Chapter 3: The First Mission
Saya and Emiko followed the boys as they wound their way through the maze that they called headquarters as they made their way to Komui's office.
"Ah wonderful, wonderful." Komui confessed as he saw the group approach. "Your uniforms were done quickly, I'm impressed!"
Saya smiled as she fixed the belt that cinched the trench coat to her small waist; she hadn't wanted to close it completely because of the look on Yu's face when he glanced over and noticed her bare skin. It was somewhere between distaste, confusion, and even a tiny bit of enjoyment but there was no way she would point that out to him.
The man in question spoke up. "Why do all four of us need to go on a mission together? I'm sure they can do just fine alone."
"Well…" Komui began as he shuffled papers around to find a particular one. "It's because they're new and new recruits are always paired with a seasoned exorcist. As to why it must be all four of you… I would be fine placing either Saya or Emiko with Alma but putting either with you would probably result in a failed mission, civil unrest between you and the girl you're with, or an early death of the new exorcist." He smiled when he finished.
Yu stared at Komui as if he was thinking the last part wasn't a bad idea.
"I'm fine with us all working together I think it'll be fun seeing how everyone fights! I know I'm interested in seeing Saya use her bow in a real battle and I haven't even heard what Emiko uses, I bet it's awesome!" Alma chimed in before Yu could decide if he was going to say something snide or just storm out of the room.
"So, what's the mission…?" Saya asked as she stared at the paper in Komui's hands as if she could burn a hole through it to read it.
"Oh yes." Komui seemed to have completely forgotten why he had called them all into his office. "There have been reports of a building in a small town that seems to light on fire every night but every morning it's still standing like it wasn't burnt. There have been rumors that since the murder of a young man in the house the house has been haunted and the fires are due to his soul crying out for justice. It sounds like the work of an Innocence so I would like you all to go to the house, check it out and bring back the Innocence before anyone else gets there."
Saya grinned with a twinkle in her eye that meant she was ready to do battle with anything. "This sounds AWESOME! You can totally just send me, I can do it by myself."
Emiko turned to her friend. "You are absolutely not going anywhere near a burning house alone. You would somehow get the rest of the town to burn down before you could get to the Innocence."
Saya flushed as she rubbed the back of her head. "Just 'cause I'm accident prone with fire doesn't mean I'd burn the whole town down… maybe just half…?"
"You are not going alone."
"You're such a spoil sport." Saya pouted.
Alma watched the whole argument as if it were a tennis match going back and forth between the two girls before he cut in to keep them from continuing. "Come on, I think it'll be fun with all four of us."
"As long as none of you get in my way." Yu stated as he walked out of the room.
"Make sure you meet up with your Finders in the city!" Komui called as they all drudged out of his office.
"Finders…?" Saya questioned as she walked next to Alma.
"Finders are the people that usually go out and get the information for us on whether it's really an Innocence or something else."
"They're completely useless and die off quickly." Yu added as he led the way to the exit.
Saya made a face even though she knew Yu couldn't see it. "You're just a snob and need to take the mirror away from your face before you start talking again."
"Mirror…?" Alma asked as he cocked his head. "I've never heard that before."
"Saya is obsessed with Ancient Greek and Roman mythology…" Emiko answered from Alma's left. "The mirror in front of your face indicates your Narcissistic."
"Huh?"
"From the story of Narcissus who was cursed to fall in love with his own image and was unable to leave the sight of his own beauty and wasted away." Saya informed with a smile. "I was saying that Yu is so stuck on himself that he can't see others around him."
Yu clenched his fists but kept from turning around and snapping. "I'm leaving you all behind if you keep talking."
Saya sighed then ran over to Yu and crossed her arms. "I'll bet I can keep up with you at any pace."
"Hn… We'll see…"
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The group finally reached the town, just as the sun had started to go down. The town looked almost like a ghost town, complete with run down homes and beggars on the street.
"Man!" Saya gave an exhausted sigh. "It felt like that took forever."
"It wasn't so bad..." Alma gave a soft smile. "Only about three days."
"Three days is a long time when you're constantly walking." Emiko yawned, stretching.
"If you're going complain so much, you can just stay here." Yu rolled his eyes, stepping towards one of the beggars. "Where is the burning house?"
"Oh, could you spare a coin?" The beggar did her job well. "I'm starvin'. I haven't eaten in days."
Without another word, Yu sneered while walking away from the beggar, walking towards the center of town, the rest of the group following.
