WOW! It's been forever! I'M SO SORRY! OMG! Anyways, here's the next chapter (finally) go ahead and read it!~~~~

Zack whistled down at the stern of the ship, watching the water lap at the sides of the boat with a semi-smile.

" Proud of yourself, are you?" Glancing up, Zack saw Luke and grinned at him.

" Yes, actually. I'm very proud of myself." he replied and they walked together along the stern of the ship for a bit, eventually stopping and leaning on the railing. Luke raised an eyebrow at his friend, quizzically. Zack only shrugged at him. " What can I say? I like being a pain in the ass. At least I planned it out right."

" Yes, you're a brillant stratigest."

" Well, there's no need to be sarcastic." the they both smiled and laughed to one another. Zack pulled out his cigarettes and lights one up, offering one to Luke as always. And, like usual, Luke waved the offer away. Shrugging, Zack tucked the pack away, exhaling smoke into the air. " Nice night for a smoke."

" You would say something like that." Luke said, as they both gazed up at the star speckled sky, the moon glowing gently as could be. A warm summer breeze blew, tugging softly at their clothes and knocking the smoke in the air around before allowing it to drift into the air like before. " Of course, your probably right about that. It certainly is a beautiful night out tonight."

" That's what makes it a nice night for a smoke." Zack answered, exhaling smoke again like before.

" Whatever, man, whatever." Luke replied, then added thoughtfully. " Cara will kill you if she finds you smoking again"

" SH!" Zack hissed back, frantically. " Shut up. Don't tell her." he paused, giving a soft smile. " This is the first one I've had all week, and it's Friday. Remember before we adopted Cara? God! I smoked like a kitchen chimney!" he exhaled a stream of smoke again, smiling. " A pack a day, sometimes more. Man, I was screwed up then." he chuckled a bit.

" Then?" Luke asked, and Zack shoved him, sensing the joke in his voice.

" Shut up." smoke exhaled again.

" We were both pretty bad back then." Luke replied thoughtfully." You were smoking insanely and being reckless as ever. Meanwhile, I was a workaholic, so much that I didn't eat for days on end. I'm surprised I never collapsed from hunger or exhaustion." Zack thought about this.

" Yeah, you always were pretty wobbly back then. I knew you skipped meals, but I never kept track of how many." he put the cigerette between his fingers, thinking now too. " I was a pretty crappy friend for not noticing how bad it was, really."

" We both were. I did the same thing, not even trying to help you get through some of that stuff." Luke insisted on sharing the blame with Zack.

" All we really had were our jobs." Zack said, getting Luke to glance at him. " Think about it. We're both hundreds of miles from out families. Mine are all retarded fools, and yours are all stuck up snobs, you've told me that yourself." Luke nodded his head to this statement.

" I never saw you with any friends and I certainly didn't have any to bring home. No girlfriends, not married," they both laughed at this, " that's still true though. All we ever had were co workers and telemarketers calling us until after Cara came around. Work was all we had. A hunger for knowledge and justice." Luke nodded to the truth of this comment too and gave a hum of acknowledgement.

A realization went through Zack then. " We were on the road to ruin, weren't we?"

" Self-destruction, the both of us. The way you were throwing yourself into things you were bond to be killed. I was about to work myself to the bone until all that was left was my lifeless body." he said, solemn faced. Zack glanced down at his cigarette that he'd yet to put back to his lips. He watched it smoke, only half used, with sad eyes. "Cara became our little angel, didn't she?" Zack smiled and nodded to this.

" She saved our lives, Luke," Zack answered though they'd both known this for awhile, " without even being anyone other then herself, she gave us a reason to actually want to live." with that, Zack put out his cigerette, tossing it in a near by waste hummed and smiled at his friend as they watched the sky like a pair of old man at a bar.

" Speaking of that little angel, where is she? I thought she'd be sticking to Connell, you and I like glue while we were here." The tow of them began to look around, arching their necks to get a good search around different objects.

