One after another. I'm really on a roll!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just the storyline.

"Allen…"

The boy blinked, and behind him Kitsune froze, ready to defend himself if things went flying.

"Yes, master?" Allen asked hesitantly, fear evident in his big gray eyes.

"It's been three years since you became my apprentice…It's about time you held your own." There was a dramatic pause. "From this day forth I permit you to formally call yourself an exorcist."

Kitsune relaxed, smiling now that he knew there wasn't going to be any of master's punishment, but didn't dare congratulate his brother until Cross was far, far away.

"Really?" The boy—now too excited to be terrified—said, making Cross smirk inwardly. Ah, this was going to be so much fun…

Cross withdrew a hammer from nowhere, advancing eerily on his student. "Kitsune, you know where headquarters is, right?"

Kitsune jumped, startled at being directly addressed. "Uh—y-yes!"

"I'll leave my golem behind to accompany you." Timcampy fluttered out from behind Cross and began to float around Allen and Kitsune's heads.

"I'll make sure to send a letter of recommendation to Komui, the head officer, on your behalf. Get going as soon as you wake up."

At this point Allen was backing as far away from Cross as he could, an incredulous expression on his face. Kitsune didn't dare step in. "You can't be thinking of leaving me behind Master?"

The last thing Cross said to Allen before his head connected with the mallet was, "I hate that place."

What Allen didn't see afterwards was Cross turning on Kitsune, who stiffened and pleaded, "I swear I won't go after you!"

Cross nodded, and turned away. "Keep practicing your martial arts. And Kitsune?"

"Eep!"

"If Allen doesn't reach the Black Order, it'll be your fault."

Both boys woke simultaneously, panting and gasping for breath, Allen clutching his heart and Kitsune curled up around himself.

It was just a dream… Allen thought, trying to chase away the remnants of the nightmare. I still remember it…

The too-friendly clown who'd been traveling with them poked his head out from behind the curtain, and looked between the shivering duo. "Are you two alright? You were moaning in your sleep."

Kitsune was about to respond with a scathing, nasty comment when someone cried out, "AKUMA! It's an akuma! It's going to kill us all!"

The blonde groaned and pushed his head into his knees as the clown asked, "W-What?"

"Thanks for the ride!" Allen called, jumping out of the still moving cart and running towards where the shout came from.

Just sitting for a minute, Allen's brother began mumbling, "My stupid brother and his stupid heroics saving stupid people who probably deserve their stupid fates…"

The clown pressed a hesitant hand to his mouth, before asking, "Are you going to go after him?"

Kitsune sighed, before grabbing his suitcase and jumping off the cart, slowly ambling after his brother—and quickly hastened his pace when he heard a loud, "EEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

And started laughing loudly when he spotted Allen on the ground, an excited hyper-active kid on top of him.


"Are you an exorcist too?" The kid asked Kitsune as they walked—or in the kid's case rolled—down the street.

Kitsune just looked very depressed, while Allen explained, "He doesn't like to be reminded that he doesn't have an innocence."

"Oh. My dad's a scientist at the new world alliance." The kid said cheerfully, completely disregarding the innocence-less brother in favor of talking to Allen (which served as another ego-crusher for Kitsune). "But he's never home because of work. I found out about the akuma when I read my dad's research materials out of boredom!" Allen nodded absentmindedly, while thinking, Those are some strange shoes… "My dream is to become a great scientist and to someday invent a weapon that would destroy all akuma instantly!"

There was a long, comfortable silence, before… "By the way…"

"Hm?" Allen turned to look at the kid.

"I didn't know scrawny looking guys could be exorcists. I've always imagined exorcists to be muscle men…" Kitsune couldn't help but snicker as Allen drooped at being called 'scrawny'. Why is everyone always laughing at my expense…? Allen whined inwardly. Curse you Kitsune, Mana! Wait, no strike that. Curse Kitsune and Cross. "But you're the opposite. How many akuma have you destroyed? How did you get a hold of that anti-akuma weapon? How did you feel when you the first time you destroyed an akuma?"

