Chapter Thirty-Eight

Anita's Devotion

Exorcists POV

"THIS IS THE PLACE?" Elin's voice echoed throughout the market place as she eyed Anita's place.

"Why? It looks fancy to me." Lavi's head tilted as he looked at the structure before them.

"It…it's…a…a brothel!"

"You should have known, Elin. Remember, it's Cross."

Elin's reaction was expected for the other exorcists, who remained emotionless at the sight before them. From the complex three-story building, to the fancy lanterns hanging from the roof, to the fresh look of the place, it was kind of anticipated that Cross would choose a kind of place like this. A brothel, nonetheless.

Lavi didn't know how they were supposed to ask for Cross. Were they just going to go inside and head straight to Anita and shout, "WHERE ARE YOU HIDING CROSS?". Considering that it was GENERAL CROSS, it was never going to be easy. Lavi had a feeling that something was going to go wrong.

"Hold it right there!" A man's voice boomed when Elin and Lenalee almost stepped into the brothel. "No kids allowed in these parts!"

The man stepped out from the shadows and went before Elin, and he revealed to be a heavyset, tall, bald man with a grimace plastered on his face. His eyes were feminine, somehow, and his lips were full as well. He had purple earrings dangling from his ears, which was strange even in China, but when Elin looked down, she was greeted by a big…chest.

"He has…boobs!" Elin squeaked.

"He's a…she!" Meilin grabbed Lavi's hands as if she was deathly afraid.

The man…err..woman…cracked her fists, and Lavi and Lenalee stepped away at the sound. The woman growled once, but Elin stood her ground.

"Who're you calling kids? I'm a grown woman, and I'm not afraid of you! Now let us in, before Cross leaves his room!"

The gruff woman picked Lavi and Elin by the clothes, and held them close to her face. She then whispered, careful that no one would notice them.

"I apologize for being so rude," She told Elin. "My master has been waiting for you. I have orders to take you straight to her. You see, my master and I are supporters of the Black Order." The woman stuck out her tongue, and revealed a tattoo of the Black Rose emblem.

She then led them to the back door, where the six of them went in unnoticed. They passed through numerous rooms where boisterous laughter came from, and they went up to the third story. The gruff woman introduced herself as Mahoja, and she said that her master was Anita. Lenalee was about to ask her about Cross, but Mahoja interrupted and said that her master would answer all of their questions.

They reached a pair of intricately designed pair of sliding doors, and Mahoja opened them for the exorcists. Bookman stepped in first, and the others followed.

In the middle of the room sat a beautiful woman wearing a red flowing kimono, with a heavy-looking headdress on top of her lustrous black hair. She had purple markings around her eyes, and her lips glistened with lipstick.

"Hello," She said in a mesmerizing voice. "I am Anita. I am the owner of this establishment. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Jackpot!" Lavi shouted, while Lenalee kept on muttering that Anita was so beautiful.

Krory's, Lavi's, and Bookman's jaws dropped open at her immense beauty, while Elin, Lenalee, and Meilin all stared in awe. She was so beautiful it was hard to stare, and as she spoke you would definitely feel like you were being carried into the clouds. Everyone was so tongue-tied, none of them spoke for a moment. Anita kept on smiling vibrantly, however.

"I don't know how to say this, really," Anita was the one to speak to start a conversation. "And I know all of you have come a long way from the European Branch. I'm sorry to say this, but if you're here for General Cross, he's no longer here. General Cross is dead."

"WHAT?" Elin couldn't help but say out loud, while the others' jaws dropped even lower.

"He left for Edo, Japan a few days ago in a ship I supplied, but I found out from a few of my men that the ship was attacked by akumas. And it sank to the bottom of the sea. There were no survivors."

"Do you have any evidence to support that?" Bookman asked, in hopes that there could be a chance that they mistook Cross for dead.

"The same ship that answered their distress call was attacked by akumas as well. The ship made an attempt to save those aboard Cross's ship, but they failed. In their place, only carcasses and the poisoned waters were left."

"It…can't be…" Lenalee sank on her knees as she thought about all the people that must've died. Including Cross. Lavi, however, went forward, and spoke to Anita for everyone to hear.

"Anita…this is Cross we're talking about. He can't be dead. No, he ISN'T dead. He's one of the most powerful generals, and a couple of akumas and a shipwreck can't stop him. Who knows, he might be in Edo now."

