Author's Note: Alright, I want to first say sorry for the long author's notes. ^^; I get really chatty sometimes for some reason. Everything I write there is sometimes the only reason the chapter's long xD But it doesn't count so I'll put more story stuff in this time.
Second, I'm back in North America. I met a lot of new friends in Taiwan, and had a lot of fun experiences. It was sad to leave, but I'm going to be better about keeping in touch and trying to go back again this time. I went to Japan in 2006 but haven't been back since then. For a week in October I'm going to Japan again. It's a good thing most of my classes are Japanese...so I'm still studying...but seeing the world is a good excuse to miss class, right? :P Haha. OK, without further ado, here's the next chapter. Hope everyone had a good summer!
Disclaimer: I don't own D-Gray Man, its characters, their names, any places, or Timcampy. Booyaka!
Chapter Twelve
Lenalee stiffened and shut the door behind her. The cheerful look had vanished from both Miranda and Komui's faces. Kisho glanced down at Shiori and frowned slightly.
"The Heart?"
"She says she had a dream about it," the young teenager explained, rubbing his head while an uncomfortable frown formed on his face. "That might not..." Komui held a finger up to his face for silence, and Kisho reluctantly closed his mouth. Komui didn't say anything for a few minutes, and the silence stretched out uncomfortably. Finally he linked his fingers together and rested his chin on them, then peered over his desk at Shiori, who still had the book in her mouth.
"Tell me about the dream, Kimura." Miranda and Lenalee were able to hear the wolf's thoughts, but as they prepared for a stream of words, they got a stream of images instead and jumped when the images first started. They were staring at Shiori but turned their attention to Kisho when he yelled in surprise.
"What the heck was that?!"
"You saw it too, Kisho?" Miranda asked softly, still startled by what she'd seen.
"Yeah! What was it? Has it happened before? What did your Innocence do to you after you got it, Shiori?"
"We've been able to hear her thoughts, and since she can't speak in a way we'd understand, it's good. This is the first time we've been able to see images she sees, though. They were from your dream, weren't they Shiori?" Lenalee asked. This whole situation was making him uncomfortable, but he saw that everyone else was tense as well and, like him, wanted to know what was going on.
Yeah, that was from my dream.
"Has your Innocence gotten stronger, maybe?" Lenalee asked thoughtfully, then explained everything she'd seen—it was just as her dream had been.
"So, you can communicate images as well as words...and you saw the Heart." Komui paused. "You're sure you didn't hear someone talking about the Heart before this, or maybe even see it somewhere? If you've seen it we need to know where immediately, Kimura. And if you saw anywhere in your dream that might tell us where it could be then I want to hear now. If the Noah Clan, Akuma, or Millennium Earl find it before us, the results will be catastrophic." Komui wasn't sure that Shiori was the Heart or that the Heart was anywhere else—the most likely candidates were Lenalee and Allen, but Allen wasn't the one under the Pope's watch. His sister was. Komui clenched a fist behind his back and watched as the wolf shook her head.
I haven't seen it anywhere before, or heard about it ever. In the dream, I wasn't in any place...it was like I was in a dark room and the Heart was there. And...you could have mentioned the Heart somewhere and that's why I had a dream...she trailed off as Komui shook his head slowly after Lenalee explained what she'd said. Komui placed his hands flat on his desk, took a deep breath, then let it out silently.
"Kimura. I realize you mean that your dream might just be coincidence, but no one here would talk about the Heart that casually." This was one of the few times Shiori had seen Komui being genuinely serious. "If you have any more dreams about the Heart, tell me immediately. Whenever anything else like this happens, come and tell me right away." Shiori gulped quietly and nodded. "Good. Now, I have a mission for you three. I've kept you too long with this conversation, so I'll just let you know that Hevlaska hasn't sensed an Innocence, and we haven't received reports of a Noah or the Millennium Earl being sighted. There has, however, been an outbreak of Akuma that we're sending you to take care of—that could mean the Earl is nearby even if we haven't had reports of him being spotted. Keep an eye out for any Innocence or Noah. That's all. Miranda has copies of the detailed mission report."
