CH3
A/N: Hey all. I'm impressed with myself. I managed to turn this one out in one day… once I actually sat down to do it. Ah well, its up faster than the last one at least. And, for once I'm putting up the chapter after editing.
Disclaimer: I own neither wonderful story featured here.
Allen's POV
Professor McGonagall led us back down the stairs and through the dark corridors. She had lit a tiny light at the tip of her wand to show the way. I couldn't keep the spring out of my step as we went up a few more staircases and down another, smaller and less daunting hallway. The castle was amazing and magical and like something from my wildest dreams. Sure, I had seen innocence do similar things, but this place gave off a different feeling. There was a comforting aura about the building, like a warm blanket on a cold day that could protect me from the world... and everything that had happened on the Ark. I hadn't told anyone, but there had been a heavy presence hanging over me ever since. Sometimes I glimpsed a shadow in a window as I passed, or heard a faint sound like someone whispering in my head. Now, the presence was gone, the whispers had gone quiet, and when I looked at a window, the only shadows were my own and the dark outline of trees on the outside. I felt lighter and freer than since I played that piano on the Ark.
And I was excited to learn magic. I could feel the innocence in my left arm pulsing slightly, as if it could sense the magic and was excited too.
"Here you are," McGonagall said, stopping in front of a stretch of wall bare except for two tapestries. "The room on the left belongs to Mr. Kanda, and will be your permanent residence for the year. The room on the right will be yours temporarily Mr. Walker. Once the school year begins, you will move into a dormitory with your fellow pupils. In the morning you can come down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It is just off the entrance hall. After, one of our other teachers will take you to get supplies. Goodnight." The witch swept off down the corridor and then was gone.
I turned towards the tapestry. Was this my room? I tried to lift it off the wall to see if there was a door hidden behind. The man in the picture laughed. I stepped back to look at him. "Begging your pardon," said the man, who looked like he must have come out of the renaissance, "but you cannot get in that way. I have to let you in. Pick a password that only you will know, and I will not open up to anyone without the password."
He looked at me expectantly. I racked my brain for an acceptable password. Several possibilities came to me but were discarded; 'innocence' and 'exorcist' were too obvious, and everything else I thought of would get forgotten within half a day. I leaned close and whispered to the tapestry, "The password's 'samurai', OK?"
The aristocrat looked down the hall at Kanda, who was obviously Japanese, and porting a sword. He had also already gotten into an argument with his tapestry. "Yes sir," said the aristocrat and the tapestry rolled up to reveal a door that swung forward. I hurried into the room and closed the door behind me, immediately regretting my choice of password. Even the decorations were getting suspicious.
I turned around to look at the room. It was bigger and more luxurious than my room at headquarters. There was a fire burning merrily in the hearth with two large armchairs in front of it. I could see a king-sized four poster bed with hangings through an adjoining door. This I headed for immediately, being exhausted after the insane day I'd had. I kicked off my boots, flopped on the bed and was asleep in minutes.
I woke up in the morning to sunlight streaming through a tall window. I blinked at the brightness and stumbled over to look out, yawning. I judged I was on the fourth or fifth floor by the proximity of the ground. The view was impressive. I was situated above the lake; the tops of the tiny waves sparkled in the morning light, giving the water a gilded look. Beyond the opposite shore I could see a wall of tall trees.
My stomach growled impressively and I decided I should go find some breakfast. I looked down at myself and realized that I had slept in my exorcist's uniform. It was far too wrinkled to wear. I grabbed a spare from my trunk, which I now realized I had left on the train, and wondered how it had gotten up here. I shrugged; it must be magic. I opened a door off of my bedroom and found a large bathroom. I glanced in the mirror. With my rumpled clothing and extremely messy hair, it looked like I had been doing more than sleeping. A blush slammed into my face as thoughts of a certain long-haired exorcist swam through my head. I clamped down on the thoughts, deciding I needed a shower… a very cold one.
After I was presentable for the day, I emerged from behind the tapestry just as Kanda was coming out of his room. We silently fell in step, and didn't say one word to each other all the way down to the Great Hall. I was admittedly very glad he was there; Kanda had a great sense of direction, while mine was hopeless. Left to my own devices, I would probably get so lost they wouldn't find me until halfway through term.
