At the end the fourth chapter! I have waited to upload this for a while. This is my favourite chapter until now, even though it has a lot of errors in the narrative structure. In this chapter not only I'll finally introduce my beloved Kanda( I love this kind of character: terrible, unsocial, annoying, but somehow handsome and irresistible…), but we'll see Amatus again and…a new character that I really hope you would like. I settled this scene in Rome since I live there so it's a sort of tribute to my dear, beloved city. I settled this chapter there for this and because I think it is a city that has something in common with Kanda. Don't ask me what because I don't know. I just see him well in it ^^.

" The end of the beginning" by Hans Zimmerman, from " The last samurai" soundtracks.. I think this theme can introduce the new character of this chapter better than I can ever do with words. Listen to this and let the music pierce your heart as it did to me. Let me know what you think, I really care a lot for your reviews!!!

FOURTH CHAPTER- WHO IS SHE?

Kanda Yuu was wandering for the streets of Rome. It was the second time in two years that Komui had sent him in that city for a mission and he wandered if it was going to be an habit.

Not that he disliked it, he quite liked that strange city where ancient and modern buildings coexisted without being out of keeping.

When the night came, the contrast was more visible than ever: those places that during the day had seemed magnificent and full of dignified decay, those same places when surrounded by the darkness appeared like a ghost town, a cursed city proud of his glorious past and unable to accept a mediocre present.

Kanda couldn't help but felt a kind of love and respect for Rome: even if his mind wasn't fixed upon the beauty around him, but on the presence of a possible enemy, still the dark aura of the city was overwhelming.

Even so, he unfortunately didn't have the time to admire such a melancholy beauty.

Lately the finders had found out an abnormal number of akumas in that area and there were only two way to explain this: the first was the presence of innocence near the city, and it seemed improbable because innocence had been discovered there only an year before. The other was that the Millennium Count must had something to do in the city and, if it was true, the Dark Religious was resolute to find out what it was and to obstacle him.

So, they had sent Kanda to see how the situation really was, but until that moment the exorcist hadn't discovered anything at all and it was four hours since he had started wandering the desert streets.

He had met only few people and no one of them had showed signs of being an akuma despite the fact that Kanda was alone, an easy prey. He was thinking about that when he heard he noise of people coming. It was a group of men singing out of tune, probably drunk.

They passed next to the exorcist as if it was nothing, but at the last moment they turned against him, they transformed and attacked him. Kanda was ready. Being an exorcist means to never let your guard down, to think of everyone as an enemy and he had learnt this class many years ago in the hardest way.

The enemies were fifteen, all level one except one.

" Mugen, activate! " Kanda ordered " First Illusion, insect of Hell! "

Two minutes and all the akumas were destroyed.

The exorcist stood for some moment with Mugen still activated, waiting for other enemies, but nobody came. He was going to sheathe his sword when someone began to clap politely at his back.

Kanda turned suddenly and saw a man leaning himself against a wall. As soon as the stranger rose his eyes to meet exorcist's, Kanda saw the stigmata on the forehead of the man and immediately realized his true nature. The Noah made some step forward and the light of the moon made his long, curly, blond hair shine.

It was Amatus, the Noah who had just returned from a long absence, but obviously Kanda couldn't know since he had never seen or heard of him. Still, he stood preparing himself to attack, but his enemy surprised him: " You are Yuu Kanda" He said and it wasn't a question.

" How do you know? "

" That has nothing to do with you, but maybe you'd like to know why I know this and why I'm here. " He replied slowly trying to make Kanda curious, but the exorcist didn't gave him this satisfaction: " Not really. Like you said before, that has nothing to do with me. My only concerns is to beat you."

Noah's face suddenly changed and became contorted with anger, but it was the matter of a second, then his expression turned angelic again.

" How harsh…" he observed " I was thinking of talking with you about some few things before I kill you, but it seems I have no choice but to kill you now. A question only: how did you kill Skin Boric? " he asked while his voice was changing becoming always more deep and savage.

" I don't have any reason to tell you." Kanda smiled and ran against his enemy wielding Mugen with both hands, but the Noah soon put an end to his charge: mysteriously the roots of the great tree near them moved, caught Kanda and immobilized him.

