Disclaimer in previous chapters. Please see Author's Notes at the end.

NOTE: This is a CIP (Curse is Physical) chapter. CIP supposes a curse can accelerate the normal healing capabilities of the human body, but not surpass them. Please note that CIM and CIP chapters will share some content. They will simply move in different directions.

-x-

For a moment, she didn't think they were going to open the doors. Inspector Leverrier had told her to report to the infirmary in the morning, hadn't he? And this was the infirmary, the men's side, of course, she wasn't at the women's side, was she? Or perhaps she wasn't allowed in and was just supposed to place everyone inside in Time Recovery without really looking, because Kanda was sure to want his privacy right now, he had been such a private person before and-

"Are you going in or not?" the guard muttered, breaking into her train of thought, and Miranda Lotto found herself standing dumbly in front of doors that had been pulled open for her.

"Oh! Oh, yes, of course, thank you . . ." She beamed at them, ignoring their expressions on purpose, and hurried inside. They closed the doors behind her quickly, and she took another step into the room before stopping, uncertain, by the desk.

Chaoji Han was sitting there nearest the door, naked from the waist up.

Miranda averted her eyes instantly, ducking her head as soon as she realized what she was staring at. Oh! Heavens, if anyone had walked in on her like that-!

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry-"

But a quiet laugh slowly trickled through her mortification. "-right, Miranda-san. I'm just getting my arm re-wrapped."

The sailor looked quite at ease, sitting on the edge of a bed while one of the nurses bandaged his wrist and forearm. He had been injured in the fighting, having been one of the Exorcists that had gone after Kanda, and Miranda gave him a hesitant smile.

"Does it hurt terribly?"

He shook his head. Younger even than she was, he was a rather large yet short man. There were prominent muscles in his arms and chest that seemed to be hiding beneath a layer of what might have been called baby fat on someone else. His hair was under control today, and his feet were crossed at the ankles as he flexed his wrapped hand.

"Just a little stiff. I guess it got cooked a little bit. Reminds me of the time I got it caught up in rigging and the sails caught." Then he rubbed the back of his neck. "Not that a lady would know about such things," he added quietly, and she couldn't help a giggle.

"A lady wouldn't," she agreed, "but I worked at any job I could possibly find, ladylike or not. I once had a job recording the crates unloaded from the riverboats."

His smile might have been a little humoring. "I'm not sure I'd call this job any more ladylike, Miss Miranda."

"Maybe not," she agreed, as the nurse finished up with him. "But it gives me a chance to be useful. I think any job that gives me that is worthwhile."

In response, the young Chinaman glanced away, deeper into the infirmary, and she followed his gaze to a curtain drawn around a bed, behind which shadows were moving. "It's definitely worthwhile," he murmured, slipping on his shirt, and Miranda took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

It seemed inappropriate to have a conversation with someone who was dressing. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Chaoji-kun! I'm glad you're feeling better!"

"You too, Miss Miranda," came the muffled reply, as the sailor tried to finish stuffing himself and his large wrapped arm into his shirt and speak at the same time. "Be careful."

She didn't really understand his warning until she'd plucked up her courage and approached the curtain. It was doubtlessly the correct patient; the large shadow of Marie was visible around the curtains, frowning deeply. He turned to her, his eyes focusing as if they could actually see her, and she gave him a smile as well, because it seemed polite and somehow like he knew.

"Good morning, Miranda," he greeted, in a much warmer voice than his expression would have indicated. "I think we're ready for you."

At his words, she felt confident enough to approach, peeking around the curtain. General Tiedoll was there, perched on the edge of the bed, trying to cajole a remarkably recalcitrant-looking Kanda Yuu into eating his oatmeal. He was staring at the spoon with a great deal of suspicion, actually leaning away from it in an obvious form of protest, and the general sighed.

"Yuu-kun, one more bite. Make your father happy."

Despite the fact that he too was younger than her, Miranda had never thought of him that way. Quiet, angry Kanda Yuu. He didn't like her, she knew, but in a way it made her feel better. He couldn't hate her for this any more than he already did, to him she was weak and stupid and mostly useless. He would hate that so many people had to see him like this, but at the very least he didn't seem to think of her as a threat. He glanced at her when she moved more fully into his view, but it was dismissive, exactly as he might have done if he was fine.

He is fine, she reminded herself. Komui had said so. That he had healed as much as he could, and the memories and skills that he had lost would simply need to be relearned.