"Lavi's right." Lenalee stood. "There isn't any harm in checking Edo. Besides, we have to find out why he came there."

"You really think he's still alive?" A tear escaped Anita's right eye.

All six of the exorcists nodded.

"Very well," Anita turned to Majoha. "Mahoja, prepare my ship. If these exorcists are continuing their search for Cross then so will I."

"Anita!" Lenalee said.

"I have supported the Black Order since the time of my mother, so let me be your patron and your guide. Besides…I want to see Cross once more."

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Allen's POV

Allen slipped away for awhile as the exorcists entered the elaborate-looking brothel. Aside from the fact that he couldn't enter anyway, he would NEVER go inside a brothel out of free will. That was one thing Allen would never live with. So he decided to go to a dark alley among the buildings, where an ark door appeared just in time. The Earl stepped out, and greeted Allen like the usual.

"Good evening, Allen!" The Earl smiled even wider.
"Good evening, Earl."

"I see you have concerns regarding the youngest exorcist yet."

"You mean Meilin? So you found out that she's still wielding an innocence fragment."

"Yes. I have my eyes, Allen."

"The akumas?"

"Yes." The Earl sat on one of the crates surrounding the two of them.

"And what do you plan to do about her? She's the biggest nuisance left. She could predict any of our actions!"

"No, that is where you are wrong, Allen. She's not much of a nuisance. Based on Lulu Bell's observations, Meilin was not able to predict her actions. Only the coming akumas."

"You mean…Meilin cannot predict a Noah's actions?"

"Yes, right you are again. And so what if she could predict coming akumas? What's the use of foreseeing them if you have no way to beat them? More akumas are rising up, Allen, and soon we will have an undefeatable army. Meilin is but a speck of my problems. Besides, Road will have a lot of fun with her in the future."

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Exorcists POV

Lenalee, Elin, Lavi, Bookman, Krory, and Meilin stood out on the port, watching as their assigned sailors walked casually towards them. Their leader was a scraggly looking man with long light brown hair, with a green bandana wrapped around his head. Elin stepped forward, intent on greeting the sailors and asking them about their occupations, but the leader laughed haughtily at her.

"Who's the little girly?" He laughed some more, and Elin's face turned immediately sour.

"Who're you calling girly? You old man! I'm an exorcist! I should be respected!" Elin started saying more, but Lenalee held her back and covered her mouth while laughing nervously. Elin thrashed around in her arms while muttering unintelligible stuff.

"So what if you're an exorcist?" The leader proceeded to mock Elin. "You won't last a minute on THIS ship!"

"Please, sir," Lenalee begged softly. "Our task is to protect all of you—"

"Protect us? And what's little-miss-scrawny going to do with all her skinny limbs?"

Elin started flailing around even more, but the leader shouted for some crates and immediately his companions laid out one in front of him. The leader sat on one side of it and laid his arm outstretched on the crate, offering Elin with a challenge of armwrestling.

"Now, there isn't gonna be any 'protecting' from any of you guys, unless miss scrawny here beats me at this."

"I accept!" Elin broke free of Lenalee's grip.

"Elin!" Lavi and Krory whispered to her to stop her. "You can't do this…we don't want to get whipped!"

"Who said there'll be any whipping?" Elin said with an evil glint in her eyes.

She sat on the opposite end of the crate, and intercepted the leader's arm with her hand. One sailor went forward and struck the crate with his hand, signaling that it was the start. At that moment both the leader and Elin started pushing against each other's arms, and muscles bulged out off the leader's arm. Elin's arm, however, remained the same.

One second hadn't even passed, and in a flash Elin's hand hit the crate with the leader's arm on top of hers, showing that she had been defeated. Lavi and Krory fainted at the idea of getting whipped, while Elin remained seated with a blank stare on her face like she lost the will to move from embarrassment. There was only silence from the exorcist while the sailors all cheered and high-fived the leader. Their shouts of triumph were suddenly interrupted when Meilin shouted, "Guys, akumas are coming! A lot of them!"

Lavi and Krory got on their feet and Elin shot up while the others prepared their innocences to battle. A level two akuma resembling a fish erupted from the water, and landed on the port. A horde of level one akumas followed behind him in the skies, and when one of them attempted to shoot Anita, Lenalee dashed to the woman's side, grasped her waist, and shot up with the use of her boots to avoid the bullets. Lavi hit that same akuma once with his hammer to keep it from doing anymore of its mischief, and immediately it exploded upon contact. Lavi then proceeded to summon his seals in a safe distance away from the others.

