A/N: Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows. A lot of stuff happens in this chapter...

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It wasn't long at all before Allen and Kanda arrived at the clearing that housed the small shrine. They stopped at the edge of the forest and surveyed the scene before proceeding. The shrine itself wasn't much to look at, just a whitewashed stone structure that was slightly taller than Allen, with a red tiled roof topped with a cross, housing a small statue of the Virgin Mary. The clearing was just as maintained as the path, and the colorful flowers that were arranged around the shrine were clearly planted deliberately and were well cared for by the people from the village. And though they were subtle, the signs of past akuma attacks were easily recognized by the exorcists.

One unspoken conversation later, and they knew that the first thing that they needed to do was get some privacy. Allen smiled charmingly at Jakub and did his best to convince the man to leave, which wasn't going to be an easy task if the man's reaction to his morning sickness was any indication. "Thank you for bringing us here. You should head back to the village now."

While Jakub knew that he needed to let them do their jobs, he also knew that both exorcists were barely more than children, and he could not, in good conscience, abandon them there. "But I cannot just leave you here! What if-"

Allen cursed inwardly over being right about Jakub's protectiveness, but he masked his irritation and switched tactics. "We're going to lure out the akuma. It's going to get messy, and we don't want you to get hurt in the crossfire. Your village has suffered enough; they don't need to lose anyone else. Let us do our jobs, and we'll catch up to you when we're done."

Jakub finally left once he was convinced that it was for his own safety, though the exorcists could tell that he wasn't going to actually go back to the village. He was going to stop and wait for them as soon as he was out of their line of sight. It was annoying, but at least he was gone and they could talk freely.

The moment they were alone, Kanda pounced on the question he'd been dying to ask for the last hour. He brushed a hand into Allen's soft white hair, making the younger look up at him. "Don't consider this nagging, Moyashi, but are you alright? Your morning sickness seemed worse today than it has been."

Allen snorted and rolled his eyes at Kanda. He was more annoyed by how observant Kanda had become lately than he was by the question. "That's not really surprising, Bakanda. I got some particularly stressful news at breakfast today."

Kanda hadn't thought that Allen would be personally bothered by the news that the akuma were attacking pregnant women, so that was more than a little startling to hear. "Che. Does that mean you've decided to start caring about the baby? Or are you just that squeamish?"

His answer was a foot stomping on his toes and his hand being jerked forcibly from the Moyashi's head. "That was definitely nagging, Bakanda. Mind your own business."

Kanda scoffed and strode out into the clearing, deciding not to push the Moyashi any further. He was halfway to the shrine when he noticed that Allen hadn't budged from his spot at the tree line. And it was weird that he hadn't moved. Allen never let his personal feelings get in the way of a mission. "You coming, Moyashi?"

Allen snorted at the stupidity of the question. It was his part of their deal to protect himself and the baby, and Kanda should have known that. "Hell no. I'm staying here where I know it's safe. This shrine thing somehow reacts to pregnant women and Komui suspects that there might be Innocence here, which makes me a perfect target. I'm not getting any closer to it than I already am."

The Moyashi was being his usual stubborn self, and that was something Kanda knew how to deal with. "Chicken."

Normally an insult like that would have pissed Allen off and made him race to beat Kanda to their destination, but today, he wasn't falling for it. "You're the one who looks like a girl. I may be pregnant, but you'll make better bait than I would."

"Excuse me?"

Allen rolled his eyes at how offended Kanda was by that statement of facts. "Just pretend to pray at the shrine, Bakanda. It'll draw the akuma out."

Still offended, Kanda aimed a domineering glare at the Moyashi. "Technically, I'm in charge, Moyashi. You can't give me orders. I should be telling you what to do."

"I'm sorry, General," Allen practically spat the word at Kanda. "Do you really want to try bossing me around?"

"Of course not. I'm not suicidal, Moyashi." Central may have trusted Allen enough to drop their surveillance, but his status as a Noah meant that they still refused to promote him to his rightful position. However, that didn't stop the generals from treating Allen as one of their own. He was a fellow critical breaker, which earned him their respect, but it was their sense of self-preservation that told them it was better to treat him as an equal rather than an underling. Even Kanda knew not to push Allen on that subject. "But you could just use your powers to draw the akuma out yourself."

"Yeah, the dozen that are here, as well as every other akuma within a hundred kilometer radius. I really doubt that you want to have another one of those fights." Allen shuddered at the memories of the days he was on the run; he was very glad that he'd learned how to hide his Noah aura. "And I'm not saying that you have to actually pretend to be a girl, I'm saying that akuma are stupid and you look enough like a girl to fool them into coming out of hiding."

"Fine. Let's get this over with." Kanda's grumbling cut short as a disturbing thought occurred to him. This plan put him in a very vulnerable position and that might have been on purpose. The Moyashi might have been planning to just sit back and let the akuma kill him; with him out of the way, all of the boy's pregnancy problems would be solved. "You've got my back, right?"

Allen shrugged, not getting what the samurai was really asking. "I always do. Even when you don't want me to."

"Right." Kanda smirked to himself. That whole idea had been stupid. Allen cared far too much about other people to have even considered not helping him with this fight; the Moyashi certainly wasn't going to just stand by and let the akuma kill him.