Until then, this was her chance to be useful to him.

"He can still eat under Time Recovery, General. Time won't stop for him while he's under the influence of my Innocence, so he can have meals at any time." He looked very thin to her, as if he had not been eating enough, and Miranda resisted the urge to come closer.

He wouldn't appreciate it once her Innocence had restored him to the way he had been right before his injury.

"He was never particularly fond of oatmeal," the general replied, sounding both disappointed and amused. "I was hoping it was a cultural dislike, but it would appear that he really doesn't like it." Regretfully the general set the spoon back in the bowl, beside which sat a bowl of what looked like miso soup. "If it is not too much trouble, I think Yuu would prefer to eat breakfast himself."

She nodded, extending her arm at once, and her Innocence responded. In only a moment she had taken on his time, and it was apparent when the process was complete. His eyes became hard and flat, and without a word to anyone, even his general, he picked up the bowl of miso soup and began to sip.

Miranda bowed her head, moving to step outside of the curtains. Chaoji was gone, and she decided that she could probably sit where he had been without being too disruptive when a warm hand caught her wrist lightly. Marie let her go when she jumped, but his expression was kind.

"You are welcome here," he told her. "Do not be shy."

She ducked her head, though he could not see how embarrassed she was, and after a moment she managed to clamp down on the urge to stammer. "I-I just don't want to be a bother."

"You are not a bother to anyone, and it is the fact that you believe that you are, and act like you are, that annoys him." He cut the harsh words with a blinding smile. "You have been assigned to him, haven't you? Is this therefore not a mission?"

It seemed a bad time to explain to him how she had reacted to her first mission, so she turned her back to Kanda, to give him some privacy, but remained beside Marie.

"I . . . you're right." The general murmured something she couldn't quite make out, and she searched for some topic of conversation. "Are you feeling better?"

A low, deep chuckle. "I am fine, Miss Miranda. Thank you for asking." But he seemed to sense her discomfort, because he stepped further from the bed and the sound of a quiet conversation. "There is something you shoul-"

He stopped suddenly and frowned more deeply, staring over her right shoulder with such intensity that she turned in spite of herself. The doors had opened, she hadn't even heard them, and it wasn't to let anyone out.

It was to let the inspector in.

More than one. Inspector Link was with Leverrier, as impeccably dressed as always, and it struck her how so many of those Order members, even Allen, had been injured but did not stay in the medical ward. Allen was having his bandages changed from his room, she was sure, and the general was far too worried about his pupils to take proper care of himself. Marie stood tall beside her though she could clearly see the outline of his wrappings through his shirt, and Chaoji had just left.

It was like Japan. The injuries they'd suffered on the ship had to be patched and borne because the greater fight was yet to come. Like they hadn't actually finished rescuing Kanda yet.

The inspectors didn't approach, stopping to speak with Matron, and Marie turned his face towards the bed. "Master," he said softly, but it seemed to be sufficient. Less than thirty seconds later Kanda passed by her, fully dressed and looking as though he had been up for hours. Then again, the long hair was gone, too short now to really even show bedhead. If he was unhappy that he hadn't had a chance to bathe he didn't show it, he simply walked towards the door, his general several steps behind.

And with no orders to the contrary, she followed. It was only when a brush of cool air chilled her left side that she realized Marie had not followed.

He wasn't allowed, then. And Kanda hadn't even greeted him, when it was clear he had been there for a long time.

Silently they marched down the halls, taking turns she hadn't even noticed before, until a set of double doors, guarded by men whose uniform marked them as specialized, came into view. A lone, straight-backed wooden chair sat beside the doors, and Leverrier paused, turning his head just enough for her to see the slope of his eye.

"You do not need him in sight to maintain Time Recovery, is that true, Miss Lotto?"

No. In fact, she was beginning to think he could be a thousand miles away and she could still do it, his time was so light. "Yes sir."

"Then remain here, if you would. If you are needed inside the chambers, you will be summoned."

And with that they party continued forward into what seemed impossibly bright lights, and she gave the guards a tremulous smile and did as she was told. Less than three minutes later she heard a gavel, and then silence.

And nothing else happened.

Ever so occasionally there was a rumble of voices, but by and large no sound escaped those chambers. It was so quiet that she could hear people approaching minutes before they became visible, and amused herself with trying to guess who that person was based on the click of the heel or the slap of a wider sole. Sometimes the person approaching turned off in one of the many halls of their new home, so there was also the game of trying to determine if they'd turned off and when-

When the first uproar came, it started her so badly she fell off the chair. It startled her more when one of those guards, easily four times more stoic looking than the ones that had been securing the infirmary, grabbed her elbow and hauled her helpfully to her feet.