Although, by the time we were coming close, I was sure I could find my own way; the smell of food pulled me forward into a huge room. I looked up and was surprised; it looked as if the Hall had been built without a ceiling, which seemed impractical. Although, at the moment the sky was a perfect blue and the idea seemed quite nice.
The room itself was filled by four long tables stretching the length of the hall. These were empty. A fifth table at the opposite end of the hall had a few sleepy looking people eating breakfast. I assumed they were teachers. Among them was Dumbledore, who gestured for us to come and join him. Kanda and I crossed the room to the large table and took two empty seats on either side of the headmaster.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked as I settled into my seat. I could only nod; my attention had been caught by the large array of foods on serving dishes all down the table. I began piling the food as high as I could onto my plate without it falling over. Dumbledore seemed unfazed by the amount of breakfast I took, and went on, "This is Hagrid," he indicated the man on my left, who was about four times the size of a normal person. "He will be taking you to Diagon Alley once you are done eating. Hagrid, this is Allen Walker who is enrolling as a student here, and on my right is Kanda, who will be joining you as a fellow teacher." Kanda scowled.
I nodded to Hagrid as way of acknowledgement and tucked into my food. Dumbledore turned to talk to Kanda, assuming I wouldn't be available for conversation any time soon. He tried to start discussing class schedules and curriculums. I would have laughed at Kanda's face, with grew stormier with every word, if it my mouth wasn't so full of food.
I finished seconds and thirds in record time and leaned back contentedly in my chair.
"I'm impressed," said Hagrid from next to me. "Didn't think yeh could finish all o' that."
I shrugged. "I just have a big appetite."
"Are yeh ready then?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, looking over to where Kanda had just finished his breakfast. Somehow he had managed to procure a pair of chopsticks. I wondered if he kept them up the sleeves of his uniform. He was also looking about ready to kill Dumbledore, so I figured it would be a good idea to get him out of there.
Hagrid led the pair of us out of the hall and into another room, which was empty except for a lit fireplace. "We'll be usin' floo powder," he told us. "Yeh take a pinch of this powder and throw it in the fire and yeh step in and say where yeh wanna go. I think that's abou' it. We're going to Diagon Alley." He offered me a pot filled with a green powder.
I took a pinch and threw it into the flames, which flared green, gathered my courage and stepped in, saying "Diagon Alley." I zoomed up the fireplace, spinning at an impressive rate, my elbows bumping up against the sides of the chimney. As suddenly as it began, I was pitched out of a completely different fireplace and onto a hearth. I stood and got away from there fast to clear the way for whoever was coming behind me. While I waited, I tried my best to wipe the soot off my gloves, which were now looking rather grey instead of white.
As I guessed, not long after Kanda stepped out, spewing curses and wiping soot from his face. "What the hell!" he shouted as Hagrid appeared, stooping to get out of the fireplace. "Why didn't you warn us about that?"
"Sorry. Yeh get used to it after yeh travel by floo powder enough. I forgot it's weird at first."
"Sorry, right," fumed Kanda, and stalked away. I followed him out of the open door into what looked like a pub. Chatter stopped as we were noticed; I figured we did make a weird pair, a scowling Japanese man carrying a sword and a teen with white hair and a weird scar. It picked up again just as quickly. I guessed they got plenty of strange people in a pub for wizards. As it was I spotted a few that didn't look like humans, but strangely enough I didn't see any Akuma. Usually there was at least one in a crowd this big; I wondered if wizards were somehow immune to the Millennium Earl's lies.
"Through here," Hagrid said, leading us through the pub and out a back door into what looked like the courtyard where they put out the trash. Kanda's eye began twitching and his hand inched toward Mugen, which he had insisted on wearing despite reassurances that Diagon Alley was safe. Hagrid pulled a pink umbrella from somewhere in his large coat and tapped the wall. A hole appeared as if Hagrid had poked out one of the bricks with his umbrella and then grew into an archway large enough even for him.
I stared with wide eyes. We were looking onto a long street filled with wizards and witches in all colors of robes milling about with shopping bags. The sides of the street were lined with shops selling just about everything you could think of, from brooms to owls to some really gross slimy things that I guessed were for potion making.