Kitsune gave Allen a discreet, worried look as the exorcist smiled sadly, obviously remembering the first time he had destroyed an akuma. "John…" The blonde looked away from Allen, knowing what was coming. "It's better…if you don't let your curiosity go any further. Even about the akuma just now…stop doing anything that would get the Earl's attention. It's dangerous."

The group stopped, Kitsune still facing ahead, John looking up at Allen with an annoyed expression on his face, and Allen himself smiling bitterly, looking as though he was remembering something he'd rather forget.

"You can have it." John said suddenly, tossing some sort of onion-thing to Allen.

"Allen, don't—"

"An onion?" Was all Allen could get out before the strange contraption exploded in his face.

Both Kitsune and Allen were caught in the smoke, as Kitsune had tried to stop Allen from catching the thing. Their eye began stinging and overflowing with tears, which made John smirk widely. "Heh-heh! It's my invention…the onion bomb!" John turned to skate away from the pair, though he was addressing Allen. "I'm not going to sit back and let the akuma invade us! Dangerous my butt! Don't treat me like a little kid, scrawny!"

"Damn you, you rotten kid!" Kitsune roared as he tried to rub the tears away. "Get back here and I'll show you what makes it so dangerous!"

"Kitsune…" Allen said admonishingly, even as he wiped the tears out of his own eyes. "Don't swear at a little kid!"

"That's not a little kid, that's the devil incarnate!" The blonde growled, nearly punching himself in the eye. "Okay. Where to now?"

"We need to get another wagon." Allen said, looking slightly troubled. "Hey, Kitsune…can you go find it for me? I'm going to try and talk to John."

"What? You want to try and reason with that monster?" Allen gave his brother a less than complimenting look. "Fine, fine." He muttered, stalking away. "Suit yourself."

"He's in a mood." Turning away from the seething Kit , Allen rolled his eyes and walked down the street. "Now where did he live again…?"


"Gah, stupid Allen and his stupid heroic-ness…" Kitsune growled, still boiling with anger. "That kid doesn't deserve my brother's help! ARGH!" His eyes fluttered to the back of his head again.

Suddenly, he realized that he was lost. How long had he been walking anyway? From the position of the sun—a few hours. He'd been ranting for that long?

"Ah—DAMMIT! I'm turning into Allen!" The blonde shrieked, looking around. He was standing in front of a graveyard, and inside was—

"Well I'll be." Kitsune muttered, blinking in shock. "Yo! Alleeeeeeeen!"

Allen, the Earl, and John all turned towards Kitsune, obviously surprised at seeing the brother there. Allen raised his hand up in a silent greeting, while the Earl just gave him that eerily piercing look. What did he say about me? That I didn't belong here or some bull like that?

Allen had his innocence activated, so that meant that there was an akuma somewhere. Or he was just attacking the Earl, which was a possibility too. Wait… At first Kitsune hadn't noticed him, but now he saw a strange boy about the same age as John. I'll bet that's the akuma.

"You're late, Kit." Allen shouted, not taking his attention off of his enemy.

"You're fighting the akuma without me." Kitsune responded, smirking.

Just as Allen was about to reply, John shouted, "There's no akuma here!"

"It's the kid over there, what's-his-face." Allen sent Kitsune a glare for being so insensitive. "What? Fine, fine. Allen, just kill the akuma and get it over with. We have a schedule."

"Cross…" Allen began (though first he'd sent Kit an irritable look), quickly rushing the akuma. "Destroy the akuma! Bring salvation to his soul!" As Allen got closer to the akuma, he realized the machine was doing nothing to protect himself—just standing there and smirking, as though it knew something Allen didn't—but that was absurd, there was no way the akuma could escape now—

Yes, yes there was a way the akuma could escape; Allen recoiled his claw just in time to stop it from burying deep into John's chest as he protected his 'friend'. There was an almost an apologetic look on the younger boy's face when Allen murmured, "John…"

"Wh…Why? What makes you think Leo is an akuma?" John shouted, his face filled with hurt and confusion, but mostly determination to protect what had once been his friend. "He's my best friend! We started the akuma patrol together. We swore we'd protect the city! There's no way he's an akuma!" As memories flashed before his eyes, memories of happy times and watching for akuma, he shouted, "Prove it!"

