Chapter Ten - Dream

Before Kisho had left with Komui, Shiori had been studying the young teenager intently. Kisho was confident (too confident, and one who liked to occasionally pester people) and loved to speak his mind—loudly—but Shiori knew well that her brother was a considerate person. Even though Kisho tried to hide it, he was a bit of a softie. And since Komui had left, Lenalee's hand had moved slowly to touch Allen's hand gently.

"Has he already seen Hevlaska?" Miranda questioned from behind Lenalee, who was still sitting next to Allen's bed. Since he'd woken up somewhat her hand had withdrawn hastily to sit in her lap but she had a faint blush across her cheeks.

"Komui said that he took him before he brought him to meet us. Hevlaska accepted him as an exorcist and reported that he was synchronized to forty percent. Komui told me that he got it half a year ago," Lavi recalled, the words coming easily to his mind since, being the Junior Bookman, he always had to memorize things.

Half a year ago! So he was training at the Asia Branch for half a year... Shiori thought to herself, but Allen, Miranda, and Lenalee heard her. Kanda might have heard her too but probably had missed part of the conversation (though Shiori didn't know how far her thoughts reached).

"Oh, yeah, and as you saw it was an Equip type," Lavi continued, looking and sounding bored. "It's going to be harder than if it was a Parasite type in a few ways. He won't be able to fully synchronize with it and his synchronization is a little low, meaning it could be hard for him to handle. He has to be halfway synchronized or higher to go on missions."

"Right," Allen said quietly. Only Parasite type exorcists could fully synchronize with their Innocence—the exception was Lenalee. "Wonder what its form is. It didn't look like any weapon I've seen before and it doesn't look too big...but then, that's probably good since he isn't too tall."

"He doesn't really look too strong either...he's skinny, too," Lavi agreed, leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed.

It's a sickle. Shiori explained to Allen, who repeated the message to Lavi. Lenalee and Miranda listened even though they'd heard it already. He knew how to farm so he helped us with the crops the people grew in town. There weren't really any fighters in our town, and since farmers weren't really allowed to have weapons anyway, a sickle was as close to defending ourselves as we got. Kisho liked to use his sickle to plant stuff, too. He's actually really good at farming and even gardening, but he doesn't usually mention it to people.

Three guesses why, Lavi and Allen thought, both glad Shiori couldn't hear them think.

We both arranged flowers sometimes for our neighbors sometimes. Everyone in the town helped their neighbors with the farming if they didn't have work to do. It was a close community.

But small, Lavi thought, furrowing his brow. And most of the people didn't have anyone living outside that would try and bring them back. They were born in that town and stayed there. So why was it attacked by the Earl?

"Komui and Hevlaska made his Innocence into that form for him, probably because he was used to using it, albeit in its non-Innocence form," Allen commented thoughtfully, while Lavi snickered to himself at the thought of Kisho working with flowers, something he thought wasn't a guy thing to do.

"What else do you know about him, Shady?"

A lot...we're siblings, after all….we know pretty much everything about each other. Shiori closed her eyes and fell asleep before she could finish, worn out from the mission and her injuries. Lavi and Lenalee noticed Allen had dropped off as well, and Lenalee's hand covered Allen's as she began stroking it softly.

"Man, they're lame. Kids can never stay up late."

"I'm about ready to turn in, too, though," Miranda said, yawning slightly. "It's twelve o' clock. Goodnight, Lenalee, Lavi." She turned and looked at Allen and Shiori, said 'good night' quietly and walked quietly out of the room. Lavi stretched his arms and sighed.

"I'm going to hit the cafeteria. I'm going to see if Jerry will give me a midnight snack. You coming, Lenalee?"

"No," she replied with a smile, shaking her head, "I'm going to watch Allen for a while and make sure he's okay. I was worried, but when that kid..."

"Oh, yeah...he did some weird psychic thing and sensed where they were, then brought them back here somehow. He started concentrating really hard and held out a hand, and then green light started glowing around him. Then he collapsed and said that they were back...that's when I went running off down the hall and found them. I guess he went to Hevlaska after he'd recovered. Didn't really seem like Innocence. Maybe Komui will tell us something later." Lenalee nodded.

"Maybe. Well, goodnight Lavi."

