Tenth Night: You're It!

Allen leaned back against the fence. Beside him Rhode was happily munching on a large swirled lollipop and swinging Lero around. Rhode had also gotten a hold of a uniform. She replaced the socks with her usual pink and purple striped ones, a red ribbon had taken the place of the tie, and her shirt was long sleeved instead of short sleeved. Today Rhode had even brought Lero with her, (who is now just an annoying, enchanted, umbrella) he had been instructed to keep quiet under pain of death.

They were currently at an amusement park. Ever since they had been promoted to exwires their workload had increased to include missions like these on the weekends. Just last week Rin, Shima, and Izumo had been sent on a mission on the coast. Allen had opted out of these missions because of Lavi and Rhode, both of which registered for cram school. Lavi had registered for regular school as well. Shiemi and Izumo ran to the group of students. Almost all of the boys we staring at Shiemi. She had apparently requested a uniform and was late because she needed help with it.

Lavi ran up to Yukio he had just arrived and was also late. He scratched his head sheepishly, "Sorry I'm late."

Yukio nodded. He had met the other teen yesterday in Mephisto's office. He had transferred from a school in England, and he would be staying in their dorm until further notice. "It's alright just don't make a habit of it." Yukio closed his binder calling to class to attention, "Alright, first we have two new members of our class. This is Lavi Jr. Bookmen, and Rhode Camelot."

Both students waved to the other members of the class.

Bon observed the students curiously, "Why are they part of our class? They didn't pass the exwire exam."

Yukio nodded, "Mister Bookmen was made an exwire when he was in England. Miss Camelot took a separate test to qualify for this particular class."

Izumo raised her hand, "But I thought that wasn't allowed."

Allen stood up from his leaning position, "It's not normally. Rhode was an exception because she's my cousin."

"But I thought you said you didn't have any family?" Shima said/asked confused.

Rhode laughed, "We're not related by blood. I'm his adopted fathers, brothers, niece."

Yukio cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're here at Meppy Land because there have been ghost sightings." Yukio continued to explain that, though there had been numerous reported sightings, there was only one ghost. They would split up into groups of two and search the park. Lavi was assigned to go with Bon and Yamada (A.K.A Hooded Person), while Allen and Rhode were a team.

Rhode and Allen walked through the streets of the park. Timcanpy flying alongside Allen and Rhode swinging Lero around. The umbrella protested this rough treatment but had learned long ago that Rhode would do whatever she wanted despite his wishes.

"LLEEROOOO! Rhodeo-Sama! STOP! LLEEROOOOO!"

Rhode giggled and stopped swinging the umbrella. Instead she opened it to shade her from the sun, though she still twirled it on her shoulder occasionally.

Allen shuddered a bit, 'It might be just me, but this place reminds me of Rhodes dimensions.'

They had been walking for quite some time when Allen stopped. He turned towards the front entrance where they had the roller coasters. His eye activated.

Lavi walked with his hands folded behind his head, chatting with Bon as he went.

"So what with the eye-patch? Are you some kinda pirate wanna-be?"

Lavi smiled mischievously, 'what story should I tell this time?' "I was in a car accident and a shard of glass got in my eye blinding it. Its got a pretty nasty scar around it now." (Lavi had spent the last few weeks catching up on modern technology)

Bon nodded not quite believing the redhead. "So why did you move to Japan?"

"Ah, Panda-jiji is a historian, so we travel the world learning about different cultures and histories." 'nine parts truth, one part lie.'

Bon just nodded, and continued looking for the ghost. Their other partner Yamada, had yet to lit a finger to help, and was contentedly play a video game while following the two boys around the park. For a while they were all content to simply look around the park.

Lavi straightened from his bent over position to look towards the front of the park by the roller coasters. "Something isn't not right." he muttered.

Bon turned towards Lavi, "Did you say something?"

Lavi plastered a grin on his face, "Are you hearing things?"

