Chapter 7

~Dallas~

I clenched my hands, which were now covered by my fingerless gloves, into fists, readying myself. I wouldn't actually mind going on a date with Lavi, but I wanted to prove myself. I also wanted to fight against Allen. So I would beat Lavi.

He pulled out a small hammer, and I watched in amazement as it grew and grew, towering over Lavi, and yet he still held it with ease. He noticed my amazed look, and smirked. "You ready?" He asked.

I looked into his eye. "Of course." I said, narrowing my eyes and smiling slightly.

"I'm warning you though," Lavi started, "I won't go easy on you." He finished with a wink. My smile grew.

"Fine by me." Lavi then held his hammer up, it was right above me. He jumped in the air and hit it down, I dodged, barely missing it. 'He's not joking when he says he's not going easy,' I thought. 'Okay, Innocence. Let's see what you can do.'

I ran toward Lavi and got close to him, then I punched him hard in the stomach. I saw a little blood come out of his mouth as he coughed. My eyes widened. "Oh my God! Are you okay?" I said, running toward him.

"Extend!" Lavi screamed, and before I knew it his hammer had collided with my chest. I gasped for breath as I flew into the wall, the wind was knocked out of me. Plus, my chest hurt like crap. When I looked up, I saw Lavi standing on his hammer. "You know, your not really supposed to check and see if your enemy is okay in battle." He said, smiling. I stood up slowly and wiped my mouth. He jumped off his hammer and lifted it again. "Hellfire and Ashes," He shouted, "FIRE STAMP!"

I gasped as an unnatural wind blew between us, encircling Lavi in a tornado of sand. My short skirt flew up, and my cheeks flared red as I tried furiously to keep it down. I saw Lavi smiling at me, and my blush deepened. Then I noticed an odd marking on the ground around us, glowing red. Out of the marking came a hissing and spitting dragon, made of fire. My eyes widened. The dragon launched toward me and I ran under it, toward Lavi. The whirlwind had stopped, and as the dragon chased me I flipped over Lavi, our faces inches apart. As I went over his head I snatched his headband.

When I landed on the ground I tied Lavi's headband around my wrist and turned around, facing the dragon. How the hell was I supposed to fight this? All I had as weapons were my hands, and they would surely get burnt if I tried hitting the dragon. As the fire dragon got closer I put my hands defensively above my face and closed my eyes, waiting for the burn, but it never came. I opened my eyes cautiously to see that the dragon was hitting some sort of glowing wall.

"A...shield?" I said to myself. After many failed attempts, the dragon disappeared, and Lavi stared at me, shocked. I looked around to see Allen, Ashley, and Raikou staring at me too. I felt my ears get hot. Then I turned to look at Lavi, a new determination in my eyes. I ran toward him and poked both his sides, watching him wince in pain. I remembered his headband around my wrist. "You know, your hair looks really good down like that," I said.

His crimson hair fell over his face, and he smiled crookedly before winking at me. "Thanks," He said. He swung his hammer at me and I jumped over it before slapping his cheek. He grunted. He swung his hammer again, and this time it caught my legs, causing me to fall on my face.

I got up quickly and pushed my hand out, just in case Lavi might attack me again. But as I held my hand out, something came out of my palm. A white beam of light. It pushed Lavi against the wall, and I froze in shock when he fell to the floor. He coughed and sputtered, and I heard him mumble, "Okay, you win." I walked over to him with a triumphant, yet confused smile on my face.

I bent over to help Lavi up, and he took my hand, standing before pulling me into his chest. "Whaa-," I started, but stopped as he put his lips next to my ear.

"You know, we could still go on that date if you want to," He said, causing my cheeks to blaze red. I didn't say anything as I felt his hand go down my arm, and then enclose around my wrist. Before I knew it, Lavi snatched his headband from my wrist and tied it around his head again, holding up his bangs. I stood there for a moment as he walked away before following him to the waist-high platform. He turned to me. "Think about it," He said before winking at me. Allen gave him a look as he climbed onto the platform.

"She's all yours, Beansprout." He said to Allen, patting his shoulder before sitting next to Raikou. I stayed in the training field, trying to recover from what had just happened between Lavi and me. I pushed the thoughts aside and looked up at where Allen was standing on the platform. As I looked at him, I lost my train of thought.