"Alright...." Lavi said, furrowing his brow. "Well, you can count on us. See you later, Lenalee." Lenalee nodded sadly as her three friends left the room. Shiori paused at the doorway and doubled back to Komui's desk, setting the book on it and opening it to the page that she'd been reading, which had an artist's illustration of what he thought, or knew, the Heart looked like. Then she turned and bounded out of the room after nudging Kisho's hand reassuringly, telling him silently that they'd be alright. Once the three exorcists' footsteps had faded down the hallway Lenalee turned to her brother and gave him a disapproving look and then looked at Kisho, who was nervously inching towards the door. He'd gotten a feeling that he shouldn't be here for the conversation that was about to take place. "Wait, Kisho. I have something to talk to you about, so please wait a moment." Kisho stopped and remained standing near the doorway, but tried not to hear what they were talking about. They began talking, but in Chinese, and he wished they had kept talking in English. Before Kisho had come to the Main Branch, he'd been at the Asia Branch, and he'd learned some Chinese while he'd been there. He was still studying it on his own and so wanted to listen in on Lenalee and Komui's conversation so he could see how much of their conversation he could understand...even though Lenalee and Komui knew Kisho was there, he still felt like he was eavesdropping. If they had spoken in English it would have been easier to ignore since he had studied it for some time already and wasn't as interested in it as he was Chinese.
"What do you think about what she saw?" She began, frowning, but Komui shook his head.
"It is very unusual that she had such a detailed dream without hearing about the Heart before. Not many have seen the Heart but some say it looks like any other Innocence, and some say it might look like this—no doubt because of its name. I've read this book before." Komui motioned towards the large volume that was still open on his desk. "If your Innocence is the Heart, then you still shouldn't go on missions....and I know that upsets you, but it's not just because we'd lose the Heart. Lenalee, if the Heart was lost, we'd lose you, and all of the exorcists."
Lenalee clasped her hands to keep them from shaking and continued. "Innocence is a strange material; it might be more sentient than we know. You think its power made Kisho able to bring Allen, Kanda, and Shiori back that time." Kisho jumped as he heard his name mentioned, and he slowly got the gist of what they were saying. "There is still a lot we don't know about Innocence. Maybe any Innocence, when its accommodator pushes him or herself, or is in danger, will do something like that! Kisho," Lenalee turned to him suddenly, switching to English, and her voice was so sharp that Kisho jumped, "Has your Innocence done anything strange, like protecting you, or healing any injuries you got?" Startled, Kisho shook his head, recalling the first time he'd activated his Innocence and almost gotten killed by an Akuma anyway because he hadn't known how to use it. Cloud Nyne had been the one to destroy all of the Akuma that had destroyed his town, and the Akuma that had almost killed him.
"Allen's stayed in particle form, healed his injury, and returned to him later but....we just can't risk it, Lenalee. You know that. If your Innocence is destroyed and it's the Heart, then all the other Innocence in the world will be destroyed and everything we've done and are doing will have been for nothing. For all of the Parasitic Accommodators the shock of losing their Innocence could be too much, not to mention the trauma of their body being destroyed from the inside out. If you don't keep the Heart safe for your sake," Komui ground his teeth and forced himself to finish his sentence, "then keep it safe for your comrades' sake. I'm sorry, Lenalee. If there was anything I could do to change this I'd change it."
"I know, brother...I'm sorry...I just hate that my friends are in danger and I can't help them. I really want to. Whenever Allen and the others go on missions, or train, sometimes I wonder why I'm still an Accommodator. But I know that I'll be ready to fight when I need to. Not if. That's why my Innocence tells me." Komui rose from his chair and stepped around his desk, approached Lenalee and in a swift movement wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Kisho suddenly became interested in a drawing of a funny-looking rabbit on the wall, wishing again that he could have waited outside.
"Now, Kisho. I have something to ask you."
"What is it, Supervisor?" Kisho asked cautiously, wondering if that was what the other exorcists called him, or if some called him Komui.
"If it makes things easier, call me Komui. It's fine," Komui added when Kisho seemed uncertain. The head of the Black Order went back around to his desk and sat, peering over his clasped hands at the young exorcist. Lenalee stood beside him quietly, but glanced down and furrowed her brow as she noticed that Kisho's expression was tense, slightly scared, and Lenalee thought he looked like a cornered animal and wondered if he didn't like talking very much. "You mentioned you got a vision that Allen, Shiori, and Kanda were in trouble?" Kisho nodded. "You also brought them back that day without using your Innocence, but an ability you seem to have. Is that true?" He asked gently when he didn't get a response.