"Yeah, goodnight. Take care of Allen, but for yours, Allen's, and everyone else in the Order's sake, don't let Komui catch you like that," the redhead snickered before departing, leaving Lenalee to jerk her hand away from Allen's again and blush even redder. To try and dispel the blush Lenalee turned his thoughts to what could have possibly made Kisho tense up like that because according to Shiori he wasn't taken by surprise all that often, but something obviously had shocked him, a lot. Lenalee was worried about him, but an emotion that was stronger than that was curiosity.

...Is this really...okay with you? The black wolf thought uncomfortably. Lenalee shook her head and smiled, rubbing shampoo into the wolf's fur and watching as the lavender scented liquid turned into lather.

"No, I don't mind. It will help you feel better and your injuries will heal better too and have less chance of leaving huge ugly scars. But you do usually take baths, though, don't you? Because you smell a little mousy. Are you sure you don't have fleas?" She asked, trying to hide a giggle. The wolf exorcist's fur was matted with curls and knots. A month ago Kanda, Allen, and Shiori had gone on an important mission to find an Innocence and they had, but a Noah had almost gotten it. A few weeks later Allen and Shiori had recovered enough to be released from the Infirmary, and almost immediately after that they'd been called to go on missions again. Today—the fifth of June—Shiori had come back dirty from a mission, and Lenalee had refused to let her go into The Black Order's baths to relax until she was completely clean. Lenalee had several buckets of cold water, which Shiori didn't mind since she was more than a little warm in her fur coat. As Lenalee rinsed the shampoo off of her with water from a bucket she relaxed and let her thoughts wander to her brother Kisho who had been accepted into the main branch of The Black Order a month ago (but had been training half a year before that), while Shiori had become one two months previous. Kisho had started his training then and was coming along well, getting stronger every day, but Shiori still had a hot feeling of worry for her little brother. Mentally slapping herself Shiori looked up towards Lenalee and answered her question.

Yes, I take baths. And I'm sure I don't have fleas. You'd know because I'd be in a really bad mood and be scratching all the time.

"When you take baths do you lick yourself?" Lenalee asked seriously, trying not to laugh as Shiori shuddered.

Definitely not! That's a cat thing.

"Do you like cats?" Shiori nodded and closed her eyes as Lenalee dumped more of the water over her head to get the shampoo off.

I do, but they always ran away from me after I got my Innocence. It was kind of sad.

Kisho had visited Shiori, Allen, and the Finder Emile (who Shiori had become friends with) while they'd been stuck in the Infirmary and told them that his training was going well. Since his Synchronization level was below fifty he couldn't go on actual missions yet until Komui and Hevlaska were sure he had a fair amount of control. Shiori was slightly anxious with anticipation today; Kisho had gone with Komui to see Hevlaska so his Innocence could be checked. If it was above fifty percent and he seemed to be able to control it well without being in too much danger he'd be able to go on his first mission soon, and when he did Shiori hoped that she'd be assigned to go with him. The two girls turned as they heard footsteps and saw that Miranda was heading for them with a bucket of water. "Good morning!" She called cheerfully. "I just thought I'd bring this, and—" she never finished; the German exorcist tripped on a rock she hadn't noticed sticking out of the ground and fell forward, her arms waving, causing the bucket of water to fly out of her hands. Lenalee shrieked as the cold water splashed over her, then darted away from Shiori as she began to shake the water off.

"I'm really very sorry for that," Miranda sniffed, apologizing for the tenth time.

"Don't worry about it, Miranda. I was just startled when I screamed; it was actually nice since today's so hot." Miranda smiled and laughed softly, then looked over at Shiori, who was silently fighting off the urge to shake herself again and get everyone wet again; the sun had mostly dried them off.