"N-"

"Anyway I'm going to look for the ghost over there." Lavi pointed at the roller coasters, "see you later!"

Allen, Rhode, and Lavi all arrived at the roller coasters at the same time. Allen and Lavi and foot, and Rhode riding on Lero. All had felt the same disturbance as the others. Allen scanned the area with his eye. What he found was not what he had expected. It was one of the Eight Demon Kings standing on top of a statue of Mephisto. He had green hair, with a lighter green spike on top of his head. His face held a bored expression as he sucked on his lollipop while taunting Rin.

Allen looked over at Rhode who was standing on Lero still licking her large swirled lollipop. "Hey Rhode! I think we've found someone who's almost as insane as yourself."

Rhode pouted, "Allen you're not thinking of replacing me are you?"

Allen laughed and shook his head, "Of course not, I need someone to bail me out when I get into trouble."

Rhode perked up at this, "Like that time with the Apocryphos?"

Allen shuddered at the mention of the sentient Innocence. "Yes like then."

Lavi nudged Allen directing his attention to the demon king who had been listening intently to their conversation.

The demon king pointed at Allen. "Who are you?"

Allen smiled politely, "I'm Allen Walker, this is my cousin Rhode Camelot, and my friend Lavi Jr. Bookmen." Allen noticed that he was holding the sword that Allen gave to Rin. "Why do you have my friends sword?"

The green haired demon looked down at the sword and shrugged, "I thought it would be amusing." The demon tossed the boring object to the ground. "Guess not."

Rin glared at the demon. "What's your problem!"

The demon rubbed his head in confusion, "I don't understand. Why are Father and big Brother so interested in you? You're not very fun at all."

"Why are you here?" Lavi asked, his curiosity kicking in.

"To play with my little brother of course. But it seems he's boring so I'll have to find another playmate."

Rin was shaking with rage. There was no reason for him to be so angry but he couldn't stop himself. Before he realized what he was doing he had drawn Kurikara and was attacking the demon. Allen watched as Rin was covered by blue flames.

The demon jumped out of the way of Rin's attack. "Uh oh, you destroyed my Brothers head."

Allen sighed, "Baka."

Lavi glanced at Allen, "You're not going to help him?"

Allen shook his head, "No, this is a lesson he needs to learn."

The threesome watched as Rin was taken apart by the demon king. It wasn't long before Kurikara was taken.

It wasn't much later when the demon stepped onto Rin's back crushing him into the ground. "Is that it? Are you done with your show?" he sighed, "how boring for me. Well, I guess I can break this now."

Allen was about to stop the demon king when someone else beat him to it.

"Devour the eight princess. Slay the serpent!" Yamada sliced down with her sword, the demon king used Kurikara to black her while jumping back. She picked up Rin and tossed him to the side out of her way. "You're Amimon King of Earth, aren't you? I wonder how a big shot demon like you got into the academy? What did Mephisto summon you?"

"I wish you'd get out of my way." Amimon said bitterly.

Yamada took a lower stance, "I wish you'd get out of my way."

Amimon tapped the sword thoughtfully on his shoulder, "Hmmm….Oh well I changed my mind." He sheathed Kurikara and tossed it to Rin.

"Hey get back here!" Yamada ran after him

"Farewell!" The Earth King called mockingly.

Yamada turned back as an afterthought, "The others will be here soon, hid the tail will ya!"

Allen, Lavi and Rhode picked their way through the carnage. Well, Allen and Lavi did, Rhode floated sitting comfortably on Lero. On the way Allen picked up the sword he had given Rin. Rin himself was kneeling in front of Kurikara.

Shiemi ran up to Rin, "Rin! Are you okay?" She reached out to touch his shoulder.

He smacked her hand away, "Don't touch me." he looked up and his face softened, "Sorry." They stood in an awkward silence. "So how are things on your end?"

Shiemi's eye's sparkled as she told him about her day with the little ghost boy, though she was sad that he disappeared. "Rin, we should definitely come back!"

