Welcome ladies and gents, it's another sunny day in the Kingdom of Fanfiction!
I would like to thank: JKlondy, KisaragiMaru, Yerin and cokaserbia for the favs!
As well as: JKlondy, KisaragiMaru, clairecat1994, inalitheblackfox, Yerin, YuzuhaMikoto, toriburghartgmailcom , cokaserbia, Lady Triplet and EyeInAutumn for the alerts!
And, thank you Dinosaurbones6, cokaserbia and Guest (from as far away as China!) for the wonderful reviews that keep me writing!
Hopefully, you will like this chapter!
Chapter 10: In which Kanda has a realization…
Screams. Screams. Screams. It seemed that his whole life was going to be doomed to a series of those. Usually, people ran away from the terror of the sound. They didn't like them. Not him. No. He didn't like them per se (let's face it, screaming was loud and annoying), but he liked what made them.
Maybe not liked. Enjoyed. Immensely. Kanda had known from a young age that he was different. Weird. That he wasn't like Alma. No. Alma wanted to be friends with everybody. Kanda didn't. He didn't like people. He liked silence. He liked swords. He liked to be alone. He liked danger. None of those things were suited for making friends. So, those were rare in his case.
It was during his teenage years that Kanda realized what one of his favorite things in the whole wide world was. His job. It allowed all the things that he liked: silence during the train rides and in the meditation room, weapons for protection and missions, solo work and Akuma. He lived for Akuma. Just like a lot of his Exorcist colleagues. He would probably die for the Akuma as well.
Scrambling out of the water, Kanda swiped in a practiced motion with his Mugen at the specter. It went through the gray rags, but made the creature retreat. One of the Frenchmen that it had reached for wasn't as lucky as the others. As soon as the specter was out of sight and the blood in Kanda's veins began to cool, he looked where the person used to be.
A shriveled up mess lay on the floor, sending a nasty stench to his nose. The Exorcist moved forwards, kicking at it with his boot. Rags. Skin colored rags. At least that's what it looked like. On further inspection, he noticed the colors and the strands of hair and the shoes. It was a body. A shriveled up, boneless, waterless body.
Coughing once from the stench, Kanda turned to the sobbing survivors. They looked even more terrified, if that was possible. He cursed France in his head. He was going somewhere else next. Somewhere where they spoke English.
"Stay." He ordered, as if speaking to dogs and turned to the place where the specter had vanished. It was time to find the damn thing and kill it, once and for all.
~Meanwhile with Sasha and Benjamin~
"So, any thoughts?" Sasha asked as they left the poor looking village house where Amelia and Maurice Brun lived. Benjamin stroked his beardless chin in thought for a moment. The plain-looking villager hadn't been too eager to help them, but after quite a while of Sasha convincing her that she wouldn't be turned into the authorities by them as a witch (burning was usually what stories of magic got you in these hard times, after all) she had re-told her son's story. And it had been quite a tale indeed. The youth had travelled to the neighboring village only to meet the infamous specter face to face and survive it.
"It is definitely strange for an Innocence to do something like this." He said.
"But not impossible, right?" The young woman replied instantly. The Finder shook his head.
"I don't think anything is impossible for Innocence. There is simply too much that we don't know about its capabilities. Time distortion could be a very simple thing for it. I remember a colleague telling me of an Innocence that brought an army back to life numerous times for a Lord." The Finder answered, remembering all the things that he had heard in the cafeteria and on missions. "But, how is it selecting people?"
"Citizenship?" Sasha fired off as they walked towards the village exit.
"No, quite a few merchants went missing as well." Benjamin shot the idea down.
"Gender?" The woman asked. "No, age?"
"Maybe age." The Finder nodded, grabbing the reins to their rented horses and untying them from the pole. He handed Sasha hers and gave her a boost onto the gentle animal. The young woman hiked her skirt high, cussing in an un-ladylike manner under her breath about sexism and riding. Benjamin chuckled, jumping up onto his horse and getting ready for the ride back.
"If that is so, what is the age limit? And more importantly, why is there one?" Sasha asked, turning her horse easily around, like she had been riding her whole life. To be honest, the Finder hadn't expected her to be able to ride. After all, there were few women who knew how to handle a horse properly, and their profession was definitely not a working girl. Actually, he had had to remind himself quite a few times that Sasha was, in fact, a prostitute. With her mannerisms, new clothes, sharp mind and unusual set of skills, she reminded him more of a fellow Finder than anything else.