"Are you all right, miss Exorcist?"

"Oh, yes, I'm-"

The man didn't let her finish, somehow managing to catch her elbow and steer her back into the chair without manhandling her. Then, even more strangely, he smiled at her.

"I expect that will happen quite often, miss Exorcist." Somehow he didn't make her seem as foolish as Chaoji had. "That Exorcist in there, is he a friend of yours?"

She just stared at him in shock. Part of her wanted to distrust him. He was clearly from Central, he had come with Inspector Leverrier and the only reason he'd be being nice to someone like her was because he wanted something-

But if that was all he wanted, it didn't really matter. She nodded, glancing unconsciously at Time Record. "Yes. He's a dear friend of mine."

The man made a sound of understanding, but didn't press her for details, and he turned out to be correct. Soon noise of varying degrees became semi-frequent, loud debates ranging from a few seconds to minutes. Whatever it was Kanda was telling them, it was obviously contentious, and it went on for hours. There was no break for lunch, which surprised her, but it wasn't as distressing as the lack of break of any kind.

"The washrooms are just down the hall on the left," the guard closest to her murmured, after she'd crossed her legs for the sixth time, and she gave him an embarrassed smile in reply. As it turned out, he was correct, but her timing was atrocious. She was just returning when she found the doors open, and already gone and far down the hall was the shape of Froi Tiedoll, his hair and stature unmistakable. She could only assume Kanda was in front of him, as he had been before, and she was gone down the hall after them before she thought to thank the guard for assisting her.

-x-

Two defeated Noah, alive.

Komui Lee tossed the files on his chair rather than his desk, which was frighteningly empty. Gone was his freedom to throw paper on every available surface; Bridget would not allow it. Thankfully she was still too angry with him to have followed him, but he pulled the door closed behind him anyway.

Kanda could not have been any clearer. Not only had he indeed been held captive by the Noah family, he had confirmed that Rhode Camelot and Skinn Boric were still alive and well.

Ignoring the implications of the Noah's regenerative power, Inspector Leverrier was going to use their survival to crucify Allen Walker. Literally, if he could get away with it. Kanda had reported killing Skinn Boric on the Ark before they captured it, and he had paid a hefty price for that victory. Four Exorcists had seen Rhode's death, and a Noah disintegrating into ash surely had to be death, didn't it?

If they could survive even that, then what did it take to kill one? Was it even possible? Or was it the Noah that chose to take a new host regardless of whether their previous was still alive or defeated? Tyki's existence was less extraordinary; he had been carried out of the Ark by the Earl, he had merely had to survive several Innocence-inflicted wounds. But the other two would have fallen into the same void as Kanda, Lavi, Chaoji . . . was it possible the Earl was able to reclaim them from that void with the other Ark?

There had to be another answer. Allen would not have brought them back as he had restored his companions. He loved Akuma, but it didn't stop him from destroying them. There would be nothing to be gained by saving the life of a Noah that was, for all intents and purposes, already dead.

And Komui refused to believe that the Musician was alive and well enough to have spared colleagues that had taken an active role in hunting him down and killing him after his failed attempt on the Earl. No, somewhere there was another answer as to why those two had survived.

His hand shot to his breast, removing the tiny book, and he headed quickly to the back wall of his workroom, tapping the number combination automatically as he scanned his notes. Kanda had given them few dates so far, not enough information. Nothing to add to his timeline save the meeting with the Earl, and a quick glance during the questioning had told him it hadn't coincided with any of the events he was tracking.

Kanda had not been significantly injured in his meeting with the Earl, then. A small blessing in all this, even if they didn't know yet when and why Kanda had suffered the damages he had. Today he had just given them the most basic of information. And that information had been staggering. Two presumed dead Noah, alive and apparently unharmed. An Akuma army containing level threes in tens of millions. The Earl pleased with a timetable that he hadn't described in enough detail for Kanda to even begin to figure out what it related to. A Noah captor that he referred to only as 'Master'. And the admittance that he had been questioned both about the Heart and the Fourteenth.

Perhaps even more terrifying, this was just the beginning of Kanda's interrogation. The worst, while not of such global importance, was yet to be shared.