" I"m not sure." Luke admitted, then laughed. " We're pretty bad parents if we can't even keep track of our one daughter."

" Bah!" Zack spat to him. " She's not a trouble maker. She hardly ever needs to be looked after." they both straightened and prepared to look for her. " She's probably asking some sailor how the anchor works or helping some kitchen guy with food." he stretched and they began to walk off.

" Should find Connell while we're at it. Lord knows he's more likely to be up to no good then Cara is." They laughed and walked off.~~

They found her in the bow of the deck, bothering Marie and Daisya. Marie was showing her how to make Cat's Cradle with some string they had. Cara watched, mystified, then started repeating the steps with him. Quickly she became bored with this, leaping at Daisya. She grabbed onto his hood, trying to hide behind him and see how long it took him to notice her.

Of course he knew she was there, but played along to amuse Cara for the time being.

" AH! A ball!" she exclaimed with excitement, touching Daisya's Innocence. For a brief, when her hands touched it, there was a spark of white light. As quickly as it came it vanished from sight. Daisya and Marie blinked, lost as to what the light had been or even if there really had been one at all. For the moment, the both of them shrugged it off.

" It's not a ball. It's my Chariety Bell." Daisya told her, tossing his head to get her to let go of his Innocence. Cara blinked up at him in that childish way for a moment.

" It's a bell?" she inquired.

" Yes."

" Well, that's silly."

" Why's that?" Daisya was a bit annoyed that some little kid was calling him silly. Cara gave a smile and a giggle that could have even have disarmed Kanda had he been there at the time. She grabbed the Charity Bell as it swung past her, looking at it's design curiously.

" I dunno about you, Mister, but this doesn't look like any bell I've ever seen." she answered him still laughing that adorable little laugh at him.

" Cara, behave yourself." Luke said as he and Zack approached them. All of them glanced up at Luke and Zack, Cara's face instantly lighting up as she saw the two older men. She dropped the Charity Bell and ran over to them. Crouching down, Luke got a big hug from the little girl and smiled. Setting her back on her feet he patted her head, thankfully.

"We're guests here, Cara, remember your manners." Cara looked at him and nodded understanding.

" Be on your best behavior too, little one." Zack added in. Smiling, Cara went and grabbed onto Zack's waist, hugging again.

" You guys got it." she exclaimed, grinning. Sighing once, Zack stroked her hair, smiling wearily at her. Suddenly, he heard her sniffing his coat. She stepped back from him, frowning angrily at him. " You were smoking again, weren't you, Zack?" Zack looked desperately at Luke, who offered no sympathy for him.

" You dug your own grave on this one, Zack," Luke told him, shrugging," I told you she'd kill you if she found out you were smoking. You're on you own for this one, man."

" So you were smoking again!" Cara exclaimed, disgustedly, digging her small hands into another set of Zack's pockets. " So, where'd you put them, huh?"

" No,no! Come on, Cara! This is less then when I smoked during high school. Can't we just be happy for my progress thus far?" he asked, kneeling down to look her in the eyes.

They hugged again, and Zack laughed. Coming apart, Cara grinned in an unsettling way at Zack and she ran off a few feet away. Grinning still so proudly, she stuck her tongue out at him, holding up his pack of cigarettes.

" Got them!" she pronounced, boldly, then ran as Zack began to chase after her. Because of her lead, Cara made it to the edge of the deck before Zack caught her free arm.

It was too late, though. Cara threw the box over the side of the boat, and all Zack could do was watch as it fell into the sea. Zack sighed, as this was the fate of any cigarettes he left within Cara's reach.

" Man." he mumbled, kicking himself for not finishing the one he put out earlier now.

" When I say no, I mean no." Cara insisted, hands on her hips, face puffed up in a pout of displeasure. She even went so far as to stomping her foot, demanding. " You're doing well, now quit altogether and my work will be done with you." Sighing, Zack slouched against the railing, smiling at her still, even laughing at her stubbornness. Shrugging, he shook his head at her.

" You're worse then an in-law, do you realize that, Cara?" he asked her, and Cara crossed her arms.

