Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-man

A/N: In a recent reread of the Level 4 arc, I realize I have made a small mistake in the timing of events, but as I have previously stated I don't much care to rewrite an entire chapter to fix it, so I'm not going to bother. In case you were wondering the error was that, in the Level 4 arc, only about a day passes between the attack and the clean up that leads into the Zombie arc. Sorry for this little mix up.


Chapter 7

Marie didn't particularly mind spending time with General Teidoll and the General's other students, but he felt more than a little guilty for having to cancel lunch with Miranda last minute. Despite his regrets on the whole situation, here he was, stuck spending at least an hour in the library- one of the few intact rooms in the Order- with General Teidoll, Kanda, and Chaoiji.

"You seem annoyed about something. You're being almost as quiet as Kanda," Chaoiji curiously said to Marie.

"I'm not necessarily annoyed, I just feel bad about having to cancel plans," Marie answered.

"Che, what, were you and Miranda gonna go on a date?" Kanda asked.

"No," Marie answered. He didn't want this to turn into a topic of conversation, because he knew that General Teidoll would question him mercilessly about it.

"Does Maa-kun have a girlfriend?" Teidoll teased.

"You are spending a lot of time with Miss Lotto," Chaoiji pointed out.

"It's because we are friends," Marie sighed in exasperation. He wasn't going to admit that recently he had begun to develop feelings for the clumsy woman, "She doesn't really know anyone else in the Order."

"Are you sure you don't have a thing for her?" Teidoll continued to speak in a childishly teasing voice.

Marie's face burned bright pink at the continued questioning, "Can we not talk about this?"

"Marie does love her," Kanda said. He sounded surprised, but Marie's behavior definitely showed this fact.

"So, Chaoiji, how was life been at the Order, aside from the akuma attack?" Marie asked, trying to change the subject.

Teidoll chuckled at Marie's attempt to change the subject, but let it slide. He would have to talk to Marie later, because he was truly curious about what Marie thought of Miranda.

"It's been really great here," Chaoiji answered enthusiastically, "I wasn't able to help anyone during the akuma attack, though, so that made me feel really worthless again."

"That's not a sign that you're useless, it just means you need to work harder from now on," Teidoll assured.

The group of four spent nearly an hour talking. When they ran out of topics for conversation and a long silence had settled over them they had all gone their separate ways for the day. Marie decided, since he had had to suddenly cancel his lunch plans with Miranda, to ask if she would like to go to the city for dinner that evening.


"Miranda? You're eating along today?" Lenalee asked. Her voice was surprised; Miranda had eaten with Marie almost every day in recent weeks.

"Yes, Marie was spending time with General Teidoll and Kanda," Miranda nodded. She knew that Marie had mentioned one more name, but she couldn't remember.

"Oh, that makes sense, actually. General Teidoll likes to spend time with his students when they're all at Headquarters. Kanda used to get really annoyed about it when he was younger," Lenalee had already moved over a chair so Miranda wouldn't have to try to weave between the chairs of the two parallel tables to reach a seat. Clearly, Lenalee didn't want Miranda to trip. Miranda couldn't help feeling rather agitated by the small, friendly gesture. She could understand Lenalee's concern, but she couldn't help wanting people to have at least a little faith in her.

"Really?" Miranda asked. She herself hadn't been assigned to a General upon arriving to the Order because of the condition of the Order when she had finally reached Headquarters.

"Yeah. I think Teidoll just wants his students to feel like they've got some sort of parent figure. I don't really know much about Marie's life before he joined the Order. And from small things Kanda's told me I know his parents were either awful people, or never there for him. And Anita raised Chaoiji. General Teidoll feels like, because they've been forced into this war, he needs to make sure they all understand that he wants to hear their opinions and help with their problems," Lenalee explained. She had never tried to pry at Kanda about his past, knowing that he deserved the respect he gave her about her own life before the Order.

"I haven't met Teidoll, except for once for a very short time when I was traveling to Headquarters for the first time. But from the short time I talked to him, I think you're right about him wanting his students to feel like they have someone to talk to," Miranda agreed.