"Maybe we should look for someone who isn't a beggar..." Emiko suggested, looking around the rundown neighborhood.
Reaching the center of town, the four stood next to a fruit and vegetable stand to gain the appearance of a regular traveler.
"So, what's the plan?" Emiko asked, looking to Yu.
"...Figure out where that house is." Yu narrowed his eyes to the small woman.
"Hey, no need to be a jerk." Saya smirked.
"Why don't we split up? We'll cover more ground that way." Emiko suggested.
"Great. I'll go this way, you three go somewhere else." Yu turned to walk away, only to be stopped by Saya's hand to his wrist.
"Oh no ya don't!" Saya demanded. "The whole point of all four of us coming here was so the two new exorcists could be taught by the two experienced ones. Hint, hint!"
"Alma is perfectly capable of handling you two." Yu pulled his arm away.
"I think she's right, Kanda..." Alma chimed in. "Why don't you take one and I'll take the other?"
"I'll go with you, Alma." Emiko smiled, taking a step closer to him.
"A-alright." Alma blushed, rubbing the back of his head.
"That leaves you and me." Saya put her hands on her hips.
"Fine." Yu rolled his eyes. "Just don't get in my way."
"Psh! Don't get in my way." Saya pushed past him, giving him a grin.
"Alright then, Emiko. Let's go this way." Alma pointed to the opposite direction that Yu and Saya had walked.
"Let's go find that house." Emiko encouraged, following Alma through town.
The two walked side by side, remaining silent as they studied the residents of the town. Judging by the rags they wore, most of the people looked either homeless or close to it.
"Oh hey, maybe they can help us." Alma pointed to a wandering priest, heading in his direction.
"Excuse us..." Emiko greeted the priest.
"Yes, my children." The priest smiled softly.
"We're looking for that house that burns every night." Alma stated, watching the priests gentle face turn cold.
"That house is evil! You must stay away!" The priest took a step away from the exorcists. "It is run by the Devil!"
"Right..." Emiko tried to reason with the man. "That's why we want to find it... To see if we can't resolve this little issue of yours."
"Suit yourselves. May God be with you." The priest made the sign of the cross over his body before pointing off to the left. "It'll be the only house that is truly abandoned. No one will go near it. The presence of evil is far too strong..."
Alma nodded. "Thank you."
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Saya huffed as she stalked beside Yu while they looked for the finder or the house, after a while she just couldn't stay mad. "I'm not really sure why you hate me…" She muttered finally not really expecting an answer.
"New recruits don't last long." Yu answered.
Saya blinked. "I honestly did not expect you to answer that." She said as she cocked her head at him, a little confused. She opened her mouth to say something then quickly closed it and shook herself as she let go of something; suddenly she looked like a completely different person. All the teasing was gone; the loud mouth personality seemed to have melted away as she walked down the street Yu took notice of it.
"So, you choose to be annoying…?" He asked as he eyed her carefully, waiting for this to be a joke.
Saya barely smiled as she brushed a hand through her hair. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly before answering his question. "I guess if you find it annoying then yes I choose to be annoying on purpose…" She started as she kept her gaze averted from Yu to avoid seeing what he thought.
"I guess my loud mouth personality is a bit of a front. I do it for Emiko but she doesn't know that I put up a front. She really does think that the talkative side of me is really me. I've kinda had to take on that protector role with her at a very young age, all the kids in our little village use to pick on her because she was always on the frail feminine side. Then after our village was attacked we were the only survivors and I kinda had to look out for both of us. We left Japan as quickly as we could and we lived on the streets for years. I've always been the one to be brave and forward when there's been a need because she really doesn't do well by herself" She laughed a little at that before she shook her head. "I think it would be nice if I could finally let that go… I'd like to be the one protected for once instead of being the protector, but I bet you didn't care to know that anyway."
"You still talk too much." Yu huffed but didn't comment on what Saya had said.
"Yeah, I guess I do." Saya answered but she didn't miss his lack of an answer. "Hey… Who's that in the brown running at us…?"
Yu looked at whom Saya was pointing at before he sneered. "That would be our finder."
The man in question finally ran up to them panting a little as he came within speaking distance. "Finally, I thought you exorcists were lost. The house is up this way but I haven't heard back from the other Finders. I'm thinking there's something going on."
"Lead the way." Saya said as she fell in behind the Finder as he took off at a fast run.