" Be glad I am or you'll never quit, Zack." she persisted, showing a determination that Luke figured she was beginning to pick up from Zack. Zack only sighed and chuckled in a low voice. Then he straightened up. Tilting his head slightly to the side he nodded and shrugged.

" Alright, Cara," he said, patting her on the head," if you think it's time for me to quit completely, then I'll try."

"Do or do not. There is no try." Cara answered, smiling.

" Whatever you say, Master Yoda." they laughed at the Star Wars references.

In the distance, hiding but close enough to hear, was Kanda watching this all play out. Just then, Connell came around the bend, watching a bit of what happened with the young exorcist. He smiled, seeing the way Kanda watched them. There may have been a frown on his face, but he was interested in what he watched play out between Zack and Cara. Well, Connell guessed it would be a curious thing to an outsider looking in.

" Why does he let her do that?" Kanda asked, almost to himself. " He could punish her for something like that."

"Jealous, are you?" Connell asked, Kanda instantly giving him an annoyed glare.

" Why would I be?" he answered with his own flat question.

" There's no need to be snippy, it was just an observation." Connell waved away his irritation. " She is a very privileged child, and gets away with things most kids twice her age normally can't even get away with. She's nine, by the way." he added grinning, his eyes watching his boss, his boss' friend, and the daughter they shared. " They certainly baby her too. I've never seen a nine year only who gets carried around as much as she does. Then again," he spoke thoughtfully now," she's an unusual case.' Kanda looked at him,
obviously wanting more information.

" An 'unusual case'?" he asked Connell. The interrogator smiled at the exorcist and waved him away again.

" Not to be rude, but I'm not in the right to talk about it." he answered and added, pointing."If you really want to know, talk to them. Luke and the Chief might be a bit squeamish about it, but they might be willing to tell. Cara would be the best bet though." he grinned when Kanda seemed unnerved by the idea. " Not good with kids, I'm guessing? Well, despite that it's her story, she's probably the most comfortable talking about it. Then you'll understand why those two do what they do for her." Connell insisted, giving Kanda an overly friendly pat on the back. This guy reminded Kanda of that idiot, Lavi . . .

" Uncle James! Mister! What're you doing?" Cara called out form a little ways off, making the two stiffen and Connell sigh.

" Ah shit," he murmured to himself before shouting without hesitation, " playing hide and seek, Cara, what else?" The girl smiled, but still tilted her head in a questioning way at Connell. Connell swaggered up to them, Kanda just walking still watching them all, really.

" Although, it was Zack who was supposed to be seeking. You're too good at this game, Cara, why'd you have to go telling him where I was hiding?" he was clearly joking, coming up to Kanda and saying. " I told you we needed a better hiding place. Jeez . . ." Kanda got instantly irritated with Connell, especially when the interrogator threw his arm over Kanda's shoulder.

" You know, you're pretty weird, Uncle James." Cara said and Connell clenched his chest asa the joke went on.

" Uh! That hurts, Cara! You're so cruel!" he exclaimed onward, acting like a fool. Zack knelt down so Cara could give him a high five. Connell frowned, straightening from his melo-drama and shaking his head at his boss. "Somehow, I'm not surprised at you being mean to me, Chief." Zack grinned and laughed.

" As well you shouldn't be surprised, Connell." Zack replied bluntly grinning wolfishly at his employee and friend. He took quite the joy in teasing his friend as he saw fit at any time he thought appropriate. Well, it wasn't his job to be nice to them. His job was to make them better people, and if it meant pushing their buttons to any extent, he could and would take it into his own hands to push their limits.~~~

Well, that's the chapter. Most of it was to try and get an idea of what sort of back ground these characters have and the sort of relationship they have with one another. There's also some hinting at things I'm not going to get to until much later, so be patient! I assure you I'm working on it and I'll try to update more often! PLEASE DON'T DISOWN ME! T_T Anyways, now that you're done reading, REVIEW PLEASE! Thank you!