8
Personal Umbrella
A Kanda Yuu love story
Chapter Eight-Bleak Horizons
Jessica had been rather impressed when she saw the Headquarters of the Black Order. But upon seeing the inside, she was still impressed, sure, but it was for different reasons. First, she was impressed that a science department could simultaneously look like a filing room belonging to an extremely lazy and enthusiastic monster and a slave headquarters. Second, she was impressed that so many mentally unstable people could stay in a single building without imploding it.
She tuned back in to Komui's lecture. He had commenced talking about what an Exorcist was ten minutes ago. Jessica did not need this, Lavi had told her more about the Black Order than she'd originally wanted to know.
Komui gestured to his right and said something about "Hevlaska". Jessica followed him into a large room. It wasn't just large, in fact it was enormous. There was a sort of large platform with railing along the edges, which she followed Komui onto. She heard a small greeting from behind her, and jumped around to see the other three Exorcists standing there. She hadn't realised they had been following her, she thought they would've gone to their own rooms.
She turned back around and jumped out of her skin. She'd discovered who Allen had been greeting. There was a giant...thing standing in front of the platform, and it hadn't been there before. It seemed to have hands-which were more like tentacles than anything-and a face, but otherwise it was sort of like a snake. Hevlaska. She decided. Hevlaska looked at her. Well, not really, but faced her.
"So this is our new Exorcist?" She asked. Her voice was deep, in a curious way.
"Y-Yes." Jessica stuttered and nodded, feeling the question was directed at her.
The tentacle-like things shot up and around her body, pulling her towards the snakelike body of Hevlaska. Jessica made no sound, except for a small gasping noise when she had been grabbed. She had encountered a similar phenomenon in Northern France a few years ago.
"It seems to be a parasite type." Hevlaska said as the small sucker things on the ends of her tentacles grafted onto her skin.
"Gah!" Jessica exclaimed. "P-Parasite type? I thought it was E-Equipment Type?!"
Hevlaska remained silent. Jessica worked on getting her heart rate back to normal. She listened to her calm breathing for a moment, then;
"Your synchronisation rate is very low." Hevlaska told the room.
Jessica did not respond. She was holding her breath to find out what her Innocence was, if it was not her guns. A few minutes passed where nobody spoke at all, Hevlaska merely examined her Innocence. Once no one made a sound, someone started to tap quiet rhythms with their boot, and, though Jessica could not see him, she was sure that Lavi was responsible for providing her with a distraction from her impending confusion.
Ten more minutes passed quickly, they did not want to hang around for too long.
The silence was broken by Kanda muttering "Isogimasu*..."and Lavi giving him a reproachful look. Jessica smiled subconsciously; she was extremely confused by her own sudden fondness for Kanda's attitude. But she shrugged it off as she sensed Hevlaska come to a conclusion.
"Her Innocence is definitely Parasite Type, no matter what she claims, Komui." She said, speaking to the beret-topped man.
"And what is her Innocence's ability?" He asked.
Hevlaska paused for a moment.
"She is able to transfer her Innocence into any object to transform it into an Anti-Akuma weapon." She said. Lavi and Allen exchanged looks of shock.
"Really? What happens to her Innocence once this has happened?" Komui looked genuinely curious.
"It seems she is able to control it and withdraw it at will." Hevlaska whispered.
Jessica almost exclaimed, but she held her tongue. She couldn't make a disgrace of herself just because of a shock. That was an extremely useful and awesome ability she had. She immersed herself in a brief fantasy which involved killing Akuma with metal piping. When she emerged from it, she realised she was being lowered. She was dropped onto the ground, landing on her behind. She stood up slowly, seeing as she had a track record of being clumsy when overwhelmed.
"There's something else you should know, Supervisor." Hevlaska said.
Jessica gulped. She had been hoping this wouldn't come up.
"Her bones are reinforced with an unknown metal, and it may interfere with her parasitic Innocence." Hevlaska said. Jessica recognised the business-like tone.
"I see..." Komui murmured. "Thankyou, Hevlaska, but if it hasn't done so far, I do not see any danger."
Hevlaska regarded her in a calm way.
"I never said anything about it not having done so, Supervisor." She said.
Komui nodded, and gestured to the four Exorcists that they should continue this somewhere else.
"Supervisor Komui, you won't be able to take that metal out. It's designed to permanently attach itself to any surface it is poured onto, and it is immensely strong, nothing has properly broken it yet." She said once they'd exited Hevlaska's room.