"Maurice is eleven, making him the youngest of the vanished people." Benjamin recalled. "The next one being twenty. We can assume that the preferable age of the specter is anything except children."
Their horses slowly passed the old, creaky gates of the village and Benjamin waved at the day-guard, who saluted them back. Apparently, having Black Order identification was quite useful, no matter how small the place was. Sasha was considering borrowing the one from Kanda's coat for an indefinite period of time before she returned it. After all, old habits did die hard.
"So, what should we do next?" The young woman asked as the horses got a bit restless upon seeing the open road. True, she was all for helping the Exorcist, but in the end, she wasn't the professional here. But, luckily, her companion was.
"We find the right story for this specter." Benjamin explained. "Innocence is always tied to a human somehow. Be it in body, or emotion or some kind of a trauma, it will want to please its owner in the only way it can: by causing a phenomenon."
The young woman nodded slowly, processing the information. She brushed her hair out of her face, wishing that Annette was there to help her with it. "So, we're looking for something that happened before the phenomenon on the bridge?"
"That's the gist of it." The Finder agreed. "The more tragic, the more probable it's going to be as a cause."
Sasha gave a nod and then smiled at the man beside her. In her opinion, he wasn't as useless as he made himself out to be. Her bright grin obviously caught him off guard.
"It's a race back, then." And she gently hit her horse's sides with her heels, making him break into a run.
X
Kanda slowly came to. The first thing that he noticed was that he was in a bed. A very comfortable bed, for some reason. He wondered why they didn't have those at the Order. They provided the best to the Exorcists, after all. It was quite profitable, considering how many Exorcists died during missions. Even more with Finders. So, a couple of beds weren't too bad for the dead men working for the church.
Then, the feeling started returning to his tired muscles and Kanda groaned. No, this bed wasn't comfortable at all. It had been the mild painkillers that someone had given him. With a growl he pushed himself up in a sitting position, cursing the slower and slower healing of his body. He could remember a time when he used to grow an arm or two a day. But now, he could barely fix the most basic of the wounds without sacrificing his life.
His body was exhausted beyond belief. His muscles didn't allow him to push himself any further and the young Exorcist fell back onto his pillow. Well, what should have been his pillow. With a growl of annoyance, Kanda stayed still, hoping that his raging headache and muscle-ache would vanish. Needless to say, it didn't.
The sound of something slamming outside of the small, simple room brought him to a state of panic once more. Well, not panic of course. Kanda didn't panic. It was more of a state of unusual stress (more that his normal daily share, which was quite a bit if you took his profession into consideration).
Another sound of something being slammed rang out and Kanda pushed himself up on will alone. He scrambled out of his bed, finding Mugen easily and headed (barefoot) towards the only door, using his sword to stay upright. His exit (escape) from the simple, country-house was fast, but not painless and the Exorcist was soon outside.
The fresh air hit him like a ton of bricks and the warm morning made him feel a tad safer. Spring was in the air, making the breeze on his face warm. He looked around, still trying to piece the last couple of days together, quite disoriented. Had someone hit him on the head? If so, they will pay.
Another slamming sound drew hit attention. A young woman with copper hair was hanging the laundry to dry, slamming each piece in the air before putting it up. She was a simple village girl, as far as Kanda could tell (which was by her clothes and back). Then, she turned and the samurai felt his face slip into a frown.
It was Sasha. It had taken him a minute to recognize her. Sasha was hanging laundry. Why was she here? Where was here? Why was she hanging laundry? Whose laundry was it? Did she wash his coat? She had to after she wore it, Kanda reasoned. Wait, why would she be wearing his coat? Right, he had given it to her because of the rain.
The two stood still for a second, their eyes locked. Kanda's memories rushed back to him, and Sasha finally got over her shock.
"You shouldn't be out of bed!" She yelled (yelled, mind you) at him. She had just yelled at Yuu Kanda. And that was just a synonym for suicide. Kanda glared at her with as much hatred as he could muster, but he had to admit that it probably didn't look all that threatening. Especially because of the way she looked at him.
The young woman rushed to him, tossing the shirt that she had been straightening into the basket. She grabbed his left arm (the free one) and threw it over her shoulder, taking more of his weight that Kanda would like to admit.
"Tch. I don't need our help, whore." The samurai bit out, not seeing the grimace that flashed across her face. The young woman bitterly laughed at him.