"Well, first we need teh get yeh a wand Allen." He led us to an old shop with stacks of boxes visible through the windows and the words Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. painted in fading, peeling letters over the door. A bell chimed as we entered the small, dusty shop. Kanda immediately took the only chair in the place, sitting down and crossing his legs with a scowl on his face.
"Hello," an old man said, emerging from behind rows of boxes. I assumed he was Mr. Ollivander. As he came closer, I noticed he had silvery eyes even lighter than my own. "Hm, you're here for a wand," he stared at me. "But you're not a wizard, are you." He made the question a statement as he looked at Kanda. "Interesting." He disappeared again behind his shelves, just to reappear moments later carrying a large stack of boxes. "Now, which is your wand hand?" asked Ollivander.
"I write with my right hand, if that's what you mean." I couldn't even hold a pencil right in my left hand anymore; I had discovered the new joints just weren't flexible enough.
"No, no. Which is your magical arm?" Olivander asked again, his silver eyes shining in the gloom of the shop.
"My le…left," I stuttered, completely unbalanced. How did he know the innocence was in my left arm?
"Very good. Take off that glove," he ordered, looking pointedly at my covered hand.
I drew the cloth away self-consciously and held out the black appendage. Ollivander stared intently at the green cross on my hand for a moment before turning away, muttering something under his breath that sounded like 'curious.' He took a wand from its box and handed it to me, but then snatched it back just as quickly. The next one I was allowed to wave before it was stolen back.
I was starting to feel a bit impatient around twenty wands. Kanda was definitely feeling impatient, if the deepening scowl was anything to go by. The next wand was long, thin and made of a pale wood. I took it fully expecting to have it grabbed away, but dropped it the moment it touched my fingers as my innocence flared with bright green light. I blinked away the spots in my eyes and looked through Crown Clown's mask with surprise. I could feel the heavy white cloak over my shoulders and see my transformed hand. Somehow the wand had caused my innocence to activate. I deactivated and bent down carefully to retrieve the wand, handling it as if it would explode at any second. Crown Clown didn't activate again, and I breathed a little sigh of relief. I couldn't be activating every time I tried to do magic.
When I straightened up, all three other occupants of the shop were looking at me with strange expressions on their faces. I felt heat rising to my own. "That doesn't usually happen," I mumbled.
"Curious," said Ollivander. "That certainly isn't the reaction we usually get, but obviously this wand has chosen you. Ash, eleven inches long, unicorn tail hair, very flexible."
I quickly paid Ollivander from the wizard money Dumbledore gave me and hurried out of the shop, feeling unnerved.
"What was that Allen?" asked Hagrid as soon as we were back on the street. "It didn' look like any magic I've seen before. And what happened to yer hand?"
"It's not magic. It's called innocence. Kanda and I are exorcists. We use innocence to destroy Akuma."
Hagrid looked completely confused, but nodded anyway. "Well, we best be off. Lots more supplies to buy."
We followed Hagrid down the row of shops, stopping to buy potions ingredients and tools, a telescope for astronomy and a gigantic pile of books. The stack was daunting, and I wondered when I'd have time to read all of them. Through the entire shopping experience I could tell Kanda was annoyed. The look on his face said 'why do I even have to be here?'
"Alrigh', last stop is Madam Malkin's, to get robes for both of yeh."
A short witch came up to us when we entered the shop and asked "What can I do for you today?"
"We need a set of Hogwarts student robes for Allen and a set of robes for Kanda," listed Hagrid, pointing to us in turn.
Kanda whipped around to face Hagrid. "Who said I'm wearing robes? No. My uniform is good enough."
"Sorry Kanda, Hogwarts rules. All teachers wear robes."
Kanda gave him a look that would peel paint.
I volunteered for fitting first because I was worried Kanda might just try to kill Madam Malkin if she tried to fit robes on him. As it was he was still glaring daggers at Hagrid.
