Disclaimer: Do not own D gray-Man.

ade5kira: Oops, I just realized that I forgot to describe Amber's looks last chapter. :3 Ahaha.

By the way, I'm just gonna sign off as Kira from now on, just because I'm sick of Microsoft word upper-casing the A in ade. :D Just for this account, since you guys shouldn't mistake me for someone else by now. O_O

Anyway, chapter takes place toward the end of episode 7.

Ad Locum- At the Place

Amber followed the older woman wordlessly, her face once again displaying a total lack of any sort of emotion. Perhaps she was supposed to feel something, do something. But to Amber, the feelings people seemed to show so easily felt so distant, as if out of her reach.

And really, was that a bad thing in any way? Personally, Amber had never found reason to bawl her eyes out like she had seen others do so many times before, when her healing hadn't been able to help. It was stupid, and she didn't understand why anybody would want to subject themselves to that kind of feeling; wet and slobbery. If she wanted to feel like that, she could easily go over to one of the village dogs.

Thinking of the village dogs made her remember her foster father, and she thought she felt a little different, but then again, Amber was never really sure. Two times now, she'd seen someone killed before her eyes, but the torrent of emotions which had earlier surfaced had now retreated back to the far recesses of her mind.

Amber's mind wandered from these thoughts, over to her two new companions. The woman seemed nice, despite her outburst earlier. She reminded Amber of those big sisters in the village, scolding their little siblings, but then making up with them really quickly.

The blue-haired man was more unfamiliar to her. She'd never seen anyone quite like him before, and definitely not a guy quite so…pretty. And yet, she'd proved to herself that it was impossible for him to be a girl, seeing how he was so lacking in certain departments. Even Amber herself wasn't quite that flat.

Her thoughts wandered again, to the one who had left them. That orange-haired one called Lavi. That one reminded her of a rabbit, for some reason. She didn't quite understand why, since he was obviously human. Perhaps because he had seemed so perky earlier. But he was nice too. At least he wasn't as fierce as the one called Kanda had been.

Amber wasn't sure what they wanted from her, but she really didn't care. It wasn't like it made any particular difference to how she felt.

Ann turned back to the girl following her from time to time, still worried despite Amber's impassiveness. That, if anything, only served to add to her concern. The poor girl just seemed so…numb to it all. And to make things worse, she was just so…

"Bloody quiet".

Ann muttered the last two words to herself, turning around just in time to see Amber looking at Kanda with that blank expression again. That reminded Ann of what Amber had done earlier, and she chuckled at the thought. Kanda's expression had been almost…indignant.

It was a rare sight to see Kanda caught off guard, and Ann found it somewhat enjoyable. Still, she would have preferred coming straight back to headquarters with Klaud. But if she had…

Ann turned back to the girl, who up to now hadn't said a single word, and sighed.

"Che. That useless supervisor better get out here soon, or he'll be worse than dead." Kanda's mood seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, probably due to Amber having suddenly tugged his ponytail in the elevator.

Ann had been amused when it'd happened, but now, her face was every bit as irritated as Kanda's. Not only was she sleep-deprived, she had been unable to find Klaud and Lau Jimin, and nobody, not a single soul, had told her where her mentor was. The only reply she had gotten from a loitering Finder was to ask Komui, who was nowhere in sight.

"Welcome back, Kanda-kun, Ann-san~!"

Komui skipped out to three very different faces. Ann cast the man a death glare, silencing him immediately. Kanda simply turned away with a toss of his head, giving an irritated che. Amber on the other hand, stared directly at the blue-haired Chinese man, unblinking.

"Where's Marshall Klaud?" Ann demanded, her eyes narrowed threateningly. Komui laughed weakly, then straightened his face as he got down to business.

"Well then, we'll need to run an analysis on the innocence, so we'll have to bring her down to Hevvie. And also, I'll need a report on this mission by tomorrow, since an entire village was wiped out this time…and…err. What is her name anyway?"

Ann had to hold back the urge to slam her hands down on the table to get Komui's attention. To think that he had dared to ignore her so blatantly! She tried to rationalize by telling herself that the table was nothing but a pile of dust, knowing their supervisor's negligence. Any attempt to hit it would only result in a cloud of dust flying up into her face. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Ann instead turned her attention to the girl, looking at her expectantly.

Amber simply blinked at the two pairs of eyes staring at her, and an extra one giving her a quick glance out the corner of his eye. She said absolutely nothing, instead looking around the room for something that could help. She spotted an amber stone with strange-looking dragonfly inside, and pointed to that.

"Dragonfly?"

Ann rolled her eyes at Komui's guess. And to think that this man was their boss.

As they rode the platform down to see Hevlaska, Ann found herself thinking that if Amber didn't show surprise at Hevlaska's form, they would be doomed to stare at Amber's blank expression for the rest of their lives.

Despite having been thrown into a completely different environment out of the blue, Amber had yet to show any bit of alarm. That face was either a mask, or the girl had suffered more trauma than they had thought. Ann heaved a sigh as she turned to the girl, who was staring down at her feet disinterestedly.

And of course, Kanda had considered his mission to be ended, and promptly left her alone with Amber and her crazy supervisor. Although, Ann had to admit, Komui was having one of his more sensible moments, explaining to Amber that her innocence was probably a parasitic type. One had to admire his persistence, even though it must feel that he was talking to a wall.