" Shall we talk now? " the Noah asked with a grim painted on his angelic features. " I am Amatus, the one who brings with him the memory of hatred. Maybe you have never realized it, but everything around you has a soul and emotions, I can interfere with those emotions and manipulate every living being, even this tree." He said in a polite tone, like if he was speaking about the weather. Kanda just looked back at him and say nothing for what he could have done since he couldn't move?

" But you," Amatus added, " You're only a normal exorcist, without particular powers, even your synchronisation is only about 80%. Then, tell me, how did you killed Skin Boric? "

Kanda tried to free himself from the tree's morse, but he only got to make the hold even tighter.

" Why are you so curious to know? " he gasped " Or it's the Earl the one who really wants to know it? "

" This has nothing to do with the Earl." The Noah replied showing a sing of disgust " But Skin Boric and I were close friends so I want to avenge him. Does it appear so strange to you? "

" What seems strange to him is that someone can care about an idiot like him… but maybe you are an idiot tooafter all…"

At those words Amatus angelic look changed into one of a madman, he advanced and slapped Kanda on his very face.

" You can't understand! " the Noah murmured " Even if we are a family, since we have different memories we are so distant from each other that we can hardly coexist, but my memory of hatred and his anger were not different… We could understand the suffering of the other, we comprehended better than anyone else the pain of the burdens that were placed upon us. "

The Noah's face seemed quite upset, but Kanda still forced himself to laugh at him: " Pain? Burden? How can you really understand those emotions? If you had ever experienced those feelings, then you would have never helped the Millennium Count in his plan! So stop with this absurd scene, you won't make me pity you! " he shouted with all the strength he had left and then he prepared himself to die.

He was completely in Amatus' power and there was nothing he could do to release the hold of the huge tree. The exorcist saw the face of the Noah became contorted with hate and thought: " I'm going to die and still this is my only chance: to let the bastard do as he pleases and make him believe that I really died. "

So it happened: Amatus gave the order to kill him and the tree tightened his hold until the exorcist was crushed by his force. Kanda screamed out in pain and lost consciousness. Believing him dead, Amatus finally let him go and the lifeless body fell on the ground.

The Noah laughed and laughed again like a madman, not knowing that his enemy was immortal, or as near to immortality as an human being can be. If Amatus had been not so self-confident, he would have noticed that Kanda's injuries were quickly recovering and that he was about to regain his consciousness. That was his secret, that was why he had been able to kill Skin Boric some month ago.

Under the curious and astonished eyes of Amatus, Kanda rose up with Mugen tightly wielded in his hands.

" You should have died." Amatus observed regaining his polite tone.

" I'm not. " Kanda replied with a cruel grim. He wasn't going to let Amatus have his way again: he was planning to attack him before he could have the opportunity to use his strange power again, but the swordsman was stopped by a voice coming from his back.

" Stop." The voice ordered with imperious manner. Both Kanda and Amatus turned towards the voice and saw a woman coming near them.

She was tall and slim, elegant in all her movements, beautiful as an angel, sparkling in the darkness of the night as only a goddess may do, but the way she was walking, the fierce look on her face, everything, made her appear so threatening that few would have dared to look at her in the eyes. She seemed to be more a miracle than a real person, maybe a phantom, but definitively not a normal human being.

Kanda observed both the woman and Amatus: though they both were shining of a beauty that had nothing to do with the human world, still they were different like light from darkness, or ice from fire. Amatus with his sudden changing of mood and his madness gave the impression of being a rare, wonderful, savage beast to admire and fear, but she… her manners were all pride and dignity, she was more similar to an ancient, terrible, goddess than to a savage beast.

Amatus was clearly enchanted by her: his gaze was the same of a predator that is observing a wonderful prey. The woman surpassed Kanda without even looking at him and stood between him and Amatus.

" Exorcist," she began with the same imperious voice of before, " stand back. That's no mach for you. "

" And then who is he a match for? " Kanda asked with sarcasm.

" Me." She answered serious " I looked for a Noah for so long and now I've finally found one! " A smile of satisfaction appeared on her face.

Kanda didn't know what to do. How could she knows about Noah? And what was she going to do since she was no exorcist? How could she hope to beat him without the power of innocence? She didn't seem to worry about this kind of things.

