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*****
Kiara stepped off the train, weary from the six-hour ride. Slinging her bag on one shoulder, she scanned the crowded platform. Soon enough, she spotted a head of bushy hair. Carefully, she squeezed her way through the crowd, until she reached her ex-master. Beside him were a bald man, and an Oriental-looking younger man with black hair, a ponytail, and a scowl plastered on his face.
"Kiara-chan! You took forever to come!"
The grumpy ponytail guy scowled.
"That's because we came here an hour early, old man."
The bald man rolled his eyes, and didn't reply.
Tiedoll smiled at her, and proceeded to introduce his two escorts, who were his disciples. The bald man was called Noise Marie, and he was blind, but had excellent hearing. The grumpy ponytail man was introduced as 'Yuu-kun', whereupon the man snapped and started yelling at Tiedoll.
This must have been the Kanda person Lavi-kun was talking about…
-----
They walked through Rome, intending to go as far as possible before stopping for the night. Their purpose was to locate Innocence, but their final destination was in Asia. Locating Accommodators was something they did along the way.
At least they didn't have to walk. They had found a farmer with a horse-drawn cart headed towards Florence. For a small sum, he had agreed to let them on his cart until he reached Florence. So now, they sat in a rickety wooden cart that smelled of hay and apples, looking at the scenery outside.
The journey would last several days, they were told. Kiara took out her sketchbook, placed it on her lap, and picked out a soft pencil from the art kit Tiedoll had given her for her eleventh birthday. If she had to relieve boredom for several days sitting on a bench surrounded by musty hay, she might as well start now.
-----
As promised, several days later, they had arrived in Florence without any trouble at all. Surprisingly, there were no Akuma, although a few times, Kiara thought she had caught sight of a dark shadow with golden eyes hiding in the trees.
Florence was beautiful. Once they had alighted from the cart, Kiara had perched herself on the edge of a fountain, took out her charcoal, and tried to capture the life and splendor of the town in her sketchbook. Tiedoll had gone to get rooms to stay in for the night. Marie was feeding pigeons, and Kanda was trying (unsuccessfully) to meditate.
All was peaceful. Kiara smiled to herself as the charcoal swept across the paper, shading in shadows and bringing light to the town scene on the paper. A tree, a building, two children. The charcoal depicted them all in blurred, sweeping strokes. She was putting the finishing touches onto an old lady sitting on a bench when she heard an explosion. Spinning around, she saw a small bakery on the far side of the square in flames. People were running away from it, screaming in terror.
She noticed a few dozen Level Ones rising up from the smoke. Hastily stowing away her sketchbook and art set, she glanced at Kanda. He was still meditating, with a scowl on his face.
She sighed.
"Akuma, Kanda-san."
His eyes snapped open, and he leapt to his feet, grabbing his black chokuto. (1)
She activated her Innocence, as did he and Marie. Glancing at him, she caught his almost-imperceptible nod.
They took off at the same time. Marie's strings sliced through some Akuma, destroying them instantly. Kanda leapt from Akuma to Akuma, slicing each with his sword, Mugen. Kiara stretched out her hands.
Innocence.
The familiar orbs of black fire appeared, soaring through the air and hitting the Akuma. They exploded, splattering the ground below with black blood. During the brief fight, Tiedoll had come out to watch them in action. His eyes glowed with pride as he looked at his two disciples and one ex-student.
Kiara skidded to a halt. They had destroyed most of the Level Ones. Her gaze was fixed on one Akuma in particular. It wasn't shooting at them like the others were. On the contrary, it was wriggling.
"Shit," breathed Kanda, stepping back. "It's evolving."
Marie and Tiedoll stepped back as well, slowly retreating to a safe distance. Kiara, however, stood where she was, studying the Akuma as it evolved. It was fascinating, in a gruesome way.
Finally, the wriggling stopped. The Akuma had changed from its original balloon-like shape to something resembling a grasshopper. The Roman numeral for '2' was inscribed on its forehead.
"Hee hee! I've leveled up!"
It cackled. Spotting the Exorcists, it grinned even wider.
"Exorcists, eh? Perfect! Now I can test out my new abilities," it sang.
Before Kiara could do so much as move one step, a hand shot out, dragging her backwards.
"You idiot," breathed Kanda into her ear, annoyed. His hand kept a firm grip on her shoulder. "We don't even know what it does! For all we know, it could use poison or something. Do you want to die?"