He had a nice muscular build, despite his slender frame. I couldn't help but stare at his chest, it was so...hot, for lack of a better word. But one thing that disturbed me was his left arm. It was completely black, with circular markings that surrounded his shoulder. I knew this arm was his anti-akuma weapon, even if I didn't understand how that could be, but there was something odd about it beyond the color. My eyes trailed from his arm to his beautiful blueish gray eyes. I looked at the red scar above his left eye. The eye that could see akuma's souls, and could sense them from miles away. The scar was red, and above his eye it had a pentacle, then it went into a line with a small curved design just below his eye. That scar also made me curious. So did his gorgeous white colored hair, but I decided that all of those things could be explained at a later time.

I met his eyes with mine and put a hand on my hip. "So, are you ready to fight?" I asked.

Allen smiled. "Well, I guess I have no choice," he said, and then he winked at me and jumped down onto the training ground. He walked ahead of me and I stood there in silence, shocked. 'Oh my gosh, Allen just winked at me!' I thought, and a tingling sensation came over my body as I got goosebumps. I stopped behind Allen and watched him turn to face me.

I watched in amazement as a ripple of green light ran down his left arm, transforming it along the way, making it look like a giant claw. The ripple spread over his whole body, and then there was a blinding flash of light, so bright that I was forced to close my eyes. When I opened them again, Allen looked completely different. His hair spiked up in the back, and he was wearing some sort of white vest thing with a silver mask nestled in the fur on the back. How was it possible for that to happen? Allen caught my surprised look and smiled.

I stood up straighter and looked him in the eyes. There was nothing said before we launched into our battle.

He slashed his claw at me mercilessly, and I dodged the attack, just barely saving myself from getting cut. As I dodged his attack I saw an opening, and took it. I swung my fist forward, aiming at his bare stomach. Before my hand could make contact though, Allen's right hand firmly gripped my wrist and twirled me in a circle. I was slightly dizzy and facing away from him. When I regained my balance I stood there for a second, a little dazed. I turned slowly just as Allen's claw was about to strike me again. I put up my hands at once, creating a shield around me.

Allen didn't seem to surprised when he found that he couldn't get trough my shield, as if he was expecting me to make that move. I was suddenly filled with anger. Was he holding back on me, just because I was a girl? I tried to punch him multiple times, but he blocked all my blows with ease. This fact made me even angrier. I grunted as I tried to punch him over and over, all the while my blows being blocked. Allen suddenly flicked his arm out fast, and a strong gust of wind pushed me back, until I fell on flat on my back. As I stood up I heard Allen shout, "Clown Belt!"

White rope rushed toward me, binding me tightly, keeping my hands and feet together in a vice like grip. I tried to break out of it, struggling against the tight binding rope as I felt myself being pulled by it. As I got closer and closer to Allen, my curiosity for as to what he was going to do with me grew. We were inches apart when the rope stopped, and I stepped forward the slightest, only to slip on the very same banana peal that Kanda had slipped on not too long ago.

I went flying into Allen, and our foreheads bashed together. It hurt like hell. I had blacked out for a few sconds, and when I came to, I was lying on top of Allen, who was wincing and had his arm, which was now back to sort of normal, resting on his forehead. We both groaned in pain. "Tie," I heard Allen say from beneath me. I was very aware of his warm, exposed chest under me as he opened his eyes and looked into mine. I froze and stared back at him. "S-sorry," I mumbled, then quickly got up from on top of Allen, and smoothed out my uniform. He soon after rose to his feet, and smiled at me.

"You really are a great fighter, Dallas." He said as we walked back to the platform. Everyone watched us, which mde my cheeks grow slightly pink.

"T-thanks...you are too," I said. Why was I stuttering? I was never usually like this. He simply smiled at me, and climbed onto the platform. I was about to follow when I saw his hand outstretched before me. I looked into his gentle eyes before smiling back at him and taking his hand gladly. After getting up onto the platform, a small object collided with the side of my head.