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Alma led the way as he scanned the area, in search of anything on fire. After heading down a long street, he turned right before stopping to turn around, looking from house to house. The two walked down a little further, noticing a house standing all by itself while walking toward it.
"They all look the same..." He concluded. "And none are on fire."
"Yeah but if you've noticed, the farther we've walked the less populated the area is." Emiko added in.
"Yeah... You're right." Alma clenched his fists tightly before relaxing them, repeating this process a few times as he stood on high alert. "We must be close."
As soon as the words passed through Alma's lips, a burst of flames erupted from a house behind him. A shock wave knocked the two about 3 yards away. Both slid about another foot in the dirt before lifting their heads to gasp for air as the black smoke billowed from the house.
"What the...?" Emiko coughed as she gazed upon the inferno. "Alma...!"
"That must be the house." Alma hopped to his feet, seemingly unscathed. "We better get in there before any Akuma get to the Innocence."
Nodding, Emiko pushed herself to her feet, dusting herself off while adjusting her skirt. Emiko froze as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Slowly turning around, the small girl met the eyes of a large creature.
"Um..." Emiko tried to call to her partner, but her voice was lost. "...Alma...?"
Quickly Emiko looked around, her eyes jumping from object to object frantically looking for Alma before turning back to look at the creature in front of her. Taking a step back she watched as this creature whipped it's hand up as if to backhand her, sending her flying back. Emiko landed hard, though quickly focused as round two began.
"Emi!" Saya's voice echoed off each house as she ran down the dirt road.
Emiko flinched though looked as she heard Saya's voice. A sense of comfort fell over her, knowing that her friend would save her once again. Offering Saya a soft smile, Emiko shifted to get up, though a gut wrenching scream pushed her back down as blood splattered all over her body.
The young girl's eyes widened as she noticed Saya stop running out of the corner of her eye. Letting out a soft scream, Emiko looked at the blood in disgust before realizing that Saya wasn't the one who stopped the creature.
"You almost got killed!" Alma said, concern coating his tone.
Emiko looked up to him, gazing at the long thin wings protruding from his back, sliced through the creature. She was unable to determine why she suddenly felt so safe looking at Alma the way he was. Alma then reached out his hand to help her to her feet, Emiko smiling to him as she let him help her up.
"What was that thing...?" Emiko asked, trying to wipe the blood from her cheek.
"That's an Akuma." Alma informed, leading her away from it.
"Oh... I've never seen one like that before."
"That was only a level 2 Akuma... You've probably just seen level 1." He smiled.
"Great." Yu groaned as he walked passed Saya.
Saya ignored Yu's remark, as she stood, dumbstruck, watching Alma lead Emiko away.
"Hey!" Saya broke from her daze. "The burning house!" She then jogged to catch up to Yu.
"You're too slow." Yu muttered as he unsheathed his sword and began to activate it.
Saya growled. "I'll show you slow!" She snapped as she pulled her bow out from the little slot in the trench coat that held it to her back. Quickly she ran her fingers from the bottom to the top as if she was stringing the bow and suddenly there was a glowing blue line that acted like the string. She pulled the string back as if she had an arrow already in place to shoot and aimed it at the Akuma
"Arrow of exploding light!" Saya cried as a bright glowing arrow formed just as she released the string launching the arrow at the Akuma. The glowing arrow sunk into the Akuma's shoulder joint where it sizzled for a moment then suddenly exploded, tearing off the Akuma's right arm.
"Direct hit!" Saya cried as she did a little victory dance. She took aim and fired a volley of exploding arrows at the Akuma in front of her not realizing that there was another coming up from behind.
"Saya!" Emiko screamed as she pointed at another level 2 Akuma preparing an attack on the girl with the bow.
Saya turned around, eyes widening as she took in how close it had gotten to her without her knowing. "Crap…"
Suddenly the Akuma began to spit a stream of frozen fire in her direction giving her no chance to dodge.
"You're supposed to move." Someone shouted as a body slammed into her rolling her out of the way.
"Oof…" Saya exclaimed, as she looked up into the face of the person her knocked her. "Y… Kanda…?"
Yu grimaced as he sat up off her and turned to face the Akuma. "I told you… You're too slow."
Saya blinked as she noticed the severe burns that cut through his coat to his back. "Ah…" She began but closed her mouth as he looked at her; he didn't want a thank you. Then she noticed a third Akuma.
