Disclaimer: I don't own Man, just Noh.

Wrong Dimension: Four Years Ago.

-4 Years Ago-

It was a dry Winter when the first exorcist came to Yuko's shop. The name of this person: Cross Marian. With his general's uniform and black hat, covering his long red hair, he stood out in the park where he landed. People stared at him as he came to terms that he wasn't on the arc where he snuck on. "Guess I'll have to find a way back." He muttered, ignoring all the mutterings from the park goers.

He started walking around, leaving the park in it's awe of the strange man. Wandering around town, all he saw was other peoples' stares and modern day technology he never seen before. Continuing his search, he heard a small bell off in the direction of a high school just getting out for the holiday weekend. He stopped just on the other side of the street, watching teens leave the school grounds, chatting excitedly about the up coming weeks. He felt a small twitch in his jacket as he noticed one of the small amount of innocence he was carrying was reacting to one of the children before him.

'That's new. Guess this won't be a pointless side track after all' he thought to him self as he scanned the crowd before him. It was a small group of girls that caught his eye first. Most of them were laughing happily while one was looking as though she was trying, but not quite. One of the happier girls thumped the wet blanket on the back then said loudly. "We'll come to your place for the Christmas party, since you don't live with your folks." The girl just nodded then gave a weak smile at her. "Remember it's next weekend, so be sure to set up tables and we'll bring the food and drinks!" Another one of the happy girls said as they parted ways to head home and drop off their school bags. The one who is unwillingly hosting the party stood still as she watched the other's walk away then sighed.

'Is it that one?' Curiously he moved quickly across the street and started towards the girl, who was facing the other way. As she moved to walk the other way, he walked to her and intentionally bumped into her. She fell backwards and looked up at him with a shocked expression. "You okay, kid?" He said, pretending to be a normal person as he gave her a hand to get back up. She nodded nervously and slowly reached for his hand to get up.

The innocence pulsed harder inside his jacket as he lifted her to her feet. 'I guess she is the one,' he thought as he watched her dust herself off from the wet slush she got from the ground.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching." She said quickly as she moved around Cross and started down the street. Cross smirked as he watched the girl jog away from him. 'We have a winner.' He waited a moment before slowly following her back to home.

With all the luck, she never turned around and didn't live to overly far. The apartment was just a three story building to share with other families, but none the less, still a decent size for a single person in one room. "It might take some time, but, in the mean time, I should find a way back." He muttered as he moved to wander the city again.

Hours passed as he soon realized he needed to eat. Cross' habit of eat 'n' run struck as he fled a café after eating his fill. After losing the angry mob of employees and police, he stumbled down a deserted street with a fenced off area off to one side. With nothing better, he strolled by the fence and gazed past the line, finding an elaborate house on the other side, surrounded by tall industrial buildings. "Well, isn't this the strangest place for a house." Whether compelled or not, he moved down the path to the strange house and opened the doors. 'Unlock. How careless.'

"Not so."

Cross looked up to see a talk slender woman wearing an butterfly covered robe. "Not so?" He questioned the woman. She merely smiled. "The door being unlocked wasn't careless." She answered. "It's hitsuzen."

Cross raised an eye brow at the woman. "Hitsuzen, you say. How about you? What's your name?"

She continued to smile as she replied. "My name is Yuko and who might you be?"

"Cross." He said curtly as he continued to eye Yuko with an examining eye.

"Well, Cross, since you decided to come inside my shop, I'm assuming you have a wish that needs granting?" She ask, holding that business smile to her face. At this point, Cross stared at the woman with uncertainty. "What do you mean, 'wish'?" He question her.

"Is it not obvious? You're looking for a way back to where you came, am I correct?" She mused at him, drawing closer to him, making him step back away from her. "How on earth?" He was a bit shocked, but he really shouldn't be surprised he ran into someone with divination abilities. He should know, he can use magic, too.

Yuko smirked and pulled back lightly. "You already know." She smiled again and turned her back on him. "So, are you going to go back to looking for that non existing portal, or wait till I can find one for you?" She offered him, not telling him the important part of her deal.

"So you're saying you'd find this way back before I could alone?" He pried further. He wasn't going to accept the offer unless it was true.

Yuko smiled and turned to face him again. "Of course I can. But, for the service of my help, it would require an equal value to be given back in return." Cross was thinking about the possibility of finding the way back sooner but the payment would prove to be a problem to him, seeing as he never really paid a bill in his time at the Order. "How much would this payment cost?" he inquired.

"That depends, how much are you willing to leave behind to return to your world?" Again, he thought for a moment. "Are we talking money or possessions?" Yuko smiled. "I would say more along the lines of something precious to you, so a possession would be more the case." She replied back at him. He thought again for a moment. "So something of equal value to my return." He said, 'but what?' thinking to himself.

Yuko watched him for a moment. "I'll give you time to think. I'm sure what I might ask for outright might not be what you want to leave behind." She said as turned to walk back further into her home. "You can stay if you'd like, but you must find a way to pay rent if you do. Food isn't free, just so you know." Cross saw the need to pay rent as a sign that what she's offering isn't going to be cheap in anyway. As for what she said about wanting something outright meant she was asking him to leave what innocence he had behind in order to get back.