The uniform was very similar to my usual garb, if not a bit more plain: white shirt, black pants, and black robes without any adornment. There was also a black vest over the shirt, and I was informed I would receive a tie once term started. I also asked Madam Malkin for a new pair of gloves, seeing as the soot from the fireplace had ruined my current pair. These I tucked securely into my pockets so they wouldn't get messy on the way back.
Once everything was pinned, and somehow magically sewn in minutes, I was ushered into a dressing room to make sure it fit. Once I was done, Kanda was beckoned over for his fitting. He stalked off with his usual aura of unhappiness; Madam Malkin chatting to him about how as a teacher he could choose pretty much any robes he wanted. It was obvious Kanda didn't want to choose any robes.
He submitted to the pinning and fitting with ill grace. Once sent to the dressing room, he was determined to stay there and would not come out. After a few failed tries, Madam Malkin called me in for backup. Finally, after much swearing on Kanda's part and plenty of coercion from both Madam Malkin and myself, Kanda emerged from the fitting room wearing a look that could kill. I didn't even really notice his glare; I was too busy staring elsewhere. My stomach did a few backflips, and my mouth had gone dry. The clothes he chose were plain, a white shirt and black pants with a black robe over it all, but they fit to perfection. The shirt and pants clung to all the right places, accentuating the samurai's lean, fit body. I suppose that's what you get with magical tailoring. The material of the shirt was thin enough to just make out the tattoo on Kanda's chest through the fabric. It made me want to reach out and trace the pattern with my fingers. The robe looked fairly similar to an exorcist's uniform, but without all the decoration. I liked the simplicity better; all the flashy silver had distracted from his exotic but perfect face.
Kanda met my eyes for a fraction of a second, and I swear I saw something flare faintly in them, before he looked away. "Che, you're staring moyashi. I must look like more of an idiot than I thought." Then he was gone, vanished back into the dressing room.
Kanda's POV
I paced back and forth in the dressing room (after ditching the robes for my exorcist's uniform of course) wondering about the look on moyashi's face. At first I thought he was staring because I looked like a complete and total idiot, which I had. But when I met his eyes for a fraction of a second, there was something there that wasn't mocking. It was almost if… but no, the moyashi had not been checking me out. Even more concerning than if he actually had been checking me out was the strange feeling his look had caused in my chest.
I dismissed the thought immediately. I was on a mission; I had no time for pointless things like that. I must have imagined whatever it was, but just in case, I decided to stay further away from the moyashi.
When I came out again, the moyashi was wearing his usual blank, polite expression. Yes, I had to have imagined it. As far as I was concerned this little incident never even happened.
I left the shop reluctantly toting the bag with my robes, which I was resolved to never wear, rules or no.
"We can go back to school unless yeh need to get supplies for your classes, Kanda," said Hagrid. I had been surprised when I had seen him for the first time. He was even bigger than Marie, and that's hard to find.
"Che, no. Lets leave."
The second trip by floo powder was no better than the first. We arrived back just in time for lunch, but I declined and headed straight to my room. I didn't want to run into the headmaster again and have to listen to him go on and on about setting up curriculums. I didn't want the job, so why put in effort. I was going to wing it.
I was in a bad mood when I stepped up to the tapestry guarding my room. It didn't help that the tapestry in front of the moyashi's room had snickered at me when I passed by. It probably still thought it was funny that there was a muggle in the castle. I'd had to threaten a few on the way up as it was to keep them from gossiping about me. "Mugen." I stated crossly to the tapestry.
"Yes sir," the knight on the fabric said icily, and rolled up. We had not gotten off to a good start the night before. But it didn't matter. It was only a decoration. I dumped the bag of robes in the bottom of the wardrobe in my bedroom and went back out to the front room. I had cleared all of the fancy furniture off to the sides of the room to make a space to meditate. I sat cross legged in front of the hearth, hoping it would help me relax.
I quickly gave up. Every time I tried to clear my mind, the look on moyashi's face from this morning and the feeling it gave me would pop into my head, despite the fact that it never happened. I growled out a few choice curses, grabbed Mugen from where he rested against the wall, and stalked out of the room, heading for the grounds. Maybe some practice would get that obnoxious little incident out of my head.
A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed the 'obnoxious little incident.' ;D Allen obviously did. o.O Reviews welcome (no flames though please).