"Kimura," Miranda startled Shiori out of her thoughts, "how about I call you Shiori? We've gotten to know each other since you first came, haven't we?" Shiori barked and wagged her tail. Shiori had participated in one major mission with Kanda and Allen where they'd found an Innocence and had a run-in with a member from the Noah Clan, Lulubell. Shiori had gone on several other missions after that: one with Chaoji where a few Level Two Akuma had suddenly begun attacking a town in Russia, another with another with Kanda and Lavi in Canada where a town had started to become slowly frozen over by a Level Three Akuma (Lavi's fire attack had really come in handy when they'd fought it, but even so they, minus Kanda, had spent a week and a few days in the Infirmary), and the most recent mission just a few weeks ago where Miranda, Krory, and Shiori had investigated a small town in Germany where a strange figure had been roaming through town: people had thought it to be a lonely ghost or an evil spirit, but it had really been a Level Two Akuma who at first had seemed just to want to scare people. Once confronted by the exorcists, however, it had gone on a rampage of the town. Miranda, Shiori, and Krory had been able to stop it before it was able to kill anyone, but there had been a few injuries, though thankfully they'd all been minor thanks to the Akuma's low level. The score or so of Level One Akuma that had accompanied it some damage had been done to the town but the three exorcists had volunteered to stay and help repair it. Shiori hadn't been able to do much to help rebuild but the town's children had slowly gotten used to her in the week and a half the three exorcists stayed and enjoyed playing with her as if she was a pet, something that had made Miranda and Krory chuckle about when she wasn't watching. They could easily tell Shiori really liked kids.

The desire to go on a mission with Kisho was growing stronger, though. Shiori winced as she imagined Kisho finding out the main reason she wanted to go on a mission with him—to make sure he didn't get hurt—and knew he'd have a lot of profane things to say about it. He hated special treatment and hated when people worried even a little about him—which, Shiori thought, was probably why he didn't get annoyed by Kanda's attitude towards him. Shiori was pulled out of her thoughts as Miranda spoke and rubbed her behind the ears. "Lenalee-chan and Allen-kun are the only ones that can hear you, right? Maybe it'd work with my Time Record, but..." she trailed off as she activated her Innocence and watched as the round clock-looking object with gold orbs floating around it appeared on her right wrist. "I wonder if—maybe you could—?" The German woman flustered, not wanting to be bitten, but knew she wanted to understand her new companion a little more.

Shiori bent forward and bit through the time record, then barely had to nip Miranda's skin before a flash of green light burst forth from their Innocence. A moment later Miranda deactivated her Time Record and stared at the wolf, waiting to hear something.

I wonder if it worked. Guess I'll find out soon.

"W—wahhh!" Miranda screamed, flinging her arms out and lurching backwards in shock. The wolf rolled over, startled, then jumped to all fours and barked in surprise. "Was that you just now?" Her voice quavered as she asked. The wolf's black, bright eyes seemed to be teasing Miranda because of her reaction.

Yeah! It worked, huh? Sorry to freak you out. It must be weird the first time, but it's the way I've always had to communicate since becoming an exorcist, so I guess it doesn't surprise or startle me anymore.

"Yes..." Miranda agreed, nodding her head slightly as she calmed down and scooted back in front of the wolf. The two turned when they heard Lenalee calling to them.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! Well, are you two ready?" Miranda and Shiori glanced at each other and gave the other a knowing look. Lenalee caught the look and shook her head, sighing.

"Hmm, I see. It's a good thing Allen came with me, isn't it?" The white-haired teenager ran up beside Lenalee and gave his friends a slight smirk.

"You're asking for it," he said before invocating his Innocence at the same time Lenalee activated hers and the two charged for their temporary opponents as they invocated their Innocence and also lunged.

Shiori yawned and stared at herself in the mirror as she finished brushing her teeth. It usually took around ten minutes since Shiori had no hands, but the wolf could clumsily stick the toothbrush between her claws and brush her teeth. She always ended up getting toothpaste and water everywhere but it was easier to clean the floor than brush her teeth. Sometimes if she was tired she just tried to spread toothpaste across her teeth, get water in her mouth, and gargle.

Trudging over to the bed Shiori yawned. Her muscles were aching and would probably be worse in the morning but Shiori knew it was a good kind of exhausted. Kisho was probably feeling similarly about his training sessions, but unlike her, rarely stopped to complain. The wolf rinsed the toothpaste from her mouth and stumbled slightly out of the bathroom, wondering if she'd have a mission tomorrow. The clock on her bedside table read nine O'clock and Shiori realized the training session had run for an hour and a half. No wonder she was feeling this tired—if she did have a mission, hopefully she was going to bed early enough and would be alert for it. Pulling herself up onto the bed and nosing her way under the sheets, Shiori was asleep in a little less than a minute.