"...Well...people said I was always a little...sensitive...but I didn't know if that was true. I might have just paid attention enough, so I could tell if someone was worried about something, or in trouble somehow. And it might not have been entirely true that I didn't use my Innocence to bring Allen, Shiori, and Kanda back. The 'sensitivity' people noticed maybe turned into being able to sense what's happening to people far away, because I've never been able to do anything like that before without it. I don't really understand it." Komui nodded.
"I see; thank you. But I'm still curious about this, to be honest." Komui noticed that Kisho still looked uncomfortable and said quickly, "I'm not going to do tests on you. For now," he added, jokingly, but deep down he did want to be able to find out more about the powers Kisho's Innocence seemed to have somehow amplified. "Just understand that if anything happens, if you have anything you want to talk about, don't be afraid to. Alright? That's what I and everyone else are here for. Reever, Johnny, Hevlaska, and any of your comrades."
"Y-yeah..." Kisho muttered, looking to the side. Lenalee squeezed his shoulder, feeling worried about him. It was the same way with all of her friends; she wanted to help them and make sure they were alright. If anything happened to any of them...Lenalee didn't know what she'd do. Even if she didn't like thinking about losing her friends, the thought kept going around and around in her head. Lenalee realized she felt protective of this kid too, even though she hadn't known him for that long. Maybe because he was a lot younger than her, like a little brother. But she believed all of her friends were family. "Will I be able to go on missions soon, Super...Komui?" Kisho started to say 'Supervisor', then corrected himself midsentence and grinned slightly as Komui and Lenalee tried not to laugh.
"Super Komui? That's a new one, but I like it," Komui said distantly, placing a hand on his chin and thinking about how he'd like being called 'Super Komui', but sighed when he realized no one would agree to call him that. "You'd like to go on missions with Shiori, correct?" Kisho looked a little embarrassed, but nodded once.
"Well, yeah, but not just her...you, Lenalee, Lavi, Allen, Chaoji, Miranda...you're all...interesting to be around." Kisho turned his head and looked at Lenalee. "I mean...a good interesting." Lenalee smiled and Kisho had to look at his feet; he wasn't used to talking so much to people about things like this.
"Well," Komui said, "partners are assigned according to their individual talents. For example, Shiori, Kanda, and Lavi were paired together on one mission because the Akuma they were fighting had ice powers and was very quick. Lavi could handle the ice using his hammer to summon fire, Kanda is extremely quick, and Shiori can slow most Akuma down with her howl. We don't assign teams based completely on bonds exorcists have with each other; that could create problems—if an exorcist is focused on aiding his or her friend more than fighting Akuma or regaining an Innocence it would put the mission and all the exorcists in jeopardy." Kisho's eyes widened and he was about to speak but Komui quickly cut him off. "Understand I didn't mean you'd never get to go on missions with her, but I won't pair both of you just because you want to have a mission together. There are all sorts of different missions for exorcists, and you'll probably be paired with her someday soon, especially since you're close to finishing your training. You've gotten better at fighting lately, I hear. You've even practiced with Lenalee, haven't you?" The young teenager nodded and Komui gave a faint smile, silently thankful that other exorcists still spoke with and trained with Lenalee even if she didn't go on missions; he was glad that she didn't have to be alone all the time.
"Yeah, we've practiced fighting together. You must have seen us or something...right?" Komui gave a slightly sinister smirk.
"I see all," he said in an ominous voice. Kisho jumped, startled, at the unsettling look in Komui's eyes but Lenalee just put a hand to her head and sighed. "I'm just joking. No one appreciates a good joke nowadays," Komui sighed sadly, then looked cheerful again. "Lenalee told me that you, Allen, Miranda, and Lavi have practiced together. Is your Innocence's form working out? Hevlaska and I both wanted to know about that." Kisho's eyes lit up and his expression changed to one of eagerness.
"Yep, I've used a sickle before and I mostly had to get used to the chain. So...you think Hevlaska will let me go on missions soon?" Komui stood once again from his desk and walked around it towards Lenalee and Kisho.
"Why don't we go find out? I already asked Hevlaska about testing you again so I think she will agree to check your Innocence."
"Hear that?" Lenalee asked cheerfully to Kisho as she saw he was eager to visit the Innocence Keeper.
"Yeah! Let's go!"
Author's Note: This chapter might have just been me explaining stuff, so it might not have been very interesting, and maybe it didn't make sense either but if you're still here thanks for reading through it! ^^ I'll stop now before I go on a Ramble Rampage. Bye for now, and Happy Labor Day Weekend!