Chapter 4-Can I Get an Amen?

I heaved my bag further over my shoudler and pulled my coat tighter closed, a shiver prickling at my skin in the sudden breeze. The air smelled like freshly cut wood and running water, refreshing after leaving the big towns. The ground was a gravel road, barely worn. New buildings surrounded me and happy people filtered in and out of them with broad smiles and free laughter. Chatter filled the street and I stood a little straighter as I continued on my way through, hoping the next few towns would be as nice as this one.

Two children ran across right in front of me, the last bumping into my legs. He halted and stumbled onto his butt, a scowl crossing his expression.

"Watch where you're going!"

I raised an eyebrow at his attitude, a smile quirking at my lips, "Excuse me?"

I watched in amusement as he slowly looked up with horror dawning on his face, a murmur escaping his mouth.

My eyebrow lifted, "What was that?"

He flinched heavily and jumped to his feet before pointing at me accusingly, "DEMON CRAZY WITCH!"

Confusion bubbled up and I leaned back a bit in surprise, "What did you just call me?"

The streets had frozen and everyone who had been previously mulling around turned to stare at the commotion. My eyebrows furrowed in a frown and I leaned over the boy, inspecting him.

He was about ten, his face covered in scrapes and dirt. He was wearing a button-up shirt that was probably white once upon a time, the sleeves rolled to above his elbows. He was wearing suspender over the shirt and he had messy brown hair. As I continued to frown at him, his knees started trembling.

As I opened my mouth to scold him for speaking like that to someone else, a loud voice interrupted, "What's this? A woman threatening a child?"

I looked up indignantly, "I didn't-"

"Poor child, what drove you to yell at this boy?"

I was going to respond, but as I looked at the man, I felt an irrational fear. He was large, at least 6'3 and that was literally towering over myself. His hair was long enough to be in a short ponytail and his brown eyes sparkled in some sort of sinister kindness as he smiled.

"Well, unpure one?"

Once again, my response was frozen as his words sank in. My mouth finally decided to cooperate after another second, "He bumped into me, and I was about to insist he apologize, merely to make sure he understood what he did was rude, but he began insulting me instead. I'm sorry if I seemed threatening, but I did nothing to warrant his behavior."

He let out a breath that seemed to reduce his size greatly, "I see, I'm sorry for this behavior towards a stranger. I'll be sure he receives proper punishment for his actions." With that, the man-I assumed he was a priest by this point, as he was wearing a uniform as a cross was at his throat-grabbed the boy by the top of his arm and began dragging him away with one last nod at me.

I startled out of my funk and called after him, "You don't need to punish him, I think a scolding would do just fine!"

I didn't receive any reply, so I just stood there awkwardly, mostly everyone returning to their business as if nothing had happened. Though, a few looks were shot my way nonetheless.

I stared after the pair as the boy somewhat obediently followed the priest before turning and continuing my walk toward the inn I had planned on entering before the fiasco.

I stepped into the building and heaved a sigh before approaching the front desk. I flashed a smile and pushed my hood back, "Good evening!"

The lady behind the desk gave a brief jump of surprise, before eyeing my head wearily and giving a shaky smile, "What may I help you with, little miss?"

I smiled back as genuine as I could, hoping the rest of my stay would not go in a similar manner, "I would like a room for one and a warm meal for the morning. A bath and dinner are not necessary, but I would like a room close to the ground if possible."

"A-ah! Yes, that's doable," she turned around, and I assumed she would be reaching for keys, but she opened a door that was absolutely covered in drawings of cats and poked her head through, and screamed, "Alexander Fillus Juniper, get your lazy butt out here before I fire you and throw you to the dogs!"

She turned back to me and smiled nervously before quickly walking from behind the counter and through a door in the back, glancing over her shoulder at me every other step.

I shifted a bit uncomfortably while I waited for someone to emerge from the door covered in cat drawings.

I wonder why this town in particular is having such a violent reaction to my hair. Usually it gets a few wary glances, but it's rarely ever more than that.

I watched as a teenage boy of about fifteen walked out of the room at a very slow pace and slouched over to stare down at me.

Curse my short body!

"How old are you?" He sounded incredulous.

"I'm twelve, a perfectly appropriate age to be travelling alone, and you can't tell me otherwise."

He stared at me for another beat before his curiosity dissolved and he gave a dismissing shrug. I watched him move in a way I could only call shuffling and followed slowly after him, staring at his back. He was surprisingly muscular looking and if he stood up straight he would probably grow about three inches. Suffice to say, I never wanted to get in a fight with him. He had black hair and I remember a glint of green from behind his curtainous bangs.

He led me up two flights of stairs (it took about an hour) and to a room. He gave me a key and finally explained, "Breakfast is from five to eight. If you need something, ring the bell on the front desk. Don't bother the other visitors or I will throw you out. The chruch service is at five tonight at the church at the end of the road."

He gave me one last look before promptly leaving at a much faster speed than he came. I watched his back disappear and turned to look at the door. It was a grey-brown color that looked very out of place compared to the rest of the building. Cracks that looked almost like tendrils spread from the doorframe and I stared at the rusted knob for a moment before grabbing it.