And froze when he heard a soft, ch-chk, and the feeling of something hard and round being pressed to the back of his head. "…Leo?" He whispered disbelievingly.

"John!" Allen said, and suddenly he was in front of John, protecting him from the oncoming bullets.

"ALLEN!" Kitsune shouted from the outside of the graveyard. "Stupid, stupid heroics!" He nearly screamed as he tore over the fence as though it wasn't there, and swiftly leapt in front of Allen, shield held out in front of the two of them. "Allen, Allen, aniki, are you alright? Don't you dare die, or I'll bring you back and kill you!"

John was shocked by the emotion in Kitsune's voice, so raw and sad and almost desperate; he quietly realized that these two shared more of a bond than even he could comprehend. It was much deeper than his friendship with Leo, which had already been a strong bond; there was something there, old as the Californian redwoods and just as strong, and deeper than the deepest trench in the sea.

"Don't…you dare." Allen muttered through the pain, holding his arm close, and moaning slightly when the pentacles began to spread on his face.

John's eye widened in horror as an excerpt from his father's notes began echoing in his head: The akuma's bullets are laced with poison that destroys human flesh. Once hit, the virus spreads throughout the body and tears it apart.

"Allen, you and your stupid heroics." Kitsune shook his head, before turning to John with a strange expression on his face—a mix between sadness and outright fury. "And you—you're even worse. You should've listened to nii-san, and look what happened. Your friend…" John jerked at the melancholy tone—hadn't he just been scolding him? "Is in pain. He'd want you to kill him."

The Earl stared at Kistune and blinked, as though he was still trying to figure something out. "Time is being rewritten." He said finally, narrowing his eyes. "And you're the cause. What is so special about you?"

"What do you mean?" Kitsune hissed, wrapping an arm around Allen.

He simply smiled again, and completely ignored him, turning back to the Leo-turned-akuma. "What do you think?" Everyone blinked at the sudden change in topic, except for Allen, who was still fighting the virus inside of him. "This is the physical manifestation of one's sin. You think an akuma is a mere weapon, but it is actually molded by the feelings and emotions of humans. An akuma is created by the yearning in one's heart. And that's exactly what this akuma is. It's an akuma that your friend Leo has created."

Kitsune stared at the Earl, trying to figure out his game. Why had he changed the subject? Just what was he planning?

That distracted John from the previous topic (which frankly had been getting under everyone's skin), and he whispered, almost in shock, "Leo…?" Even with the proof, John still was disbelieving; after all, they'd talked about this sort of thing. Wouldn't his best friend have known better?

"It's Leo's late mother…" A quiet voice said, making John turn to the origin of the voice—Allen. "Leo borrowed the Millenium Earl's power to bring his Mother's soul back into this world…thus turning her into an akuma." There was a pause, where Allen organized his thoughts, before he continued. "I can see her…I can see his mother suffering from being turned into an akuma."

"You can see her?" The Earl said eerily, smiling his wide, creepy smile. "What are you trying to say, you little runt?"

"I may be human, but I carry an anti-akuma weapon inside me. I can purify the virus inside my own body." At this, Allen pressed his innocence to his heart and allowed the others in the area the grand sight of the virus receding.

And as the virus disappeared, John saw it. There was a pentacle pressed like a scar into his forehead—but that was the mark of the Earl! Impossible! "Al...Allen… What is that?"

"A curse…" It was so quiet you almost couldn't hear it, but definitely there. "A long time ago, we turned someone very dear to us into an akuma. Since then I've been cursed to see the soul embedded in the akuma with this eye." Kitsune looked away, obviously ashamed, still clutching Allen's shirt like a safety blanket.

"NGYAAAAH!" The Earl shouted suddenly, eyes widening in recognition. "No I remember you! We met a long time ago! Kitsune and Allen Walker—you're the boys that turned your father into an akuma!"

"Mana walker…shall I resurrect him for you?"

Kitsune jerked his head and tightened his grip on Allen, while the latter just looked up at him almost lethargically.

"Mana was so special to us…he accepted me, even though I had my deformed arm; even my own parents had abandoned me, and…the first memories Kitsune ever had was of him."