"I must ask you, Jessica, what type of metal is it? It seems that you know the basics of it." He looked at her quizzically.
Jessica hesitated, opened her mouth, and closed it again. She could tell that the four men in front of her were waiting for an answer. She glanced at the ceiling, fiddling with a hole near the bottom of her waistcoat. She opened her mouth again, but no sound came out. They watched her.
"I...I don't know very much." She admitted. "All I've really been told is that it is reserved for the creating of robotic limbs only and it's a special metal. Apparently it's illegal to use it on any object besides the human body or on certain animals."
The white-clothed man pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Do you know which animals they are?" He asked.
"Er...I know that Canine, Feline and Ursine species are included in there, but I'm not sure about the others." She told him.
"I thought so." He said.
"Wait, what?" Lavi said, as Komui walked down the hallway. "What is it?"
The older man sighed.
"It is a metal named Infragillium†. It is, just as Jessica says, completely unbreakable." Komui said. "But that is irrelevant. What matters at the moment is that I need to tell the four of you something."
Jessica stared at the man, trying to detect any trace of humour on his face. Apparently, he was not joking, he was actually that changeable. She found it extremely off-putting when he suddenly grinned, and could almost read the thought before it came to his lips.
"Due to an explosion in Lavi's room, which spread into Allen and Kanda's rooms, the three of you now have nowhere to sleep, and we do not have spare rooms to accommodate you in!" He faced the three male Exorcists, who currently looked like particularly gormless fish. "So, you will be staying in Jessica's room until your rooms are repaired!"
Jessica could not believe her ears. Even though she knew what was coming, it did not make it any less shocking. She would have to share a room with three guys for an indefinite amount of time. Sharing a cabin with one guy for six weeks had been annoying enough, and that was with a guy who got up at sunrise and spent eighty percent of his time being grumpy (The other twenty percent was being murderous and slightly agreeable). God knows how she would manage with guys who slept in and spent eighty percent of their time being annoying.
"W-What?!" She spluttered, unknowing that the rest had already ceased their arguments and resorted to being merely stunned. "That is ridiculous! Surely there are other male Exorcists they could share rooms with?! I mean, there are eleven of you altogether!"
"No." Komui said, his grin widening. "Marie and Crowley cannot share their rooms. None of the Generals will share a room with their apprentices, although I did have to restrain General Tiedoll at the thought of sharing a room with Kanda." He concluded thoughtfully.
Kana twitched involuntarily. Allen nodded slightly, in agreement to Kanda's obvious discomfort. Komui's grin of madness metamorphosed into a stern glare.
"That, however, is my final word. I will not be listening to further arguments. The four of you will share a room until further notice." He pushed his glasses up his nose and walked through the door to his office.
Jessica continued to glare at the spot Komui's head had been at a few moments before. She was sure that she could sense Komui cowering in a corner somewhere in the room.
---
Kanda opened the door cautiously. He knew that Allen and Lavi were not residing inside it, but he wanted to make sure; he did not want to enter a room with either of them in it any time soon, he had already had more contact with them than any human should.
To his surprise, he found Jessica in there, sitting on her bed and looking out the window. The silver light of a full moon shone upon her already pale face, making her phthalo blue‡ eyes stand out clearer than ever. Her light blonde hair looked like starlight with a gold tint. Her whole face was dreamy, lost in reverie. Kanda stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with no attempt at gentleness. Jessica jumped at the sound and turned to look at him, her eyes reproachful, like a cat that had been reprieved of its favourite chair so that its owners could pat the dog. Kanda glared at her, and then crossed the room to the sleeping bag he'd placed there earlier; as far away from her bed as possible. Looking pointedly away from her, he slipped inside it and turned away from her. He heard her sigh and walk out of the door, closing it with a little more force than necessary. God knew where she was going, it was nearly eleven O'clock.
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*Quickly/Hurry up.
† I took it from Infragilis which is Latin for "Unbreakable" and I added the -lium because it's the ending for most metal names.
‡ I know it's kinda confusing, but that's the colour it says on my pencil, which happens to be the colour her eyes are. Just to clear things up, it's the same colour as the Windows Taskbar/Toolbar (the thing at the bottom of your screen, if you have Windows) I know that it's a lame description.
A/N: Reminder; From now on, chapters will be updated three times a week. I have no specific days yet, just three times a week. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little disjointed, but I wrote it in two 4:10 pm to 9:30 pm sessions after school.
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