Leenalee looked at her watch, wondering what was taking the others so long.
Are they okay?
But she couldn't worry for long because one of her charges started speaking.
Utau glared at the exorcists before her, "You can't just make us sit here on the floor like children in a dirty, old, abandoned factory to wait for YOUR friends to show up!"
Link groaned, looking over at the blonde pigtailed girl in exasperation.
I know she's a celebrity and everything but does she have to be this troublesome?
Meanwhile, Lavi was studying her curiously. Unlike Link, he actually was not aware that the girl was celebrity but something about her was familiar...
Then it hit him.
"You're the angel girl that I saw outside my window on the first day of school!" realizes the redhead, pointing a finger at her.
Rima turned to Utau immediately, hissing in disapproval, "You let yourself be seen in your chara nari? Are you stupid?!"
In response, the older female flushed in embarrassment, "S-shut up Mashiro"
The small girl looked ready to argue again but Nagihiko stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder and whispered quietly so the exorcists couldn't hear what he was saying but loud enough so that the others sitting on the floor could.
"They said they were taking us to safety so let's just be grateful that they have. We should at least communicate with them nicely."
Rima frowned but couldn't argue because Nagi started speaking up in English toward the exorcists.
"Excuse me!"
The anxious exorcists looked over at the purple haired student wondering what did he want while still worrying on what was taking Amber's team so long.
"Yes?" Lavi answered politely.
"I'm just wondering, how long more must we wait here? It's just that if it gets too late, our parents will worry."
The one-eyed Bookman blinked before responding, "This is our rondevu point. We have to wait for the others first before we can take any of you home."
"And who are these others?" questioned the curious Tadase from his sitting spot next to Nagi.
"Our team members that came with us on this mission" answers Link before Lavi could answer.
Tadase frowned at that, "How many more are coming?"
"3. Amber's strict orders was to wait here till they arrive" Leenalee tells them, looking at her watch again.
Kukai blinked from his spot next to Utau, "Whose Amber?"
It was then when Leenalee realized her mistake.
"Right sorry, Amu I mean. I mentioned before that she was fighting off your kidnappers with two other people. They're the 3 we're waiting for."
"Why do you call Amu Amber?" asks Ikuto as he sat closely behind his sister.
"Because that is her real name" Link tells him nonchalantly.
Utau scowled in displeasure, "So her name was a lie. How much of her was a lie? Was Ami really her sister? Was her pink hair actually natural? Tell us!"
Lavi watched as the blonde stood up, shaking in anger.
"Today just makes no sense! The Guardians and my brother were followed around! I got kidnapped with them! Amu shows up again to save us after almost close to a year since she mysteriously left! Then all of you weird uniform people had came with her and took us away to this shithole! I want the truth! What in the hell is going on?!"
Links sighs deeply, feeling a very painful headache coming on, "Amber, I mean Amu will speak with all of you shortly. You just need to be patient. She'll explain when she gets here."
Ikuto gets up as well, standing straight and tall behind his sister before speaking with a firm tone in his voice.
"It's been 45 minutes past since we saw Amu. What's taking her so long? Shouldn't she be back now? What are you guys doing waiting around? Shouldn't you do something?"
That's when Lavi got annoyed seeing Ikuto fold his arms, obviously stubborn, "Look, Amber-hime is fighting with two other friends of ours against very powerful opponents who are dangerous people that won't be easy to beat but yes it's taking longer than we expected for them to come here but that does not mean we do rash things. By right, if they don't show up in the next 15 minutes, then we'll properly follow protocol and search for our teammates. However, until then, we have to follow her orders. She is our leader for this rescue mission."
"Amber-hime?" repeats Ikuto, deadpanning at the name.
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"
Utau raised a hand, halting Ikuto from doing anything rash.
"I remember now."
Lavi's frown deepened seeing the blonde narrow her eyes at him.
"The guy that saw me at the window was a Seiyo high-schooler. He was a brunette with brown eyes and a white medical eyepatch like he's been hurt. That was you?"
Ikuto's eyes widened, recognizing the description.
That sounded awfully like...
"You...you're Naomi's brother aren't you?"
All the exorcists were shocked.
Crap...they weren't supposed to know that!
Kukai notices this before speaking again, "Judging from your reactions, what Ikuto said is true and if that person is the brother and the fact he called Hinamori Amber-hime means that Naomi was Hinamori."
Before the exorcists could think of what to reply, Nagi spoke.
"Naomi Knight was a cover...she was undercover. Why? For what purpose?"
Frustrated, Link put his foot down, "Okay that's enough out of all of you. None of you were supposed to find this out. No more questions. Understood?"
The Tsukiyomi siblings weren't pleased but before they could say so a voice rang out, catching the attention of everyone.
