'll see...'

After that, the train ride became awkward again, and they didn't speak or make any kind of contact until they were in London.

Well, that turned out better than I thought it would :3

Thank you to Where'stheBloodSnake for favoriting this, I needed the confidence boost to continue posting... :3