"Sure." She helped him return back towards the house and led him into the small room that he had been in earlier. Sasha forced him into the bed (which was rather easy due to his wounds) and took away his Mugen. Kanda's head lolled back onto the poor excuse for a pillow and he kept his glare on her. "Now. Stay." She pointed her finger at him as if he were some kind of a mutt and then turned to leave.
"What happened?" His scratchy voice must've brought out some kind of maternal instinct in her or something, as she rushed out and then back in, this time carrying a tray. She placed it on the simple cupboard in the room and sat down next to Kanda on his bed carefully.
"Drink this first." Kanda struggled to raise his head to take a sip of the drink (no matter how much he hated taking orders, he needed the liquid). The girl noticed immediately and reached over him. Her left hand went under the samurai's head, pushing it up from behind, as her right held the cup that he was supposed to drink from.
The Exorcist greedily took a sip and then, after his biggest need was quenched, became painfully aware of the woman. Her thigh was pressed against his side, through the blankets, of course, but he could feel the heat radiating from her body and seeping into his cold, tired one. Her scent was all around him, but it wasn't the usual daffodil smell that she carried. It was something else, still flowery, but something different. He didn't like it, Kanda decided. He liked the normal Sasha, with her white scarf, irritating face and cheeky smile, smelling like daffodils.
"There you go." She cooed at him. Cooed, mind you. Kanda frowned once more as the young woman lowered him to the pillow. "Alright, ask your questions now. After that, we will see how you feel and if you can eat some broth. It will do you good. It's probably not as tasty as the food that you're used to at L'Eglise, but it's the best I could do with what I had here. These are poor peop-"
"Shut up." Kanda growled and cut her off. "How long have I been unconscious?" He demanded in a gruff tone.
"Almost two days." Sasha fired off, her former nervousness gone. Why in the world had she been nervous? He had never seen her nervous before. Scared, yes. Scared he could handle. Nervous, not so much.
"What the hell happened?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" The young woman gently asked, a complete one eighty to his tone. Kanda huffed, but answered.
"Coming here. I remember that asshole asking you for your time. And I remember Phillipe's story about the specter." Kanda let out a small cough and Sasha immediately reached for the drink which he tried to refuse with his hand. However, the working girl was as stubborn as the Exorcist and grabbed the back of his head with a gentle, but strong grip and brought the cup to his lips. He drank without protest. An Exorcist knew his body. After that much rest, he would need to rehabilitate himself.
"Good. That's more than Ben said that I should expect." Sasha nodded. She put the mug on the cupboard and fluffed Kanda's blanket. "He went to the center with Phillipe to check in with your Church." Kanda looked out the window, not answering. The young woman walked over to it and opened it, the warm air coming inside, smelling of spring.
"What happened?" The Exorcist managed to grit out through his teeth.
Sasha tossed him a frown, but complied. She returned to his side, reaching for his forehead to feel his temperature and began talking.
"Well, we went searching for the specter, that much you remember, yes?" Without waiting for his answer she kept speaking. "After you fell into the river and vanished we tried to find you." Sasha looked away from Kanda's eyes as she spoke, but he didn't comment on it. He would let her keep her lies to herself.
"Ben brought me back to Phillipe's where we dried off and got some breakfast. After that, we did all the research that we could from our side. We went into the Records, terribly kept, I must say, and looked for inconsistencies." The young woman explained. Kanda's eyes followed her hands as she moved them unconsciously while speaking. "We managed to figure out by noon that children weren't disappearing. We found a boy who had experienced a time shift on the bridge. He told us that he had met a woman who had told him stories about her daughter."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Kanda growled.
Sasha gave him an unimpressed look. "If you keep interrupting, I'm going to stop telling." She gave a moment's pause, but when the samurai didn't speak up, she continued. "We went searching for the woman in question and managed to find out that there had been an incident on the bridge some time ago. A young mother had killed herself, after the death of her daughter. Her child had drowned, but none of the townspeople had helped, despite hearing her cries. The mother vowed to destroy them before she was overwhelmed by her grief. We figured that the Innocence must've held her curse."
Sasha looked at Kanda to see his eyes fixed on her. She took a small and shaky breath at the intensity of his stare. Never in her life, not even in the brothel, had she had someone look at her like that. Especially a man. He was staring at her as if she was the most important thing at that moment. The rude, yet surprisingly gentle at times, man truly was a mystery to her.
"The Innocence?" He questioned, obviously forsaking her previous warning. Sasha gave him a small frown, but gave in.