I quickly checked the front of the door, the faded numbers.

Room 666. Hopefully I won't forget that if I end up needing to leave and come back.

I turned the knob and opened the door. It creaked ominously as it swung inwards. The room was small with a single thin mattress on a metal frame reminiscent of a cot and a desk before a boarded up window. Cobwebs and spiderwebs hung from the corners of the room and I swore I heard scurrying somewhere near my bed.

I was a little curious as to why they gave me such a horrible room, but I shrugged it off and set my bag on the desk- which made a worrying creak under what I didn't personally find very heavy- and sat on the bed. I took my coat off and folded it to act like a makeshift pillow. It had been about two when I came in, so I assumed it was currently around four.

I was tired, yet I continued to stare at the ceiling despit the fact. The thought of church struck me. It was a nice idea, I had been to church a few times with my foster mother. It had been an inspirational experience each time, and I figured it would be nice to go if only for a short while.

I might just stay here for a few extra days.

I opened the door after I had grabbed my things and walked down the stairs. As I walked at a leisurely pace to the church at the end of the road, I realized I couldn't see anyone else in the streets. It was only an absent thought, though, as I cared a bit more about reliving memories from a better time.

I reached the church and quietly slipped through the doors as I was drawn by the beautiful organ music being played. I spotted a place on the pew closest, every other place filled entirely and sat down to look up.

Confusion came back for-what- the third time. The priest was just standing there, a grin on his face, a scary one at that. He was holding the boy from earilier by the arm, he was struggling wildly, but unable to make any noise above the sound of the organ.

I blinked in surprise, the organ music wasn't actually that pretty. It was played pretty badly and it was way out of tune. It wasn't even really a song being played, just discordant notes being pressed.

I looked at the priest, and nearly leapt out of my seat. I saw another spirit hovering over his head, a boy.

I slowly reached down to my leg, searching for the throwing knife I knew was present. Something gripped my wrist and I looked up at the culprit. The nervous lady from the counter had an inhuman grin stretched over her face, "I can't let you do that, my ssssweet!"

Really? "My sweet"?

In one movement, I jumped as far from her as I could, her hand taking some skin and clothing with it. I reached up with my gloved hand to hold it lightly. My legs were bent in preparation to leap.

There's creepy one on the pew, creepy two in immediate threat, and a creepy three playing the organ. Wonderful. Hopefully they're all level one, I'm not sure I can handle triple twos right now.

As sir priest began transforming along with the other two, I jumped towards him with my hand wrapped around a throwing knife. As it was let loose, I kicked out in the same motion to knock over One.

I was horrified to find my luck was run dry, Priest and Stutter were both at least level two, but Organ was thankfully just level one.

Priest was surprised by me, and let go of the boy in his startlement. I landed in front of him and grabbed the boy around the waist, taking off running. I ended up shoving him in a closet and looping around the main hall back to the opposite door I left from.

I stared at the chaos of the room before me. The level one was flipping out, it was flying around the ceiling in franctic loops, for no reason. Stutter was trying to get him to calm down, while I heard Priest making his way back around from behind me. I shook myself out of my confusion and dove into a roll as a claw reached out to attack me.

I rolled onto my feet and decided Priest was the biggest threat at the moment with the other two being sufficiently occupied with... whatever was going on.

I flicked my wrist and sent one blade soaring at him. It skimmed by his face, making him hiss in anger, "You're a bloody fool."

"This fool just hit you with a flipping knife!" I was a little surprised my chest was already heaving despite the fact I hadn't done much yet.

Man, I'm out of shape.

I smirked to hide my current state and flung another knife, following up with a flying kick.

I missed.

I anticipated him dodging to the left, so I kicked to the left of the knife, but he dodged right, leaving me to hit my leg at a bad angle that caused pain to shoot up to the point I felt it in my side.

Okay, no more flying jump-kicks.

I crawled back up to my feet only to roll to the side as a blade chopped through the floor where I'd just been.

The Priest was a fierce sight when angry. He was a gorilla-like creature of red color and a big metal plate on its stomach along with blades on the underside of its arms. It was turning an even more violent shade of red as it tried ad failed to yank its arm out of the floor.

I, like an idiot, laughed at him as he fumed.

Some few seconds later I flung a knife at his unprotected back.

And stared at it as it clattered to the floor in two pieces.

"HOLY CHIPS OVER SALSA! WHAT THE HEY?!" I screamed at the unfairness of the situation and took off at full sprint again as he finally got his hand free.

Another wordless scream left my throat as I realized what I had to do as I vaulted myself over a railing that separated the front from the pews. I whipped around as I met a wall and turned around in fear. Last moment, I took off to the left, hoping to force him to follow me.

A thump made me look back, and I stared like an idiot for a moment. The akuma had slammed itself into the wall and was now slumped in a heap with cartoon stars swirling around its head.

I blinked and walked over to it, reaching down and slicing its throat open, then I watched the stupid creature disappear.