Kiara flinched from the proximity of his face from hers.
"N-no…"
"Then get away, baka!"
He let go of her, and walked off, towards the direction of the inn, where Tiedoll was. Kiara blinked. For a moment, she had seen something flicker in those deep obsidian pools of his.
Something almost akin to…concern.
-----
That night, Kiara was walking the streets of Florence, patrolling, and on the alert for sightings of the escaped Level Two. After Kanda had stormed off, the Level Two had cackled, and disappeared. Now, they were taking turns to search for it.
Balanced on a rooftop, she gazed at the moonlight town. It was so quiet, so tranquil. At least, it was quiet and tranquil until she heard a familiar mechanical grating. Turning slowly on her heel, she saw the grasshopper-like Akuma two rooftops away. Cursing fluently under her breath, she yanked out her golem as she began running from it.
The golem crackled, before the person on the other end picked up.
"What is it?"
"Kanda? Isn't this supposed to be General Tiedoll's golem?"
An exasperated sigh from the other end of the line.
"The old git fell asleep. What is it?"
"I've found the Level Two. Currently, it's chasing me."
"Where are you now?"
"It's kind of hard to tell. Just go out of the inn, jump onto a roof, and head for wherever the bright flashes of light and metallic sounds are coming from."
"Che."
-----
It was another fifteen more rooftops at least before Kanda caught up. She was leaping off the rooftop onto the square below, Innocence blazing, when he appeared by her side, sword out. The Level Two cackled.
"Backup? How pathetic. Suffer, Exorcist!"
It swung at her with its claw again. She dodged, as did Kanda. Before she could scramble up and attack, she felt herself rise up. The Akuma had grabbed her in its other claw, and was now hoisting her quite an impressive distance off the ground.
"Hmm…how should I torture you?"
Its antenna waved wildly, glowing purple, before connecting with her temple. Kiara saw a bright flash of white, engulfing her, blinding her…
*****
A small six-year-old girl with dull grey eyes was shivering on the pavements of France. Today was her third day without food. Incidentally, it was also the day of the lunar eclipse. Not that she cared. She was cold, hungry, miserable. All because of the pair of wristbands she had found one day.
A pair of thick boots approached her. Looking up, she saw a kind-looking middle-aged man in a heavy cloak. His features looked Oriental, much like her Uncle. Her Aunt had married a Chinese man, and had been shunned by the family. This man looked a little like her uncle, the man who had taught her Chinese. Perhaps this man spoke Chinese too.
"Who…who are you?" she asked in Chinese.
He started for a moment, gazing at her, then replied in broken, heavily accented Chinese: "Am friend. Will not hurt you. You tired, hungry, cold?"
She nodded.
"Come with me. I take care of you."
She stared at that hand he stretched out to her. Slowly, she placed her own, tiny hand into it.
-----
He pointed to himself.
"Murakawa Ken. I Japanese man. You?"
The girl hesitated for a moment. Though she was but six, she knew very well that she never wanted to be the person that she was anymore. Being chucked out of her home helped, as did following a stranger who could take her far away. Perhaps changing her name would help, too. So she shook her head.
The man's eyes crinkled.
"No name?"
She nodded.
"Then I call you Kiara. Like my friend."
"Kiara…" she whispered. Her new identity.
-----
The man was a martial artist. He was, she was told in broken Chinese, a Japanese who had grown up in China. Despite that, he usually only talked to his Japanese family or friends, and thus could not speak Chinese well. He had traveled the world, learning different forms of hand-to-hand combat, and was now returning to China.
"Take me with you," she begged him.
He looked down at her.
"You want stay with me?"
"Yes. Let me be your disciple. Please!"
He gazed at her solemnly.
"Okay."
-----
Since they were going to be together for a long while, he decided to teach her Japanese, to make communication easier. He had taught her her new surname, 'Akatsuki'. It supposedly symbolized the night when she had been found, the night of the lunar eclipse. (2)
By the time they had reached China, she could speak Japanese, albeit brokenly.
-----
His face, when the Akuma had flown out of nowhere, was one of pure terror. It matched the sickening feeling in her heart when she had seen him die right before her eyes.
She had screamed, letting her terror course through her.
And then her wristbands had burst into black flame.
*****
Kiara clenched her fists, as memory after painful memory flashed in front of her eyes.