He smiled, "Ow!"

Rin rubbed the back of his head where Allen hit him with the hilt of his sword. "I didn't give this to you so you could lose it."

Rin smiled sheepishly putting Kurikara back in its seal, and taking his other sword from Allen.

"Shiemi!" Yukio ran up to them, "Are you okay?"

Shiemi nodded, "I'm okay but Rin's hurt."

He turned to his brother, "Rin are yo-"

"What took you so long? Seriously Yukio it was taking you forever to get here, so I had to make a move." Yamada walked up to the group of teens. "Been a long time hasn't it?"

Yukio looked confused, "It can't be."

Rin turned to his brother, "What's going on here?"

She put a hand to her chest, "I can't go another day in this hoodie anyway." She took off her hoodie and chest bindings to reveal a voluptuous bosom, covered by a very small string bikini.

"STRIKE!" Allen hit Lavi hard on the head, "oowww! Moyashi-chan!"

"Sorry kid I'm not your classmate, I'm an inspector with the Knights of the True Cross, Vatican HQ sent me to investigate a dangerous element in the Japan branch. I'm Senior Exorcist First Class, Shura Kirigakure."

Rin, Shiemi, and Yukio looked at her with varying degrees of awe and disbelief. The moment she mentioned the Vatican, Allen and Rhode stiffened. Lavi was too busy ogling her to really care at the moment, but Allen was sure the information was not lost to him. Allen watched as she showed her identification, though she waved off Mr. Tsubaki when he was going to show her his. Allen was zoning out thinking about the Vatican of his time, wondering if they'd changed at all.

"Hey! Walker!"

Allen raised an eyebrow at the woman who had Rin tucked under her arm. He smiled tilting his head to the side, "Yes Ms. Kirigakure? Was there something you needed?"

She sighed, "Cut the crap. You and Okumura are coming with me."

Allen continued smiling, "Am I being held under suspicion for something?"

"Yeah, you are."

Allen nodded, "I understand." Rhode was sitting on Lero with her lollipop, apparently oblivious to everything going on around her while humming a creepy tune. Allen caught her eye as he left, and she nodded.

Allen walked quietly behind Shura and Yukio (who had just caught up with them), with his hands in his pockets. They had arrived at the Japan branch of The Knights of the True Cross. 'It looks kind of like the Asian Branch of the Order. I wonder if Fo is still around? If it's still intact then she should be. Maybe I'll pay her a visit sometime, she was a really good sparring partner.'

Allen broke out of his thoughts just in time to hear Mephisto greeting them.

"Welcome to the Japan Branch of The Knights of the True Cross! I haven't seen you in ages Shura, and what a surprise it is to find out you'd infiltrated our cram school to spy on us. You're disguise was inspired I had no clue."

Shura leaned towards the demon anger rolling off her in waves, "Mephisto, why don't we cut to the chase. Why'd you hid the existence of the Son of Satan from the Order?"

Mephisto put his hands up defensively, "I didn't hide anything from anyone. Yes I took him in, but it was all for the sake of the Order and its future."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We train as a weapon and use him for the Order. We exorcists have been on the defensive for far too long. With him we can take the initiative, and strike back against the demons."

Allen was seething, 'And so humans create weapons to kill demons. Demons create more demons to kill humans, and the wars go on, and the circle continues.'

Shura smirked, "You didn't answer my question, so I'll ask you one more time. Why didn't you report him to the Vatican?"

Allen resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "You work for the Vatican, do you really have to ask?"

Shura frowned at the boy, "What'd you mean?"

Allen exchanged a look with Mephisto. The demon nodded for him to continue. "The Vatican isn't interested in individual's last I checked. They care about their goal nothing more, nothing less. To them Rin is a threat like any other demon, and he will be treated like any other demon. Unless he becomes powerful, they will kill him without a second thought."

Mephisto nodded, "Well put Mister Walker."