As Shiori drifted off, somehow she felt uneasy, like something peculiar, but not bad, was going to happen.

Before Shiori, there was only blackness, but a faint pink light was filtering through her eyelids. It was slowly getting brighter like she was going closer towards it. The wolf squeezed her eyes shut and thought back to when people always told her and Kisho to not look at the sun, and of course they would, and thus would have blue and red spots in their eyes for minutes afterward. Directly in the lupine exorcist's line of sight, about fifteen feet away, floated a pink mass...Shiori felt her limbs moving and soon found her nose a few feet from what appeared to be a soft pink crystallized heart. A tug of familiarity made her eyes widen and her tail begin to wag slightly—she'd seen this the moment she'd seen Tiedoll with the Innocence that had shortly later accepted Shiori as its Accommodator. The same bars, looking like jeweled rings, were rotating around the Innocence but it wasn't the same as the others. Shiori's tail stopped wagging and the familiarity that she was feeling changed to wonder.

The Innocence possessed a soft pink glow, instead of neon green, and was heart-shaped instead of cube-shaped. The wolf's dark, clear eyes reflected the soft pink glow and the heart-shaped Innocence as they continued to stare. Suddenly, however, her dark eyes squinted as the soft pink glow became hot and bright, almost a blinding red. The light went from bright red to white-hot and continued to blind Shiori until she couldn't see anything except white.

"Teach others to seek it not with the desire to win, but with the desire to help others. It's the only way to save him, to save the exorcists, and everyone in the world."

Author's Note: Phew. Finally got that chapter out. Yay! I'm happy that I did. I hope you enjoyed it. Hope that wasn't too cheesy. I can try to sound moving sometimes and end up being cheesy. First my cell phone somehow got put to snooze and I woke up at 8:54 when I had a test in my Chinese class today at 9:00. I liked sleeping in, in all honesty, because I seem to have caught "The Cold", and felt somewhat like crap today. Apparently people who travel overseas aren't used to the environment and so get sick. I didn't get sick when I went to Japan, though, and I stayed for two weeks. At the end of my first two weeks in Taiwan I got a cough. Well I won't spread it to you. A classmate of mine is sick too though and I hope I didn't give whatever I have to her. I am getting better though.

I got a 75 on my Chinese quiz today (sob). The first test I got an 85. My teacher told me to practice characters more so I did for an hour or so today...and hopefully after a while I'll get better. Going from 85 to 75 isn't good though...so wish me luck. Characters are actually fun but I need to study more. I have study time for an hour each day except today because some of the other American students were teaching English so it was just free time for those who didn't sign up to teach English. I took a nap, studied, and wrote some more. It was nice I'm slowly learning more Chinese. I've started to recognize words when people talk and hope that continues. When I learned Japanese I was in the U.S. so I didn't have the chance to have some mind-exploding crash course Japanese language learning.

I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince here! It was sooo hilarious and fun! It was English with Chinese subtitles and I saw Ron's nickname "Wan Wan" in Chinese. People laughed when Lavender called him that. Yeah it was pretty cool...I was thinking it'd be neat to hear in Chinese but I guess they haven't gotten voice actors to change it into Chinese yet. It's not even out on DVD. A movie ticket is 250 Taiwanese dollars and that's like...$7.60 U.S. dollars. Looking from American dollars most things are 'cheap' here but for Taiwan citizens that might be expensive. I just try to stay away from things 1000 Taiwan dollars and up...especially after the incident where my friends and some Taiwan students went out to dinner and we somehow bought a group meal at a Tai restaurant that was 3000 Taiwan dollars (90 U.S. dollars DX). We all paid 200 each though but I was a little stricken.

I've been buying stuff for my family and friends and I bought stuff like toothpaste and a laundry basket the first day but I've probably bought many dollars of stuff. I'm a crazy spender. I guess you buy lots of stuff in a new country though but I hope I don't go or haven't gone too crazy.

Well that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and ignore my whining. I've been cranky because I'm sick. But dun worry. I will get better soon. It's lame that I got sick. But it's ok 'cause it's just a cold. Bye for now people! :D

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