"Al…len…Kit…How dare you…turn me into an akuma…?"

Allen jerked backwards; he didn't even have time to scream as his eye was sliced open, but Kitsune did; the cry was loud and hysterical, as he wrapped his arms around his older brother and begged Mana to stop…

"Shite kudasai, Otou-san, o teishi! Gomen'nasai! " He screamed, fear making revert to his original language.

"I curse you!" Mana roared as he stabbed into Kitsune's face, gashing his nose. "I curse you, Kitsune and Allen Walker!"

As Kitsune sobbed, his hair and clothes stained with blood, Allen gasped, arm expanding into a giant white claw….which promptly reached out and slashed their father.

"GYAAAH!" Mana shouted, his body thrown several feet from Allen.

"I don't know what happened…"

The Earl vanished, eerie smile still on his face as the claw began crawling on along on the ground all on its own, Allen suddenly panicking by the fact that the claw was heading towards Mana. "Mana…? Stop! Leave Mana alone!" When the claw didn't respond, he changed tactics. "Run! Run, father!"

Kitsune stared at the spectacle with wide blue eyes, tears streaking the down his face, torn between terror and helping his father—and in the end, he was a coward and just sat there and wept as his whole world was ripped apart.

"Kit, Allen…I….love you…please destroy me."

The curse took hold as soon as Mana was dead; Allen screamed as his eye flared with pain, and all Kitsune could do through the burning of his nose was come and try and comfort his brother, guilt filling his body, knowing that he'd failed his family at their greatest need—and he swore, that never again he'd leave Allen like this; from now on, Allen would be his new world.

And no one would ever, ever touch his world.

So he looked with suspicion at the figure that suddenly appeared before him, dazed eyes trying to glare, but failing, shaking and pale with blood loss. "S-Stay away." He hissed, trying to tighten his grip around his prone brother. "Back!"

"A soul trapped inside an akuma is doomed forever. It is bound to be the Millennium Earl's toy for eternity." The red-haired figure—to Kitsune—almost looked like a saint, he realized numbly. "There is no other way to save such a soul except to exorcise it. You are a human born with an anti-akuma weapon within you…such a mercurial destiny… Yet another soldier of life doomed by fate. Do you want to become an exorcist?"

Kitsune glared at the man with visible hostility. "How can we trust you? How can we be sure you won't turn your back as soon as the job's done?"

Cross turned and scoffed at him. "Yet you are innocence-less. I can help you with that, foolish brat. So what do you say?"

Kistune looked at Allen, who slowly glanced up at his brother, before glaring at the man. "Allen's duty may be to these—akuma, but my duty is to protect my brother. If you touch him, you will be sorry."

"And ever since then, I've been able to see the soul that's trapped inside an akuma. At first I thought about the hatred that Mana felt toward me. I decided to become an exorcist to make it up to him. But after seeing so many akuma, it dawned on me that…their tears aren't tears of hatred. It's their deep love for the ones who turned them into an akuma that makes them cry."

The blonde, whom had gone unnoticed most of the story, blinked back tears and bit his lip. Sure, he was cursed too—but it wasn't as obvious. All he could do was smell a whiff of the rotten scent, and it was only if he concentrated really hard. But Allen—he was suffering with something Kitsune could never, ever understand—and it was killing him, killing him to be right there and not being able to shoulder his brother's pain.

"'Why couldn't you have been stronger?' they cry…so I became an exorcist, not out of guilt, but to give myself purpose in life. This curse…is my guiding light." Allen clenched his hand, a determined expression on his face.

Kitsune blinked and narrowed his eyes, remembering—that's right. Allen's purpose in life is to save the akuma, and my purpose in life is to protect my brother. And that's what I'll do!

"Akuma are such lamentable creatures. They must never be part of this world! That's why I exorcise them."

The Earl smirked. "Oh Allen…I should've killed you back then. You can see the akuma's soul? You're going to save them? Go ahead and try! Exorcist!" With that, the Earl jumped on top of Leo-akuma and began showering him with bullets.

Allen didn't even move as Kitsune appeared in front of him, shield blocking any and all bullets that came along.

"The only reason you got my brother was because he was protecting John! But now he has me. Don't underestimate us!" He shouted, the shield turning into a sword.