The wall in front of Komui slid away to reveal a second room, half the size of the first, just as dark as his thoughts. As soon as he stepped inside, automatic lights flickered to life, and he grabbing the wide pen on the workbench and adding the Earl to his timeline of events.

Kanda told them it was warm, the Earl's summer house couldn't be in Europe proper. Komui replaced the marker, rummaging through dozens of rolled maps before the flapping wings of a golem registered between the rustling of the paper. It took another several seconds for him to realize why that soft fluttering noise seemed out of place.

Golems were forbidden from this room for obvious reasons; it was secret, and any number of staff could download and watch the footage on a golem. The only reason a golem would have breached the back room was because it was following an unauthorized visitor, to record his or her movements. And Komui could hear it flapping right over his left shoulder.

Which meant the unauthorized visitor was literally standing right behind him.

There had been no footsteps. There was no sound, no voice of triumph. It wasn't Leverrier. Or a subordinate, they wouldn't have been so quiet. It wasn't Kanda; he'd been escorted back to the infirmary for another checkup, before they had Miranda lift Time Recovery and drugged him back to sleep. Matron couldn't be done with him so quickly.

Supervisor Komui Lee was no Exorcist, but he had felt killing intent before, when the level four had found him worthy of death. What he felt now was a shadow of that, but the hair on the back of his neck was beginning to stand on end, and he started to babble the first thing that came to mind. "Think of Lenalee. She'd be lost without her big brother-"

And his silent visitor cut him off. "I am."

Standing was hard, and he couldn't bring himself to turn quite yet, so he unrolled the map he had chosen, at random, and leaned over it as his excuse. It only made the presence of General Froi Tiedoll that much more suffocating, literally pressing down on his shoulders.

And why not. They'd both seen Kanda. They both knew, without his having spoken of more than the most important facets of his captivity, a good deal of what had been done to him. The normally silent and uncooperative Kanda now answered questions. He exercised patience. But worse, he acknowledged Leverrier as having authority, and he was for the most part obedient to it.

And he wasn't behaving that way because Miranda's Innocence had magically granted him tolerance.

Kanda had not merely been locked in a room and beaten from time to time. He had been forced to interact with his Noah captors regularly. He had been included in conversations and daily tasks, had been asked to complete tasks of his own. It went far beyond basic torture or even brainwashing. What had happened to Kanda was far worse, and whatever the specifics, the fact that the Noah had accomplished it in six weeks – and then followed it with what should have been a lethal injury, the last in a series of injuries that should have been lethal -

Miranda's Innocence could return his memories, his skills, his language and his coordination, but it had failed to restore him to his best state. It seemed not even Innocence was powerful enough to give Kanda wholly back to them. What the Noah had taken from him was well and truly gone.

"Where is it?"

So Tiedoll had been up to Kanda's quarters, then. Komui stared at the land masses on his random map without seeing them. "Safe."

Something heavy struck the bench. "Out of sight, out of mind?"

He had never heard such tightly coiled fury in Froi Tiedoll's voice, and he swallowed around a suddenly dry mouth. He didn't dare look to see what it was the general had deposited on the bench. It was probably Maker of Eden, and it probably meant he would rip the entire lab apart to find what he was looking for.

"It was never out of sight." He was not struck down when he moved to the left wall, opening one of a series of wooden compartments. The entire wall looked like nothing more than a built out collection of shelves and drawers, but his predecessor had created a vault behind each one, locked with a rotating sphere that had to be rolled to certain numbers. The combinations were complex and he had rarely used the larger vaults but he had memorized this one long ago, and in only a moment he had it open.

The general could see, after all. See the timelines, see the map of the world on the opposite wall. It was just his worry talking. "His curse will become public knowledge. You know that."

Tiedoll chose to remain silent as the object in the vault was gently lifted out, and the golem that had been watching it remained folded inside, still recording. Carefully rotating the item, he used his elbow to close the vault door, then he turned, offering the article in his hand reverently to the general.

The hourglass was nearly balanced now. Seven of its petals lay at the bottom, swaying gently in the current moving it had created, and Froi Tiedoll inspected it for a long moment before tucking it safely against his chest. No shock, no yelling. No tears.

Not yet.