"Damn it!" She cried as she got to her feet. "It's going for the building!" Without thinking Saya charged directly at the front door of the burning house, slamming her shoulder into the door following the blow into a roll when the door fell back against her weight; the doorway was then engulfed in flames.
"Saya!" Emiko screamed as she watched her friend dive into the burning building. "What are you doing?"
"Emiko!" Alma called out as a he watched his new friend run toward the house, only to be caught off guard by an Akuma.
"That Innocence is mine!" The Akuma roared as it swung its large claw like hand at Emiko.
With a soft scream, Emiko jumped back.
"Do something!" Yu snapped, jumping to slice his blade through the creature. As the Akuma fell in two, Yu glared at Emiko. "Maybe this job just isn't your cup of tea..."
Emiko sighed softly as she took a few steps back, hiding as close to the house as possible without the flames touching her.
"He thinks I'm useless...?" Emiko smirked as she looked down at the pink nail polish coating her fingernails. She then felt a slight burning sensation in her fingertips as the nails began to stretch, coating themselves in what looked like steel before silver tint turned a flat green. Relaxing her fingers, she allowed the nails to grow only about a foot long before turning to face the battlefield.
"Where'd that kid go?" Yu demanded an answer from Alma, who merely shrugged while warding off any Akuma who approached.
Yu seemed focused enough, though one Akuma who seemed to have the exorcist in his reach now occupied his blind spot. Reaching his large claw like hand out, he stretched it to grip Yu's ponytail.
"What the...?" Yu roared as he went to whirl around to face the monster. "You're dead!"
Yu barely had enough time to finish his sentence before the life flushed from the Akuma's eyes. Five thin knives sliced through the Akuma around where the heart would be, as if he were butter. Emiko grinned softly as she gripped the creature, twisted her hand, and pulled her hand free.
"So you do have some fight in you." Yu narrowed his eyes, annoyed it took her so long.
Emiko remained silent as the Akuma fell to the dirt ground, holding a ball of flesh in her hand which she proceeded in throwing down next to the Akuma.
"Where was that spirit about 15 minutes ago?" Alma laughed lightly as his current opponent collapsed. "So you're a Parasite-Type too!"
Emiko nodded to him with a smile, trying to ignore gore on her hand, and under her nails. She couldn't help but cringe at the feeling, quickly flicking her hand to rid herself of the carnage.
Inside the heat of the fire hit Saya hard enough that she staggered and struggled to clear her head enough to begin the search for the Innocence. She also found out quickly that the flames were indeed real as she slapped out the few flames that caught to her coat. Shaking her head to try and clear up some of the fog that settled over her with the heat she quickly began searching the house and stamping out any flames that tried to catch onto her.
"This is like finding a needle in a haystack…" She grumbled as she kicked open yet another door. "Where do I even begin?"
"Exorcist!" The Akuma shouted as Saya turned a corner and ran face to face with the one that had been trying to get into the house.
"Crap…" Saya muttered as she grabbed the door handle, wincing at the heat, and slammed the door shut before sticking a chair under the knob and running off.
"EXORCIST!" The Akuma cried as the door burst outward letting the creature out of the room.
Saya covered her face from the splinters of the door then patted herself down again to keep the flames from catching. "This is getting really old…" She grumbled as she grabbed her bow and activated it again.
The Akuma didn't give her a chance to draw. The creature's excessive speed caught Saya off guard as it wrapped a massive claw around her and threw her a wall. Before she had a chance to recover the Akuma pounced again and kicked her through the ceiling to land on the second floor above.
Saya pushed herself free of the rubble and carefully got to her feet. Her hair was singed, and her trench coat was torn. Coughing she yanked a splinter from her arm and glared.
"You are so dead…" She growled as she jumped back through the hole with her bow pulled taught; the Akuma wasn't there. Carefully she walked over the rubble on the floor of what she assumed was once a living room as she looked for the Akuma. As she looked she realized that the heat wasn't as intense on the first floor as it had been on the second floor, a small indication that the Innocence was probably on the floor above.
As she considered the possibilities the Akuma rushed her left flank. "You will die Exorcist!" It screeched.
"You first Akuma!" Saya answered back as she swiveled and released her arrow into the Akuma. She missed by a fraction and her arrow sunk into the floorboards; it exploded knocking both the Akuma and Saya several feet back and across the floors.