"My anti-akuma weapon, when invoked has enormous strength and swiftness. The bullets are useless against my hand." Giving the Earl a good look at his weapon, he continued, "This exists to destroy your weapons. This is a weapon of God."

As Allen and the Earl began their verbal banter (where the Earl called up more than a dozen akuma) Kitsune turned to John, who was frozen with the information coming at him. "John, you need to get away from the cemetery." He smirked. "We're going to need a little space."

Then the two brothers leapt at the akuma, and they fought in perfect sync, covering each other where they were left open and capitalizing on opportunities—they were a fighting machine, working smoothly with each other.

"Allen…Sometimes you're so stupid." Kitsune said suddenly, the sword flashing into a shield before turning into a sword again. "You need to stop being such a good person. It's harder to protect you when you're reckless."

"Like you're one to talk." Allen smiled, slashing with his claw. "It's hard to do my job when you're mothering me!"

There was only a moments silence before…

"DESTROY THE AKUMA! ALLEN!" John shouted from the sidelines, after having a small important epiphany.

"He completely disregards my presence…?" Kitsune said unhappily, while Allen simply laughed. "Just finish the goddamn things off."

"Okay, Kit. CROSS GRAVE!" Allen roared, plunging his claw down, and created a giant explosion that killed all the akuma.

"O-ho, it seems the akuma don't stand a chance against you at this level." The Earl said cheerfully, floating away with his strange umbrella. "I'll try again next time."

"Earl!" Allen shouted, watching as the fat man floated away (which left him wondering how his fat carcass could get off the ground).

Kitsune basically tuned out the Earl as he began his dialogue, done with the whole, "I'm taking over the world and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Honestly, why couldn't the bad guys be a little more creative? How cliché.

He came back to hear Allen say, "Just…the beginning…" and just managed to catch his brother as he fell.

"GYAH! Aniki! You, John! Go get a doctor or something, and step on it!" When John hesitated, looking torn, Kitsune practically exploded on him. "What the hell are you still here for? I said GOOOOO!"

John left in a shriek of fear.


"Tyki…" The Millennium Earl said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Time is being rewritten."

Tyki looked up from Rhode's homework, blinking in surprise when he noticed his leader. "Um…what?"

"I didn't notice it when I first met him, but Kitsune Walker is rewriting time. He is an anomaly in this dimension; he doesn't belong here." The Earl elaborated, and Tyki could hear the thoughtful tone of voice.

"So…what?" This didn't sound that bad to him; after all, rewriting time wouldn't change their plans, would it?

"So I want you to kill him." The Earl said, and walked away, humming a jaunty tune.


Omake

"What. The. Hell?"

Cross sniggered and patted the top of Kitsune's head. "There, there, stupid second-rate apprentice. You need to pay off the debts, remember?"

"Yes, but…" Kit said desperately, tugging at the bottom of his outfit. "Why me? Allen's prettier!"

"Because he's first apprentice, idiot. You don't have an innocence, so you're second apprentice."

Allen (who was in the corner, laughing so much he was practically having a seizure) gasped out, "Yeah, Kit. You look so cute in it!"

Kitsune blushed and tugged the bottom of the maid's dress again, trying to get it to cover more skin, and then tried to adjust the headdress. "I'm not going into a bar wearing this, and I'm not going to wait on people like this!"

Cross crossed his arms and puffed on his cigar. "Yes, you are. I got you a very well-paying job, and this was the uniform, so be grateful, you ungrateful brat."

"Why can't Allen do this?" Even though he knew the answer, he could not help pulling that card again.

"Don't worry, Kit, Allen will have to do this too."

At that, Allen gave a tiny shriek.

And that is why the first thing the two brothers learned when they joined Cross was how to play poker, really, really well.

Well, I skipped over some of the dialogue from the book, frankly because I'm way too lazy to type those and because it's my story. I tried to make events as similar as possible to the originals, but there are some small differences. Also, Allen's personality has changed a teensy bit from hanging around Kit too much.

I was kind of wondering why Allen learned how to play poker instead of working as a waiter or something, and came up with this.

Silver Writing Bug.