The tattoo had already warned him there had been a cost, beyond his current state. Four of them. More petals had been lost from the lotus in six weeks than all the rest of the time put together. The general had already had an idea of what he would see when he was confronted with that hourglass. He would save his mourning until after he had seen to his pupil's comfort, just as he had remained silent and steadfast during the questioning

But perhaps the general didn't quite realize, yet, just how hard tomorrow was going to be. Today they had merely asked him about the most important facets of his captivity. Who he had interacted with, if he had shared any dangerous or confidential information, and what he had learned of the Earl's plans. Tomorrow, Leverrier would take him back to the beginning, and force him to walk them through those six weeks, one day at a time. Force him to reveal every mistake, every weakness, every conversation and every interaction.

And Kanda as he was now might even tell them.

"He was taken on the fourteenth of January, during a mission with Allen Walker and Arystar Krory." Komui gestured at the timeline, clearly marking the date. Six days in there was an ugly red dot. "He lost the first petal there, on the nineteenth. The second was lost February 13th, the third February 18th, and the fourth on the 24th."

The general simply stared at the butcher paper that covered that wall, upon which dates, exact times, and events had been painstakingly recorded. His inspection paused on the twenty-first of January, where a green bracket had been linked it to next two days.

Sharp eyes. "Beginning around eight am, the hourglass underwent a series of physical shocks, that ended there, on the twenty-third." Another green bracket extended from Feb. 13th almost two days. "I don't know what it meant," he continued into the awkward silence. "The hourglass reacted physically to something. It almost fell off the bench at one point, the vibrations were so intense." Once he'd tethered it in clamps he'd still feared that it would crack. "It's only a guess, but I would imagine someone tried to separate Kanda from the lotus."

Tried and failed. The lotus had not appeared damaged by the activity, nor the wood or glass of the hourglass, but that hadn't prevented him from fearing the worst.

What it probably meant was that the enemy knew about Kanda's curse as well. The only aspect of it that he had protected was the flower itself. Neither Central nor the Earl knew of its existence, unless Kanda had told them. The Earl's magicians might know he was tied to something, which is why they would have tried to sever that tie, but in the end they would have no idea what the fetish was. And as long as Central believed the tattoo was all there was to Kanda's curse, there would be no investigation.

But it seemed as though the general was hell-bent on returning the thing to Kanda, and with him home, with him safe, Komui really didn't need to keep it under lock and key. Still, if the inspector saw it there and made the leap-

Like Mugen, that lotus had kept his hope alive. That Kanda was surviving. That they would be able to bring him home. But it had also served its purpose as a timepiece, reminding him that Kanda would only be alive for so much longer. That terrible things were happening to him, day after day, while they struggled to find him.

While he struggled to find him.

He glanced at the wall map again, his failure. There were pins of every color decorating most of Europe and parts of Asia and the Middle East. Every lead, every possible sighting, every clue and even just hunches. He had called in so many favors with the Order and with groups outside of it, when Leverrier had tied his hands or began to observe too closely.

Two of those pins were in Yugoslavia. Two of those pins were practically on top of the Noah's estate, where so many Exorcists had fought and nearly died.

The heads of the pins had been painted red, to tell him that his informants had died, but the map was littered with red pins. More than he had had the time or resources to check. No site had been excluded, but he had put them in order of probability, and that estate had not been high enough on his list.

Beside the wall map was his neat handwriting, again on the butcher paper, detailing all events related to the pins. Dates, locations, names and places. A color key and personnel list. Tiedoll took it all in, the chill never leaving his carriage, and without another word he turned and left, the hourglass still clutched to his jacketed chest. The golem followed him obediently, and Komui listened to the wingbeats grow fainter and fainter before slumping bonelessly against the bench, gripping the edge with shaking hands.

-x-

Author's Notes: Like I said in the CIM chapter, I know you folks are dying to get to the good part – interactions with Kanda and a core group of those Exorcists involved. Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, Komui. It's coming, I promise. But first we had to get him at least cleared of any serious transgressions, and though it wasn't apparent exactly what he said in this chapter, if you want to look back at the CIM chapter, you can read Kanda's questioning in all its gory detail.

To be honest, I think pretty much everyone is reading both versions anyway, but I did warn you that one of these branches would be sad, and that aversion might have forced a few brave souls to choose just one path or the other. I'm rather curious – IS anyone out there only reading the CIP chapters?

At least we've gotten a glimpse of what Komui was doing, which should clear up some of the anger and OOC-ness that seemed to be prevalent in the beginning of this short, simple story. Komui tried, but his hands were pretty well tied.

I apologize for the lateness, and I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! I think you guys are really going to want to beat me after next chapter, though. ; )