Saya came to a halt when her back slammed into a wall. "Alright, switching arrows…" She muttered as she pushed herself to her feet; shrapnel from the explosion had torn off her left boot. Hissing at the pain from her bare foot touching the burning floor she pulled her bow pack for another arrow.
The Akuma shot up from under a pile of wood looking slightly damaged but not enough. "I'll get you!" It cried as its hands suddenly turned into scythes.
"That's new…" Saya said as she switched her grip on the bow. "A thousand freezing arrows!" She released her string as an electric blue arrow formed and split into multiples of itself. Most missed due to the small area and the large quantity of arrows but enough hit the target and froze him in place.
"CURSE YOU!" The Akuma shouted as he tried in vain to free itself.
"That won't hold forever…" Saya muttered as she quickly ran for the stairs, stepping on the frozen sections with her bare foot when she could and hoping quickly when she couldn't until she reached the stairs and quickly raced up them. "Gotta find it, gotta find it…" She muttered over and over as she searched for the hotter parts of the house.
Suddenly the floor exploded under as the hand of the Akuma shot up and grabbed her. "I've caught you Exorcist! I'm going to slice you into little pieces!"
Saya hissed in pain as she pulled back her bow. "One chance…" She muttered as she switched her fingers to the way she would hold two arrows. "Double exploding ice arrows!"
The arrows formed again just as she released the sting and two ice arrows sunk into the face and neck of the Akuma. The freezing began instantly as Saya quickly covered her face; the Akuma exploded.
Saya was sent flying backwards where she slammed through two walls then skidded to a halt against a third. Moaning, she laid there for a moment, bleeding, beaten and burned, as she struggled to right her mind. The heat in the room where she had come to a halt was intense, almost too much to bear, that caused her to open her eyes. There, sitting on a table in the middle of the room was the Innocence ablaze in a blue and purple flame.
"Found it…" She muttered as she slowly stood and took off her now shredded trench coat. She ripped pieces off the coat and wrapped them around her hands as much as she could and still hand the mobility to grip. As soon as she was sure she was as covered as she could get she grabbed the Innocence. Instantly she was engulfed in the blue flames. The heat was unbearable but she gripped the Innocence even if she would burn alive.
"Please…" She begged as she struggled to stand. "You're safe now, I'm taking you somewhere safe until we find someone who can use you as you were intended to be used for…"
It didn't seem to work but slowly the heat began to subside and the flames that licked across her skin began to pull away. Finally the house stopped burning and the Innocence began to cool.
"Thank you…" Saya murmured with a smoke-filled voice. Slowly she made her way out of the house.
Emiko, Alma and Yu stood outside and watched as the flames subsided and died out. With their battles complete they wondered how Saya faired with hers. After a long moment of silence Emiko began to rush the house.
"Wait!" Alma cried as he grabbed a hold of the small girl. "It's not safe just to rush in, that house is unstable and the explosions probably didn't make it any better. Besides… We don't know if it's Saya that's still alive in that house or the Akuma…"
"I can't just leave her!" Emiko cried as she tried to pull away from Alma's grip.
"It doesn't look like you have to." Yu answered as he moved closer to the door of the house where a figure was emerging.
Emiko and Alma turned their attention to the door and just as Yu said there was Saya slowly making her way out of the house.
"I found it…" She murmured as she noticed them all staring at her. "It's safe…"
"Saya!" Emiko cried as she pulled free of Alma to rush her friend, but she didn't make it before Saya collapsed.
Yu did however catch Saya as she fell. As he considered her state he carefully shifted her around and hoisted her onto his back; she moaned but other than that didn't do or say anything. After shifting her weight onto his back, he held her with one arm and moved her arms over his head; they still were clenched around the Innocence. Finally he wrapped his other arm under her and began walking off.
"Let's move." He growled as he turned down the street.
"Kanda…?" Saya murmured as she lifted her head and brushed her nose in his hair as she did.
"Why are you carrying me…?"
"Because you're too slow without being injured and I'm not waiting for you." He answered.
Saya leaned her head against his shoulder again as she tried to peel her hands away from the Innocence. "I can't hold it anymore…"
Sighing Yu stopped and shifted her weight enough so he could carefully pull the Innocence from her burned hands. "You'll be lucky if you can use those ever again."
"As long as I got the Innocence before the Akuma, I don't care what happens to me." Saya answered.
Yu shook his head as he stuffed the Innocence into his coat, but now it didn't really bother him that she was resting against the burns on his back; he was smiling just a little.