Shura nodded, "I have one last question for you. Was Shiro Fujimoto involved in this scheme of yours?"

"There's no scheme. Fujimoto raised him until the boy became aware of his power. All I'm doing is acting as his guardian."

"I see." Shura paused, "either way I'm still going to report this. Before I do I'm going to interrogate the kid, hope you don't mind if I use the great cell."

Mephisto smirked, "Please make yourself at home. I'm sure you'll find him to be quite the amusing subject."

"Huh, you're cool as a cucumber. We'll see what your like after I'm done."

Shura was about to take Rin to the cell when Yukio interrupted.

"Wait Shura! There's no need to interrogate him. I can tell you anything you want to know."

Shura scoffed, "Yeah your a lot taller than before, but in a lot'a ways you're still the same kid I used to know." She walked off waving with Rin still tucked under her arm. "go home and get some sleep! I'm out!"

"Shura!" Yukio called.

Allen grabbed his arm, "There's nothing you can do. You might as well calm down."

Yukio sighed and shook Allen off.

Allen himself sat down by the wall.

Tim fluttered by his head.

"I'm okay Tim. It's just been a while."

They waited for quite a while before Rin and Shura emerged for the cell. Rin had a wound on his shoulder where Shura had pierced him through with her sword. Yukio ran up to his brother immediately ushering him away for medical attention.

Shura pointed at Allen with her sword, "You're next Short Stack."

Allen grumbled under his breath, following the woman into the cell. He leaned against the wall. "So what am I being convicted of this time?"

Shura raised an eyebrow, "You're awfully relaxed for someone who's being interrogated."

Allen shrugged, "I've gotten used to it."

"Committed a lot of crimes?"

Allen shook his head, "I haven't committed any crimes. My Shishou however, was a womanizing drunk who liked to gamble. I ended up cleaning up after him, this lead to many encounters with police and a lot of people wanted to know why a little kid was doing manual labor."

They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Who are you?"

Allen stood a little straighter, "That's an interesting question, but I'm afraid you need to be a little more specific."

Shura smirked, "We'll start with the basics then. Name?"

"Allen Walker."

"Age and date of birth?"

"About sixteen, I don't know when I was born."

Shura frowned, "Parents?"

"Never knew 'em."

"How'd you get the name Walker then?"

"I was adopted by Mana Walker."

"Nationality?"

"British….I think."

"You think? Where did you grow up?"

Allen shrugged, "A lot of different places in England. I didn't keep track, it wasn't really important at the time."

"What was important?"

Allen raised an eyebrow, "Survival."

"What's your deal with the Vatican?"

Allen deadpanned, "They were under the impression that I existed to follow their orders."

Shura frowned, 'If that's the case he must be an exorcist, but if that's true why wouldn't I have been informed? Just who is this kid?' "Are you an exorcist?"

'So she's come to that conclusion.' "I am. Though I would appreciate it if you would keep that outside of the Vatican's knowledge."

"Why? What'd you do?"

Allen scowled, "I didn't do anything outside of disobeying their orders a handful of times. You could say I'm in a similar position as Rin."

Shura sighed, "Would you just cut the crap and tell me the truth. Geezz this is worse than talking to Mephisto."

Allen smiled, "I not spilling my guts in the Vatican's backyard. If you want the truth you I'll give it to you, but I'm not giving it to the Vatican."

Shura narrowed her eyes, "Are you a threat to the Vatican?"

Allen took on a thoughtful expression, "Not directly. As long as they don't come after me I won't come after them."

Shura relaxed, "Great, then I don't want to know. I will be keeping an eye on you."

Allen smiled, "Of course." 'Let the games begin.'

AN: Sorry I took so long on this one, but I felt like it turned out really well. Anyway, I'll try to get another chapter out soon but I'm really busy for the next few weeks so don't hold your breath. Do you guys realized that this is halfway done? Let me know if I missed anything, or if it was confusing for you.