"OUCH!" I screamed, and looked to see a small, golden creature floating at my eye level. It had a cross engraved on it's front, and was gold all around. Golden feathered wings, and a golden tail with a little circle at the end, small golden horns, and chubby little golden legs. I was rubbing my head and heard Allen come to my side. He grabbed the floating creature gingerly into his hands.

"Timcanpy! What are you doing? You should pay more attention to where your going, it was rude of you to run into Dallas." He said to the little thing. To be honest, it was the cutest creature I had ever seen. It, or judging by it's name, he, flew up to Allen's face and nuzzled his cheek before landing down back into Allen's hands. Me, Ashley, and Raikou were all intruigued by Timcanpy, and moved closer to get a better look. We were all crowded around Allen, and Lavi joined in the small huddle too.

"What is that?" Raikou asked, watching the little creature.

"He's Timcanpy. And he's a golem. Each exorcist has their own. You should get one before your first mission," Allen said, and we all looked at eachother. "So, Tim. What's up?"

Timcanpy opened a large mouth, exposing small but razor sharp teeth with a cranking noise. He lifted his head and a small poof of light came out, then grew to a scene. It was in Komui's dreadfully messy office, and Komui was facing us. Or, rather, he was facing Timcanpy. "Allen," Komui said, "You and Kanda are going on a mission together. Come to my office for more info on the subject, mkay?"

It was a short message, and when it ended, Allen sighed. "Great. I have to go with him." He sounded exhasperated. Timcanpy flew from Allen's hands and landed on top of his head, nestling in his snowy white hair. "I've gotta go," Allen said, "See you later." And then he walked out of the training ground, taking a white shirt and putting it on along the way.

I sighed and we-Raikou, Ashley, Lavi, and I- stood in silence until Lavi spoke up. "I wonder what Komui's having them do now," He said, mostly to himself. "Well, I've gotta go do some stuff. Later." He winked at all three of us before disappearing behind the large doors.

I sighed again. "Hey, you guys wanna hang out in my room? I'm pretty worn out." Raikou and Ashley agreed, and we left the training ground, turning in the general direction of my room.

Finally, we made it to my room, and I instantly collapsed onto my bed. "Oh my goodness." I said. I slid from my bed to the floor, my back resting against the side of my bed, and Raikou and Ashley sat on the floor too. I looked around my room, and suddenly, I was depressed. "I seriously need to redecorate this room. I've seen caves that look better than this. Though that window is really pretty," I said, and then gestured toward the stain glass window with the image of a rainbow on it.

"I know!" Ashley said, instantly starting a conversation. That made me smile. "My room is horrible, it absolutely needs to be redone. What about you, Raikou?" she asked.

"Mine's okay, its not exactly what I would want though...but that's a great idea, we should do that." she said.

"Yeah, we could ask Komui if we could get the supplies and whatnot, and then we could do our rooms. We would need help, though. Maye we could ask Allen..." I trailed off. Ashley and Raikou looked at one another before looking at me again.

"Dallas, I think you like Allen." Ashley said, and my cheeks flushed.

"N-no! Well..." I smiled, "Yes." Ashley smiled and so did Raikou.

"I knew it. You're always looking at him. And you always blush when he looks at you and stuff." Raikou said. Oh God. Was it that obvious?

"Is it that obvious?" I asked them both, echoing my thoughts.

"Not really." Raikou said, and so did Ashley.

"Good. That's good. but anyway...Lavi could help us paint to. Speaking of Lavi...he's so incredibly hot. I mean, oh. My. Gosh." I said, and smiled.

"Yup, he's pretty hot..." Raikou said, and Ashley nodded her head.

"He seems like such a perv, though." Ashley said.

"I don't think he is. I think he could be really nice. I mean, he seems like a nice guy, but I think he just likes teasing us..." I said, and Raikou quickly agreed. Before we could talk any longer on the subject, however, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in," I shouted, and Lenalee opened the door.

"Komui wants to see you in his office," she said, smiling. "Ashley, Dallas, you two have your first assignment. Raikou can go to his office too, but she won't be going on the mission with you." We looked at Raikou and then back at Lenalee. She smiled at us as we stared at her in confusion.

"I'll lead the way if you like!" she said cheerfully. "That would be awesome." Ashley said, and we followed Lenalee out the door and down the hall.