"Guys!"
The exorcists turned, recognizing it. Leenalee was elated to see who it was. She ran over and hugged her boyfriend tightly.
"What took you guys?!"
"What happened to Amber-hime?"
Everyone watched as Lavi hurried over to Kanda who was carrying the close to 13 year old redhead in his arms. He bent down, inspecting her still state, "Is she hurt? What happened? Why-?"
"Baka Usagi" interrupts a very tired and now irate Kanda. "She is just tired. She used up a lot of her magic to heal moyashi from his stab wound on the chest."
"What stab wound?!"
Allen sighs and cups Leenalee's face in his hands to reassure her, "I am fine."
"More than fine" scoffs Link as he comes closer. "From what I can see, all you look is disheveled and dirty. Not a scratch on you."
Leenalee looks down, realizing her boyfriend was shirtless. Slowly, she carefully moved her hands over his muscled chest only to realize he had no injuries whatsoever; his skin felt smooth to the chest.
"Amazing right? Amber healed it completely!"
Link shook his head at Allen's words, "Even so, now she's exhausted from using so much of her power and is now sleeping in Kanda's arms."
The other exorcists all looked at the sleeping girl. There were a few slashes on her uniform, a small cut on her cheek and a scraped knee but no serious injuries as from what they saw. Lavi sighed in relief and moved to brush some hair from the girl's forehead before resting his hand on it to check her temperature. Again, to his relief, his fellow redhead didn't have a fever.
"You should focus on Kanda, I saw Jasdero slash his long nails on Kanda's back with some of his Noah power. I'm pretty sure he's bleeding on the back."
Lavi gently moved his hand downwards to Amber's cheek when she turned her head to face him, "You're awake."
Amber opened her eyes slowly, her bronze orbs meeting his green ones; her voice was soft as she spoke.
"I'm fine. Kanda could you put me down please? Thanks."
With an annoyed grunt, he gently helped the small girl to her feet but she noticed him wincing as he did so.
"Could the rest of you leave please?" the pre-teen asks politely. "I need to talk the people we had just rescued. You need to also treat Kanda and get his and Allen's side of what happened."
"Are you sure?" Links asks gently and quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "You don't have to talk to them if you don't want to."
"I have to Link" she tells him, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation.
"They know that you're Naomi and I'm your brother" Lavi told her quietly, a little afraid of what her reaction would be considering how she specifically told the team not to tell them before they left the house earlier.
Amber opened her mouth to say something but Kanda spoke, cutting her off.
"You're not her actual brother you know. You just played as her brother for undercover."
Lavi's eye twitched at the long haired man's correction, "Shut up Yuu besides I look enough like Amber-hime to pass as her brother anyways! Why else do you think her father let me play as her brother and not you?"
Kanda scowled, "Baka Usagi-"
"You're Sato then. Am I right?"
The exorcists looked up and Kanda's scowl deepened even more, "Tsukiyomi Ikuto."
Ikuto narrowed his eyes at him and spoke in Japanese, nodding his head towards Amber, "Kanojo wa watashitachi ni hanashi o shitai to iimasu. Naze anata wa, kanojo wa sudeni anata o itta toki no mama ni ugoite imasen ka?"
Lavi noticed that Leenalee, Link and Allen didn't understand what Ikuto said judging from their troubled facial expressions. He couldn't blame them though. Leenalee and Link did have a better grasp of the language than Allen but that did not mean they could full converse or understand. He whispered the translations to them as Ikuto and Kanda spoke.
"She says she wants to talk to us. Why are you not moving to leave when she already told you to?"
The samurai exorcist snorted and replied, "Anata ga koko ni iru toki ni mōshiwakearimasenga, watashi wa tokuni saru tsumori wa arimasen"
"Sorry but I have no intention of leaving especially when you are here" translates Lavi for the others.
Ikuto was about to reply but Amber cut him off, turning to Kanda and speaking loudly enough in English for everyone to hear and understand, "I just told you to leave Kanda. You need to be treated and this is an order."
"I do not want to leave you with that guy Kit."
"I will be fine" she assures him.
Kanda scowled, "Look Kit-"
"Enough!"
The exorcists immediately froze, they had never heard her raise her voice in such an angry tone before.
"Leave, all of you. Just leave already! Tend to Kanda's injuries as soon as you can. I will contact you once I'm done speaking with them. Now do as I say so or suffer the consequences so just go already!"
Kanda was surprised, he didn't expect her to get mad but before he could do/say anything, Allen and Link grabbed him by the arms, guiding him out with Lavi and Leenalee close behind.
Amber watched as they left with folded arms, a severely annoyed expression on her face.
Stupid Kanda...