The level two revealed itself within moments of Kanda kneeling in front of the shrine. It took aim at the figure below it, but it was shot through the stomach with Clown Belt before it got a single taunt out. The death of the level two immediately drew the other akuma out of hiding, but they were all level ones and they met the same fate as their leader before Kanda could even activate Mugen. The entire fight was over in less than thirty seconds, and neither exorcist had fully drawn their weapon.

Wary of what had happened the last time he'd let his guard down after an easy fight, Allen kept Crowned Clown activated as he used his cursed eye to search the surrounding forest for more akuma. Kanda knew exactly what Allen was doing, as he was worrying about the exact same thing, so he didn't bother trying to stop him. Instead, he took advantage of the moment to get a good look at the Moyashi. The boy looked much like he usually did, which wasn't at all surprising given that he'd stopped aging when his Noah awakened. He was nearly twenty now, but he didn't look a day over seventeen. The traces of emotional exhaustion around his eyes definitely weren't there three days ago; Allen still wasn't taking the discovery of his pregnancy well. He was also far too skinny, something that would definitely have to be rectified if he was going to deliver a healthy child. But then again, tendrils of Crowned Clown's cloak, much like the ones that had so quickly dispatched that group of akuma, were wrapped securely around his middle, protecting the unborn baby from the fight. On some level, Allen wasn't as against his pregnancy as he was acting. "I'm glad to see that you kept your promise to protect the baby, Moyashi."

The clueless look Allen gave him was adorable. "Huh?"

Kanda's hand was placed gently on his midsection, and Allen was surprised to find that he felt the touch not through his clothing but through Crowned Clown. He looked down at his waist and had to bite back a shocked gasp over what he saw. He had definitely not wrapped Crowned Clown around himself like that.

Allen tried to move the tendrils away, but they refused to budge. In fact, he got the distinct impression that Crowned Clown was angry at him just for trying to move them. With an exasperated sigh, he deactivated his Innocence and turned his focus back on Kanda. "I didn't do that. Crowned Clown did. My Innocence apparently wants to protect the baby just as much as you do."

"Good." Kanda tousled Allen's hair before turning his attention back on the shrine. "Now, let's see if we can find any Innocence."

While Kanda examined the stone structure, Allen focused his attention on the flowerbeds; he was still very stubbornly refusing to get close to the shrine. It was only a few minutes into their search that Jakub returned, having decided that the quiet meant that the fight was over and it was safe to come back. Seeing what the two young men were doing, he flew into a panic and began ranting about how important the shrine was to the village. It was imperative that the exorcists not damage the shrine during their search.

Kanda was greatly annoyed by Jakub's pestering. Recovering whatever Innocence may be there was far more important than protecting the shrine, and he would demolish every single stone if it meant finding what they were after. He was on the verge of snapping, but just before his patience gave out, a bright green light flashed through the clearing. Kanda knew at once that it was from the Innocence they were looking for, and he turned towards Allen just in time to catch the death glare Allen was giving him. "You're such a bastard, Bakanda."

Before he could protest or wonder where the abrupt insult had come from, Allen had collapsed. Kanda rushed to his side, only to find the Moyashi unconscious with his arms wrapped around his middle. He checked the boy's pulse, and after determining that he was fine, he turned his attention on the area around them, looking for the Innocence fragment that the Moyashi had discovered.

When Kanda didn't immediately see anything, the meaning behind Allen's insult finally clicked. There was only one reason why finding the Innocence would make Allen angry at him:

The Innocence had bonded to the baby.

However, this wasn't the time to be concerned with his feelings about his child being an accommodator, so Kanda pushed his thoughts aside and focused on waking the Moyashi. He didn't want to carry the brat all the way back to town only to discover that he was wrong about where the Innocence was.

Allen woke with a groan, more than a little startled by the realization that his soft pillow was actually Kanda's lap. He glared up at the samurai, but the curses died in his throat as the nausea overwhelmed him; he barely rolled over in time to avoid vomiting on himself.

Kanda backed away when the Moyashi started throwing up, but he only moved so that he was out of the splash zone. He kept his hold on the boy, helping him sit up properly so that he wouldn't choke, and when he was done vomiting, Kanda helped him stand and move over to the bench on the path. He knelt in front of Allen, offering the boy his canteen so that he could rinse out his mouth. "What happened, Moyashi?"

Allen downed the entire canteen in one gulp. "I found the Innocence in one of the stones lining the flowerbeds. I went to grab it, but the moment I touched it, it reacted. It- it-"

Kanda was quick to supply the words he was having trouble saying. "It bonded to the baby."

Allen nodded once, blinking away his tears before glaring at Kanda. "If you had just let me have an abortion, none of this would be happening."

Kanda scoffed and tousled the Moyashi's hair. "Baka. Even if I had said yes, Komui was still going to make you wait and cool off before he did anything. This would have happened either way."

The glare the Moyashi gave him looked more like a pout. It was beyond adorable, and even though he knew Allen was pissed, Kanda did not resist the urge to kiss the brat. "Relax, Moyashi. Just accept that you're going to have a baby."

That was when Jakub finally spoke up. His English wasn't the best and they had lost him briefly, but that last sentence was something he understood quite clearly. "You are pregnant?"