Krory gathered momentum before jumping by running up the port, and putting all force on his feet. He shot up a couple of feet, and he landed on his first victim. He quickly worked on draining the akuma, and using the energy he obtained from the akuma blood Krory was able to kill a couple of akumas with clawing them once with his hands.

Lenalee stayed by Anita's side, and with the help of Meilin who predicted all the harm that would happen they kept the beautiful woman safe. Every time an akuma would shoot in Anita's direction, Meilin would foresee it before the akuma could even think about it, and the next thing it knew Lenalee's boots were in its face just a split second before exploding.

Bookman chose to stay on the ground, using his heaven compass to strike the akumas above. Bookman's needles were tough things, and once he launched them there was no stopping the needles before it met its mark.

All the while the exorcists were dealing with the horde of level one akumas, Elin sat on one corner of the port, beside the level two akuma resembling the fish, and the two of them chatted like new friends.

"You're actually cute, you know?" Elin pinched the akuma's cheeks. "If only it were allowed, I'd keep you as my companion. It's a sad thing you're an akuma, really."

The akuma sniffed once. "You really think I'm cute? After this battle, do you think I could pass as a carnival prize?"

"Sure. But that's just IF you survive the battle. Remember, you're dealing with me."

"I know. Soon, we'll have to stop this conversation and fight each other. Wait a minute, why are you just talking with me instead of fighting the other akumas?"

"Nah, I saw you sneaking around behind the boats, and I told myself I'd deal with you alone. But see, I was still tired from our journey, so I'm keeping it down and promising that I only fight you tonight. And I'm talking with you, because I like to know my enemies on a personal level."

"Hmmm…I wonder which one of us would die first…" The akuma placed a finger on its chin.

"Wanna bet?" Elin raised an eyebrow. "I bet it's gonna be you. One swish of my water dagger, and you're a goner."

"I'm betting it's you," The akuma stood up and demonstrated his power. "See my hands? They have blades on them. You'll die first."

Elin stood up as well, and even for a fourteen year old exorcist she towered over the level two akuma. "Shall we find out then?"

The akuma activated its blades, and lunged towards Elin, who merely dodged to the side in order to avoid the small akuma. Then, like she'd said earlier, Elin summoned a small amount of water from the port, and from it she made a small water dagger that she immediately used to strike a hole into the akuma while it was preparing to strike once again. Instantly, the akuma exploded, and Elin cheered to herself. She turned around and saw that everyone else were done dealing with the other akumas, and she skipped happily back into Anita's group with the sailors.

The leader of the sailors who had effectively become Elin's closest enemies, who happened to be the captain of the ship, went forward and shook Lavi's hand.

"It seems that I was wrong!" He chuckled good-humoredly. "I guess you exorcists CAN protect us. It's good to have the five of you aboard."

FIVE? Elin raised an eyebrow.

"I guess we'd all be dead if the only one to protect us was miss scrawny here." The captain continued, and Elin growled. "We'll prepare the ship as fast as possible."

At his words, the other sailors shot forward and started carrying boxes of supplies to the ship to last them for the whole journey. To make sure that the job was done soon, even the exorcists helped carrying the supplies. Elin tried, too, but all she got were criticisms from her bitter enemy, the Captain.

By sunrise, all of the boxes were onboard, and the people started boarding as well. Helping each other, the sailors unfurled the sail, and immediately the boat started moving away from the port. The exorcists stood on the prow of the boat, looking ahead at the orange sky, not knowing what to expect once they got to Edo. Elin and Meilin grasped each of Lenalee's hands, both of the youngest exorcists in history sensing that something horrible was to happen on their journey.

As the six of them looked forward, Allen Walker stood in the port, his left eye activated due to the akumas surrounding him while awaiting orders, watching as the boat set sail towards Edo, Japan.

Hi guysss! Sorry for not updating for sooo long! BEEN REAAALLY BUSY! Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. (Elin's weirdness emphasized here)

Ahniya-sama

SURE! Draw Elin as much as ya like, but you have to find a way to share 'em with me, cause I want to see your drawing. ;D

Witchsoul531

Life is to important to take seriously.

I just don't get that. TT _TT

So I just wanted to say thanks to all the people who have continuously supported this fic, and...I LOVE Y'ALL! Please review! :D