"It's with Ben." It bugged him. Why did she call the stupid Finder by nickname? "Once we found out about the story, we went to the woman's old home. She had lived at the South of the town, by the graveyard. Ben found the Innocence in her daughter's grave. In the small toy that she had placed with the child." Sasha slowed down in her story, looking at her fidgeting fingers in sadness.
Kanda gave a small sigh. "Tch." He remarked. At least it was over. Sasha looked up, and then stood from his bedside quickly. She straightened out her apron, obviously borrowed from Phillipe's wife. It was strange for Kanda, to see her in something so normal. He was used to her low-cut corset and lace, along with the royal green coat. He almost missed the way her heels clacked on the pavement as she walked. Now, her footsteps were silent.
"Phillipe found you near the bridge when he went searching for us. He brought you home." She said as she busied herself with tidying up the dishes and correcting the bed sheets into perfection around him. Kanda wondered if this was what the Madam asked from her ladies at 'Les belles nuits' after they finished their official work.
"I remember the fighting." Kanda murmured to himself. Sasha's eyes connected to his, worried. He didn't need her worry. He didn't want her pity. This was his job. He was used to lying in a bed, chest slashed open as he waited for his regenerative abilities to kick in. This was nothing new.
Kanda closed his eyes and in the darkness he could see again. He could remember Mugen in his hand, pulsing, as he chased after the specter. He could recall the screams and the foreign words that were yelled out in horror as the ghost attacked its victims. He could see the way their bodies fell on the floor, like ugly, dried up, human skins. There was nothing left in them once the specter touched them. It sucked everything away.
He couldn't help the fear that had gripped him. This was the first time that he was facing something that he couldn't touch which could touch him. It could kill him in a second, yet he was powerless against it. But, he had charged forward. The Order didn't like it very much when he returned unsuccessful from a mission.
True, Komui would understand. The Chief was a good man. He would make up an excuse or two to the higher-ups and take the heat away from his Exorcists. But, Kanda wouldn't stand for that. He knew just how cruel Leverrier could be. The Inspector truly didn't care about how the Exorcists acquired the Innocence as long as they did. He thought that they were necessary casualties.
For the greater good.
How Kanda rued that sentence. He had heard it enough times already. From the scientists in the Sixth Laboratory. From some of the other Exorcists. Even from a General or two. He had pushed all those people away. After all, if you were replaceable enough to someone, sooner or later you would end up dead. And Kanda, as reckless as he was, still wasn't ready to throw his life away.
"Kanda?" The soothing voice of the working girl was awfully close compared to how far she had been when he had closed his eyes. He was going to have trouble getting used to her silent steps. He opened his eyes, successfully shutting out the screams of the people that had died in front of him.
"I killed it." The Exorcist murmured, strangely quiet. "I could cut it." The flashes of the recent fight seared into his brain from where his tired body had blocked them out. "When you removed the Innocence." He connected the dots in his head, confusing the young woman in front of him.
"Come on, drink some more." Sasha offered the cup of water once more and the samurai obliged. Despite the fact that his regeneration was working, he was still as human as she was. There was a moment of silence between them, as Sasha processed Kanda's words, obviously realizing that he had managed to defeat the specter. The samurai, though, used that time to inspect the confused woman in front of him.
Her eyes, framed with long eyelashes haunted him when he least wanted them to. They seemed to pierce right through his walls of defense. She always knew how to get under his skin. Her hair was pulled back, leaving her ears in plain sight for once. It was strange, as he was used to her having soft curls around her face. Then again, he was also used to seeing a smile on her painted lips. Yet, now, she sat there, confused, without a speck of make-up on her face, with a slight frown.
Kanda supposed that she was pretty. Not a face that he would remember if he met her on the street, but pretty, in an average, feminine way. There was always a slight pang of irritation that hit his belly when he looked at her and suddenly he realized why. The girl's bangs were cut to the middle of her forehead, usually curled in a single roll, bulging out. That had always pissed him off. Now, those same bangs lay flat on her forehead, a little to the side, where she had undoubtedly been sweeping them with her hand while hanging the laundry.
"Grow out your bangs." He growled out, irritated and hurting. Sasha looked up from her fingers to him once more, surprise on her face.
"What's wrong with my bangs?" Suddenly, she flushed. Kanda raised his hand and brushed them to the side, where she had been unconsciously swiping them towards.
"They look retarded." He bluntly commented and the young woman shot up from his bedside, like it had been made out of hot coal. Her cheeks held their blush as she gathered herself and picked up the empty cup and tray from the nightstand.
"Well, thank you for your opinion." She told him in an even voice. "Stay in bed." And then she was gone.