" I'll beat you half-dead, " she said to Amatus in a low, calm, voice, " so that the Earl will surely come to save you and I'll finally have my chance to fight against him. "

The Noah laughed, that creepy laughter again: " Are you sure my lady? See, I'll make you become part of my collection. I love to collect the beautiful things I see, but you're the most enchanting… I'll build a wonderful cage for you, you'll see…"

The woman didn't seem to notice those arrogant words nor she gave the impression of feeling anything when the roots of the tree began to move against her like the walls of a prison.

Kanda tried to move and help, but as soon as he made a step towards her, he felt his strength abandoning him all of a sudden and he fell again. In the same moment the woman rose her left hand and all the trees that were attacking her became ashes at her simple gesture.

" See? " she asked to Amatus " You can't absolutely kill me with those jokes. Maybe it would be you the one who will become part of my collection. Don't you know that I love mummies? " she asked rising her left hand again. At the same time Amatus fell on his knees gasping and taking his hands at his throat. He couldn't breathe and this was not all: his luminous skin was becoming wrinkled exactly like one of a mummy. It was an horrible scene.

This slow agony continued for a minute at least, then there was a crack and the Millennium Earl finally appeared. The woman immediately stopped to torture the Noah and turned all her attention to him.

" So you've come." She whispered: " I was waiting for you. All those years I have thought nothing but you."

The earl seemed to smile even more than usual:

" Good evening Cassandra. I should be delighted to have been the only thought of such a nice lady, but I fear your intention wasn't to honour me…"

"You're right, for once." She exclaimed fiercely " I'm here to kill you and nothing else."

" Ohoh ! 3 " The Earl cried out " I'm deeply sorry, but I can't allow you to kill me yet, sweetheart." he said and unsheathed his sword preparing himself to fight. It was only then that Kanda first noticed how similar the Earl's sword and Allen's innocence were, but he didn't have the time to think about it much longer since the battle immediately began.

The woman that the Earl had called Cassandra rose both her hands to the sky and an huge water sphere appeared surrounding the Millennium Count.

" Now you can't breathe." Cassandra observed " Would you simply die like this, Earl? " She wondered, but her beautiful features didn't show nothing like worry or anxiety, only an unselfish curiosity, like a scientist in the middle of an odd experiment.

A matter of few moments and the water sphere exploded with a great light, without any noise, and the Earl reappeared exactly were he was before as if nothing had happened.

Cassandra seemed a bit annoyed by seeing him unhurt, but she did not comment. She had expected this to happen. The count, instead, was slightly surprised: " How much power you obtained, my dear… That could be dangerous… I'm so sorry that someone like you has to be my enemy and not my faithful servant! "

Cassandra was really angry this time: " It's not that I have to be your enemy, I chose it myself! My power will never be at the service of anyone, but myself. "

" You're wrong," the count observed, " You have just used it in front of an exorcist and that means that the Dark Religious would never let you alone until you'll join them. That's why I have to kill you."

" How naïve you are, Earl! " she said, a mischievous smile of triumph on her lips " You don't understand anything, as usual. " The Millennium Count frowned.

" Can't you realize" she added " that all this is nothing but a part of my plan? I'll join the Dark Religious because I want to! And not to serve them, I have no interest in this, I'll join to accomplish my own purpose. You'll see, Earl." She said and rose her left harm again and a water wall suddenly appeared in front of her so that she wasn't knocked down by the attack that the Earl directed against her in that very moment.

What was going on between them wasn't a real battle: the two opponents seemed to observe each other very closely instead, as if they were trying to understand what the other could have in mind.

Cassandra extended her fingers, then she slowly drew them back in a first while the Earl was wrinkling like Amatus did before him. For sometime the attack seemed to work fine, but then there was a bang and a second later the Earl was there, awfully fat as before. Cassandra sighed: she was starting to get bored, this fight was more like a ping pong match that a battle.

The Millennium Count moved towards her with his huge sword, but the water shield appeared again and he was pushed away. Until the water was there to protect her, there was no way that the Earl could hurt the young woman and he was too strong to be damaged by her. They could have continued like this forever without winner nor loser and they clearly understood this.

The Earl was the first to spoke: " Very well… 3 " he said " If I had believed you'd have become this strong I would have killed you that time."

" I'll make you regret you didn't! " she growled showing for the first time something like an emotion.