Ann slipped back into her own thoughts for awhile, remembering what Komui had said when he had finally told her that Klaud had left, and wanted her to stay at headquarters for awhile. She couldn't help but let out a wistful sigh. She could almost swear that Lau Jimin had finally been warming up to her, and now she wouldn't be able to see her mentor and the monkey for god knew how long.

After what seemed like an eternity of hearing Komui banter on, they finally arrived at the basement where Hevlaska dwelled. As expected, Amber's expression didn't shift a bit, despite the appearance of the gigantic white figure in front of her. Still, she did react, holding her hands out over the edge of the platform, as if wanting to touch Hevlaska.

Gently, white tentacles reached out and wrapped themselves around the quiet girl, drawing her closer to Hevlaska. Ann thought she heard a gasp when Hevlaska's tentacles went into the girl's body at various points, feeling around for the location of the innocence.

"Ahh, it's at your heart…"

Komui's eyes widened slightly at this. For the location to be in that particular place…The chances were slim, but Komui made a mental note to keep an eye on her for now.

Hevlaska leaned closer, just as she had with Allen a while back, and pressed her forehead to the girl's. There was a bright glow as Hevlaska began analyzing Amber's synchronization rate with her innocence.

"Three percent…Fourteen percent…Twenty-eight percent…Fifty-five percent…Eighty percent."

Ann's tired eyes widened at this. She'd heard that parasitic-types mostly had a higher synchronization rate with their innocence when compared to equipment-types. It seemed that the information had been accurate. Rumors about a mysterious girl healer had only started two months ago, and even using the innocence every day could only raise synchronization that far.

Ann snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Hevlaska speak again. She found herself wanting to hear what kind of future this passive girl could have ahead of her.

Allen was walking out of the Library with Lenalee when he noticed a brunette girl walking towards them with a blonde girl following. He turned to Lenalee curiously, since he was still relatively new at the order and hardly recognized anyone there.

"Ahh, Ann-san, welcome back! Is that girl a host?"

Ann nodded in reply to Lenaless's friendly greeting, and said, "She doesn't seem to be able to talk. Her name's Amber, at any rate." As Ann's voice trailed off, she looked toward Allen meaningfully, and understanding the look at once, he quickly introduced himself.

"I'm Allen Walker. It's very nice to meet you."

Ann nodded approvingly at this introduction. At least this guy seemed more amicable than Kanda, she thought, staring at the pentagon above his left eye. It would seem that he had been cursed, though what effects it had, Ann didn't know yet. She raised an eye when Allen held out a hand, and shook it lightly. It was nice to have someone actually show her respect, especially after having to go on a mission with Kanda and Lavi. 'Especially Kanda…' Ann thought to herself with a wry smile.

Amber watched as the girl with two ponytails walked towards her with a bright smile, held out a hand and introduced herself as Lenalee. She blinked, then grasped the outstretched hand and shook it.

Almost immediately, her attention was turned to the white-haired boy. He didn't look much older than her, so it was strange that his hair was completely white. Even stranger, Amber thought to herself, was the pentagon mark over his left eye.

And as always, Amber felt the need to examine whatever she found to be strange. Stepping forward, she poked the center of the mark, ignoring the gasp of surprise from Allen. It felt soft, just like normal skin. She furrowed her eyebrows a little as she ran a finger over the lines. If her eyes hadn't let her know there was a mark there, she wouldn't have known any better.

This organization seemed to be filled with out-of-the ordinary members. There was that hyperactive supervisor earlier, the pretty boy, and now this cursed boy? If Amber was able to feel anything, she would probably have regretted her decision to follow Ann here. But at this point, Amber didn't care.

She was pulled back from her mental monologue when the boy smiled at her, introducing himself a second time, again with the handshake that followed.

Amber found herself thinking that she liked that smile. She didn't know why, but it made her tummy feel nice. Without quite realizing what she was doing, Amber took his hand, opened her mouth, and introduced herself.

"Amber Xirtan."

Just two words, but it surprised everybody around her, especially Ann.

"Dammit, I thought you couldn't talk!" Ann swore, giving the girl a fierce look, yet managing to avoid looking angry. Amber lapsed back into her usual silence, simply shrugging at this statement.

Ann swore again, for the umpteenth time that night.

Amber looked around her room, which was furnished simply. Her light-blue eyes registered no interest, back to their usual blank look. She pushed some of her fringe that had fallen over her eyes back, then grabbed the tail she sported and combed it with her fingers.

Her room looked comfortable enough, Amber concluded, and more spacious than the room she'd had to share with her foster father in the village. Or perhaps it was because she had this room to herself that made it feel more spacious. Amber didn't bother to pursue the thought.

Thinking about her foster father created a spark in her eyes, though it was a tiny, almost unnoticeable one.

I won't watch someone die in front of me…ever again.

Kira: Rofl. Amber finally spoke. Ugh. It was tough trying to keep her quiet this chapter. Just felt so weird, like when Komui asked for her name earlier. Lucky Key'n and I came up with what we did. :D

Shorter chapter because I feel it flows better. Next chapter should be up in less than a week. Told you my nudger (Key'n) is an awesome slave driver. :X

Any guesses as to the pairings by now? Roll up, roll up, make your bets! XD

Key'n: The chapter was written by Kira this time~ More focus on Amber and her Innocence; yet, I'm sure by now you all know how Ann is like. xD I hope I get the chance to throw in fluff soon.

And in reply to the reviews mikunichann gave us, thank you! I'll do my best to hurry Kira up so that we can get the chapters up faster. xD With regards about the pairings… It'll be revealed soon. Hang around for more~