Kanda sighed, almost shaking his head. He didn't understand women. He was simply trying to help her. If the bangs irritated him, they surely irritated other people, too? That's what he got when he tried to be nice, for once. The Exorcist pushed those thoughts away, closing his eyes once more. Of course he knew why he was attempting to be civil to the woman. He had hired her and she had done a good job.
This surely hadn't been the first time that Kanda had paid someone to aid him with his Order work. There were one too many police officers that had gotten coin from him for information. Not to mention the number of thieves that he had paid to get tips. Yet, so far, the only person that had immersed herself in the job had been Sasha. Not to mention the fact that she had haunted him before that, even. He knew her name.
Kanda allowed for his mind to relax and enter its meditative state. From there on, he expanded his senses, searching for the presence of Sasha. He could feel the tiny creases of the blankets that she had missed earlier. He sought out the window where the spring breeze was coming in from, carrying the scent of peace. He located a couple of birds that had made a nest in the roof of Phillipe's home. And finally, he found her.
Sasha was noisily hanging out the laundry, smacking it in the air to straighten it out before putting it up. Kanda could picture that from earlier, when he had seen her doing it. Then, she had had a serene aura, at peace with the simple job. Now, her smacking was a tad irritated. She was still mad from his words.
Yet, Kanda knew that he would never be able to look at the prostitute the same way after that day. He would always see her without the heavy make-up on her face or the exposed cleavage. He would remember the young girl that was hanging out the laundry in the afternoon sun in a field of colorful flowers, in France. And for once he wouldn't mind the French one bit.
That's all folks!
Fun fact: This chapter has been sitting on my computer, 2600 words written for at least two months. I've had no inspiration for some reason xD
Onto the reviews:
Dinosaurbones6: Thank you soooo much for the lovely review and for following my story!
To be honest, I have read at least half of the KandaxOC section before I began writing. I noticed that some stories are pretty weak with character development, obviously written by someone pretty young. While I do enjoy them, I wanted to write something a bit more serious, hence Sasha came to be. My idea for a working girl as an Accommodator has been in my head since I started watching DGM and this was a perfect opportunity to put it on paper errr screen xD
I'm glad that you enjoy my writing style! And the comment about reading DGM without pictures! Oh my God, you hit me right in the heart with that one :) I try to keep my writing simple, as I'm not a native speaker, but the more I read, the bigger words I learn, and they just end up spilling on the page xD
As for Kanda, he is a challenge… I'm also writing a Gaara story for Naruto, which has proven to be quite a task, with his amount of words (even less than Kanda!). So, I expected the Exorcist to be even worse, but I find myself strangely understanding the way he is :) He' s a difficult one to write, but very fun. I hope that I'm doing him justice.
I'm flattered that you're even reading my story! I'm always open to improving my grammar and writing (I think that I wrote somewhere in an AN that I have no beta, so I'm on my own xD), so if you have any suggestions, I'm open to them :D
I hope to hear from you soon!
Cokaserbia: Lepo lepo, fala za review :D Znas kako me strecne kad vidim na mailu na telefonu da mi je neko nesto napisao :D Ma sva se obradujem!
Evo nastavka, nadam se da nisi mnogo cekala :P Ce se trudim da budem brza malo od Hoshino-sensei :D
Reci mi kako ti se cini?
Guest: 你好! Thank you so much for the lovely review! I have quite a few Chinese friends, so I'm getting very good at deciphering the meaning of some of the mistakes that you guys make when speaking English. Keep writing! That's what makes your language skills get better and better! (I'm not a native speaker myself)
Thank you for liking the connection between Kanda and Sasha that I made. I think that both of them have their own issues. And, when two broken people meet, they tend to notice that the other one is just as damaged. I don't think that Lavi or Allen could understand Sasha in a way that Kanda does. He has had his body taken away from him, experimented on and she has had her claimed by different men in her profession. I don't think that either of them realizes the depth of their connection yet (Sasha doesn't know of Kanda's past)
As for translating the story to Chinese, I'm afraid that I would be useless with that xD Unfortunately, I know very little Chinese (mostly taught to me by my guy friends, so it's pretty insulting), however, if you do find someone who is willing to attempt the translation, I'm open to it :D
Kanda is a challenge as a character, so I truly hope that I'm doing him justice xD I'm a bit worried about the romance part, as Kanda could get a tad OOC, but I will do my best with it! Sasha is also a rather complicated character, but I'm trying to keep her as real as possible :)
Until next time!