" I already do. " the Earl replied smiling as if this was a sort of compliment." What do you think about putting off our fight to our next meeting? So that meanwhile I can find a way to destroy you? "

" Fine by me, but do not overestimate yourself: next time we meet I'll definitively kill you. Meanwhile I hope you won't mind if I go to sleep. "

" And what if you won't be able to awaken again?"

" I'll face this chance. " She answered emotionless and the Earl smiled even more.

Kanda frowned. " Go to sleep"? " Awaken"? What were those two talking about?

" Good night then, dear Cassandra…" the Millennium Count said in a sweet voice, then he vanished bringing Amatus, still unconscious, with him.

The woman instead stood there for some seconds before turning towards Kanda . She snapped her fingers and as soon as she did so the swordsman felt all his strength coming back. He rose immediately on his feet, unable to turn his gaze away from her.

Who was she? Of course he had understood nothing of what the woman and the Earl had said. Surely the two had already met each other before and obviously she wanted to kill him with her strange innocence, but that was as far as he could guess from what he had seen and heard. That strange innocence… He had never seen anything like that before, it seemed more similar to Noahs' abilities than to the innocence power. Still, the light surrounding her… it was innocence, no doubt of it.

There were so many things that Kanda would have liked to ask her, but the woman was quicker:

" Exorcist, listen to me carefully." Kanda arched his eyebrow in curiosity and did as she ordered.

" I'm your ally since I want to destroy the Earl, just like you, though for different reasons. " she continued " I have been fighting him for many years, but now I'm tired, I've used my powers just too much, and I need to sleep for awhile. While I'm unconscious take me at the Dark Religious' Headquarters, right? Would you do this? " she asked in the sweeter way.

Kanda didn't know what to do, somehow confused by the sudden change of her behaviour ,but nodded feeling himself as a puppet in her hands. He just couldn't say: no.

" Would you really do this for me? " she asked again. He nodded slightly and she smiled in return, a sad smile though . Then the young woman closed her eyes, her heart stopped beating, and she fell .

Kanda somehow managed to reach her before she'd hit the ground, but she did not show any sign of life. Her face instead displayed a peaceful expression as if she was really sleeping. But she wasn't breathing, her hearth was not beating. She was dead and still the swordsman could not possibly believe it: he was sure that one day, who knows when, she would wake up, like one of those princess of the fairy tales.

Kanda observed her carefully. So beautiful and so distant…

It was as if she was frozen in the ice, near, but still forever out of reach for everyone. There was no way to touch her heart, to understand her, no matter how near her body could have been.

" Ethereally beautiful and powerful like a Goddess… no wonder she seems so distant. It's as if she doesn't belong to this world. Like a miracle, she appeared out of nowhere and she can vanish at any moment, something that has nothing to do with us, still we can't help but love her even if she would never see us as her equals. "

He remembered the sad smile she had given to him before falling. There was a trail of kindness in her eyes in that moment but even then, even if she was standing in front of him, so near that he could have brushed her cheek with his fingers, even so, she could not have been more far away from him in every possible way. Exactly as if frozen in the ice, surrounding by it, shielded from every possible human feeling as from every attack.

In the few moments Kanda could have seen her face he had noticed an unbearable sadness, an unspoken pain that was piercing her heart. Still, she smiled to him…

" Who the hell is she? " Kanda asked to no one while they were embraced by the gentle darkness of the night.

Then? What do you think of Cassandra? I put all my brain in the attempt to describe her as I imagine her… I can see her in front of me now as if she is real, but unfortunately this doesn't help me to find the right words… What a pity… I tried to drawn her and to post the image under this chapter, but it doesn't work… I'm really sorry of this… I had already drawn something like all the character that appear until the eighth chapter and then I found out that I can't post them! I was so bloody angry that you can't imagine! Anyway, speaking of Cassandra, she is a particular character and I have a lot of surprises in store for her… you'll see XD I hope you like her at least the half of me, it would be far enough!

REVIEWS AND TELL ME EVERYTHING THAT CROSS YOUR MIND ABOUT THIS STORY: WHAT YOU LIKED, WHAT MADE YOU BORED, HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE CHARACTERS I'VE SHOWED YOU, WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AND WHY!!!!

Thank you for reading… and thanks to Knux33 who correct my grammatical errors! He really is a big help…

Eris92