I still can't believe it actually ran into the wall.

The other two were easy, a knife to the base of the skull and another knife to pop the level one. As they follow Priest into dust, I waited for the civilians to start moving again and freaking out from the state of theior church, but they ciontinued to sztare at the organ that was... playing on its own.

I walked over to the keys and watched as they moved on their own, a haunting song whimpering from the old pipes.

"Why are you still playing?" I asked the air, feeling out of my element, "I thought the Akuma were powering you."

Is it on one of those fancy things where ot plays by itself? Did those exist in the nineteenth century?

"Play me!"

The voice surprised me and I let out a short, surprised scream.

The music halted very suddenly and I hesitantly pressed a key. The loud sound reverberated nicely, in a haunting manner.

I couldn't remember anything and I'd never played anything remotely like a pianio in any semblance, either. So I played the opening notes to some song I couldn't remember the name of and proceeded with a very slow Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

As I finished the song, I heard a soft sigh and everything began to groan as the organ started dissolving into a soft sand-like dust. As it did, the townspeople aroused from their trance and started letting loose noises of confusion. From the dust, I saw a glowing green canister, it was what I could only describe as a rock.

"What the f-" I wasn't even going to say the f-word, but the hand of an old lady slapped me inthe back of the head, "Granny, I was gonna say flip, not the other word!" I explained as I stood up from my suddne seat on the floor and walked over to the glowing rock.

I leaned over and picked it up. It was warm and gave a comforting vibe as I held it in my palm, "Why did you take the form of a rock?"

Now, when I asked that question, I wan't expecting a real answer, seeing as how it's a rock. But despite this, there was undoubtedly a voice that piped up from the chunk of earth, "Because it's most convenient for you to carry."

This, along with the flipped-out Akuma is now filed under "it won't kill or maim me or anyone around me, so I don't care".

As my surprise faded, I responded with a question, "Why will I be carrying you?"

"Because I like you." The answer came as if it were obvious.

"Does that mean I'm your accomadator?"

"Maybe, I haven'te gotten over Lucy, and I'm not sure if I like you that much, yet. Seeing as how you can't play the freaking organ."

I felt offense for some reason, "It's not like anyone ever bothered to really teach me how to play piano, nonetheless organ."

With that, I put the rock in my front shirt pocket and left the town behind the next morning. In thanks for explaining what happened and for having fixed their problem, they fully refunded my hotel money and gave me some travel food.

I told them to explain what happened if someone came looking for the Innocence later and to make sure I wasn't followed if that did happen.

So after a wild stay in an interesting new town, I set off on my continued wandering. It had been two and a half years since my adopted mother had died and just as long since I had started off on my own, looking to become stronger before the canon storyline of D Gray Man began. As it stood, all I was, was good at throwing knives and a very lucky girl who hadn't run into something too hard to handle yet. Also, I was probably still alive only because of stupid akuma.

I found later that the Innocence had caused the level one to flip out and since the priest had been the closest to a level three, he had been unaffected by the distracting lullaby the organ had been using to help me against the akuma-as I now know it understood I was in trouble at the time because it has the strange ability to communicate through human language.

It claimed that it had only been calling people, and the human nature of habit was the only thing that caused them to plant their butts in a seat instead of actually playing the organ.

Speaking of which, I named said Innocence Riot eventually, because he-the gender he preferred to be called-rebelled against everything I personally thought was a good idea.

He's only right half of the time, anyway!

I knew that if I kept solving these akuma issues, eventually the exorcists would catch up with me. After all, the time in the church with Riot was only the first time I saved a town of people from akuma, there was-at minimum-four separate times after, and those were just the ones that involved Innocence.

I could recount the tales one by one, because you sure as hell don't forget life-threatening experiences or the people you lose because you weren't strong enough. Though, it's much more interesting to know what happens when things really start picking up.

Omake: Kanda's Missing Innocence

Kanda was called to Komui's office at three in the morning one random day, he was only waking up when he got there. (Yes, even he hates getting up before even the sun wants to wake.)

It was an urgency from a passing merchant who had gone through a small town that was newly built. Around five, every single resident had gone to the church, and were staring transfixed at an organ that was playing by itself.

They later found there was Innocence present, so they needed to send an exorcist there immediately.

Unfortunately for him, Kanda was that exorcist they chose.

The dark-haired exorcist took a train to the nearest town and walked the rest of the way there. He was already unhappy from the walking and annoyances of people on his way there, so when he asked a villager the standard questions, he got even angrier.

He got the whole-happily told-tale from the sherriff and decided he absolutely despised this "savior."

A young woman with an odd scar on her face, different colored eyes and white hair. I'll have to remember that for future use.

*~(o.^)~*

Poor Kanda.

A: Kanda would be hunting me, because I did something to piss him off. Allen would save me, because he's a good moyashi.

Q: What form would your Innocence weapon take?

I'm so glad I fixed the previous chapters. They're only slightly less horrible now. I'll be continuing this, and probably rewriting my other stuff as well-now that I have time over the summer.

Stay awesome!^^