He left and started backtracking to the school girls place. Something told him it would be best to start there instead of dealing with the witch. It was getting dark as he reached the apartment complex. A couple windows were light, showing signs that one of them might be the girl's place. He walked briskly in the cold weather into the entryway where the customer desk was. There sat an slightly elderly woman, reading an soap opera magazine. He gave a slight cough to give her a reason to notice him as he continued up to the desk.

"Yes? May I help you, sir?" the lady asked him as he nodded. "One of the residents here dropped something of her's as she left school, I came to return it." He said with a straight face. "I tried to give it back to her, but she ran off before I could give it to her and I followed her here only to find I didn't have much time to get to a meeting I was supposed to get to. I should have left it here with you earlier, but I didn't think about it till now." He finished, making the story sounded as plausible as it could be.

The desk lady gave him a over look then nodded. "If you'd like, I could take it up to the young miss for you." She answered as she stood up from her seat behind the desk. He waved as he said. "No, I should give it back, it was my fault she dropped it in the first place." Again, the lady looked up at him. "If you must, but I shall call her down for you." She pushed, not letting him get to the school girl's room. As the lady dialed the number, a few moment passed before the woman told the girl that there was someone who wanted to give something back to her.

After a few more moment, a ding was heard off to the left as the shy girl came into view. She saw Cross and gave him a double take. "It's you again. Why are you here?" She asked him, still standing at least ten feet away from him. "You dropped something, I was just here to give it back to you." Cross said, un-phased by the girl's shock. "I didn't drop anything, now leave me alone!" She said as she turned and walked back up to the elevator and pressed a button. The land lady moved to Cross and sighed, "You should leave now before I call the police. If she really did drop something, just leave it on the desk and go." The older lady said briskly.

Cross may have seemed defeated by the school girl's refute against him, but as the lady said, he left the small light green crystal behind on a chain on the desk and left the building into the night.

x.x.x.x.

Young Noh stormed back into her apartment room, more irritable than she was after leaving school. Shortly after throwing herself onto her small bed, a knock was at her door and the voice of the land lady floated on through. "Ane-chan, open up, dear."

Noh sighed and heaved herself up and walked heavily to the door and unlocking the latch. "Were you worried, Mrs. Cho?" Nohane asked the old lady. Mrs. Cho lifted up the strange necklace that Cross left on the reception desk. "The gentlemen left this on my desk, claiming you dropped it earlier." Young Noh stared at the crystal, watching it pulse lightly in the darkened hallway.

"If you want, I can throw it away if it's bothersome for you." Mrs. Cho offered as Noh shook her head. "I can keep it. It's just a necklace." She gently took the chain from the land lady's hand and held it up to eye level. The light pulsed a little faster as it was now almost touching Noh's skin. It was warm and became increasingly intriguing as she nodded to Cho. "Yeah, I'll keep it." She said as she gave the older woman a gentle smile. "I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" Noh asked.

The land lady smiled back and nodded. "You know the drill, six a.m. sharp." Noh nodded and pulled back into her home and latched back up the door for the night.

Noh again slipped into her bedroom and flopped back to her bed, still holding the light green crystal necklace. "Why would he give me this?" She muttered to herself as the crystal pulsed, almost seeming like it was trying to cheer her up. Noh sigh and rolled to her back, holding the chain above her head as she continued to gaze at it from below. It swung back and forth with the movement of her hand, but never touching her skin as she examined it. "A mechanical glow piece that glows only after sitting in light for so long?"

The way the crystal looked was like two circular hollow cogs surrounding a cube of some sort, all glowing the same faint greenish white. She sighed as she couldn't get the answers out of the thing as she slowly lowered it onto her chest. Tired as she was, she didn't notice that the glow was getting brighter and slowly started to sink into her shirt and skin. It was about half way before she realized her whole body was burning and the thing was nearly dissolved into her. The burning sensation started to concentrate on to her back as she curled up onto her side, clutching where the crystal was before it disappeared into her. She screamed loudly as she rolled further onto her elbows and knees as a sudden burst of pain shot out of her back in the form of wings. White and black wings…

x.x.x.x.

Cross was back at Yuko's as he faced her once again in her doorway. "I will take your service to get back to my world and I will be leaving a small piece behind as compensation, though, you yourself will not get it. I left it with a young school girl who holds potential for being an exorcist in my world. When that day comes, be sure to send her back and I'm sure she'll pay your price when she realizes what it is." He told Yuko as she nodded and smiled.

"That's fine. When that day comes, she will not be alone when she comes back." Yuko understood what he did.

Cross soon left and returned back to the realm of exorcist and akuma, only to find Mana Walker and made a deal with him to take care of Allen after he dies.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

If this doesn't make up for all the years of not updating, nothing I come up with after this will. Chapter 11 is already in the works, since it was originally part of this chapter, but then decided to make this a whole flash back staring Cross. We'll return to Allen and the others next time in 'Closing In'. R'n'R