Get out of my mind, Akuma, she screamed internally, fuelled by all the pain her memories stirred up. Quit messing with my mind!
Rage, hurt, pain. Those three emotions combined together, aiding her in her efforts to stop the flow of memories. Dimly, through the din of emotions, she heard herself scream one word.
"Innocence!"
-----
Kanda watched, as Kiara was hoisted into the air by the Level Two.
"Stupid woman…" he muttered. Not paying attention could be fatal, as she had demonstrated.
She seemed to be in pain, he noted. Her face was contorted into an expression of terror, and her fists were clenched. Suddenly, she threw back her head and screamed.
"Innocence!"
The wristbands she wore blazed. But it felt different from before. This time, her invocation was driven by her emotions. He had seen this before, when he had been assigned with the Moyashi for the Italy mission. The Moyashi had been enraged then, and his arm had morphed. Now, the atmosphere felt the same as that time.
What would her Innocence do?
-----
Kiara felt the familiar feeling of invocation. But this time, it felt different…stronger?
Innocence, she pleaded. Help me defeat this Akuma.
The flames on her wrists flickered for a second, before flaring up again, stronger than before. They engulfed her entire body, but surprisingly, Kiara felt cool. The Akuma screeched, and dropped her, its claw smoking and half-destroyed. She took advantage of the Akuma's momentary hesitation, and leaped backwards, out of reach.
She grinned, as her flames began to form a new shape in her hands. Her weapon, it seemed, had upgraded itself, and while she was still very new to it, somehow, she knew exactly how to use it. It was almost as if her Innocence was directing her. She readied her stance.
Let's go, Innocence.
-----
Kanda saw her escape the clutches of the Akuma, and get out of range. Now, she was standing there, with her flame flickering irregularly. He felt like striding up to her and telling her that standing there like an idiot would just result in her being attacked again. But something within him told him that she wasn't just idly standing there, so he held back.
The black mass of flame had begun to take shape in her hands. It was becoming elongated, and thinner. Then Kanda blinked, as he recognized the shape.
It was a katana. A slim, black katana.
-----
She had used a katana once before, and she was glad to feel the familiar weight again. Grasping it firmly, she lunged at the Akuma, slicing, dodging, feinting, stabbing. When they finally leapt apart again, the Akuma had lost its burnt claw, both antennae, and a few legs.
"Die," growled the Akuma. "You little piece of trash!"
It swung its remaining claw at her, loosing a huge wave of Dark Matter. Kiara watched it come towards her. She turned to run, but her feet wouldn't move. Closing her eyes, and braced herself for the pain.
It never came.
Gingerly, she opened her eyes a small crack, and saw a ponytail. Kanda had leapt in front of her and blocked the blow with Mugen. She got up slowly, taking up her stance behind him.
"Thanks, Kanda-san."
He scowled.
"Che. I saved your life once. Don't make me do it again."
She smiled faintly. "Got it."
Well, I'd better not get too close to it, now that it's enraged. I should fight long-distance.
As she thought this, the katana in her hand began to shrink. She stared dumbly at it, as it morphed into something more compact, that fitted easily in the curve of her palm. It was a gun, rather like Cross' Judgment.
Oh, well. I guess this can fight the Akuma just as well.
As if reading her mind, Kanda activated his Innocence.
"Kaichuu: Ichigen!"
As the white insects flew out of his blade, Kiara raised her gun, and started firing rapidly. White and black impacted at the same time, and the Akuma exploded. Kiara sighed wearily. They had done it. The Akuma was gone.
*****
Two months later, they had reached Japan. In those two months, Kiara had mastered her upgraded Innocence. They had also managed to shake off the Noah who was tailing them, although they all knew that it was temporary.
Now, they were on a hill, gazing at Edo.
"Marie," asked Tiedoll quietly. "What do you hear?"
Marie closed his eyes.
"Among the mechanical screeches of the Akuma, I can faintly hear Lenalee…Lavi…and the voices of the rest of Team Cross."
Tiedoll smiled.
"Okay. Go to them."
*****
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(1) A chokuto is a kind of Japanese sword. Not to be confused with katana, which is a slightly curved blade like the ones in Bleach.
(2) 'Akatsuki' literally means 'red moon'. 'Aka' is red, 'tsuki' is moon. In this case, it refers to the night of the lunar eclipse, when the moon was red.