"I guess he's the type of person who you can tell a lot about their personality just from a short meeting. So, how have you been doing recently, Miranda?" Lenalee asked.

"I've been good," Miranda smiled. In truth she still felt guilty about not having been able to protect everyone during the level four's attack, but she preffered to keep that emotion to herself, "How have you been?"

"Actually, really good. Ever since my innocence evolved it feels like my feet are so light," Lenalee smiled, as if to prove her point she kicked her legs back and forth like a small child.

"That's really good to hear, Lenalee," Miranda smiled, "And, if you don't mind me asking, is your innocence a parasitic type now?"

"No, not exactly. But it's not really equipment type anymore, either. Komui decided, for the time being, we'll be calling it crystal type innocence. Though, if I activate it, it puts a similar strain on my body as parasitic type would," Lenalee answered, "It's amazing that parasitic type accommodators can stand living under that strain all of their lives."

"Innocence is amazing, don't you think?" Miranda was trying to turn the subject away from Lenalee's comment about parasitic types. She had never much liked to think about the fact that, after their innocence had activated, parasitic accommodators' lives were shortened considerably.

"It is," Lenalee agreed, "The way it can adapt to save its accommodator is a really nice part about it."

"Yes, that is a very good thing that it does," Miranda agreed. She would always be grateful to her clock, for the way it had changed her life. She knew it was a change for the better, whether she thought that because she had finally found a use for her life or because she had finally met so many people who cared about her she didn't know, "My clock proved that sometimes it even hears its accommodators wishes."

"Yes, it does show that," Lenalee agreed, "I still can't believe that your clock activated that way, just from you saying you wished the next day would never come."

"Yes, I suppose it is rather unusual," Miranda said. She had long since finished her food, as had Lenalee, and with the topic of conversation dying Miranda decided to return to her room, "It's been nice to talk to you, Lenalee. Thank you for letting me sit here."

"Of course. Whenever you need someone to sit with just come sit at this table, I'm sure someone will sit by you and maybe you could make some new friends," Lenalee waved with a happy smile.


Marie knocked lightly on Miranda's door. The response was an immediate, "One second!" and the sound of footsteps across the room before the door was pulled open.

"Marie? Hello," Miranda greeted; her voice held a questioning tone as if asking what he needed.

"Hello, Miranda. How has your afternoon been?" Marie asked.

"It was quiet nice," Miranda smiled brightly.

"That's good to hear. I'm so sorry I had to cancel lunch today," Marie apologized.

"No, don't worry about it! I got to eat lunch with Lenalee, it was nice to talk to her again," Miranda assured.

"Still, I feel bad for canceling so suddenly, so would you like to go to dinner with me? We can go to the city, I know a nice restaurant there," Marie offered.

"R-Really? You don't have to, but, that would be nice," Miranda was more than uncertain how to respond to the unexpected offer. She had never imaged someone would want to bother taking her to a restaurant. Her klutzy tendencies had always caused her few friends of the past to "forget" to invite her out to lunch whenever they had gone somewhere.

"Then we can leave, whenever you are ready," Marie smiled.

"Alright, give me a few minutes to change," Miranda said before closing the door to her room. She had been wearing clothes that she liked to consider like pajamas; though they were hardly appropriate for a woman to wear, she had grown fond of wearing men's style clothing. In consideration of her clumsiness Johnny had designed her uniform with pants as opposed to a skirt, and while she had originally found the idea of a woman wearing pants scandalous she had soon discovered that she was tripping just a bit less. She hardly left the Order, unless she was wearing her uniform, in such clothing. She didn't keep many outfits aside from her uniforms and her sleeping clothes but she did have one outfit from when she had first arrived at the Order. After changing clothes she walked back to the door and opened it to walk out into the hallway. "I'm ready to go."

"Shall we go then?" Marie asked.

"Yes," Miranda nodded and walked down the hallway beside him, "How was your time with General Teidoll and his other students today?"

"It could have been better, honestly. The General was mostly trying to get to know Chaoiji more, so it was rather boring," Marie answered. He had to admit, he wasn't very fond of Chaoiji from the conversations he had had with the new exorcist.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Miranda said.

"Don't worry, it didn't used to be too much better. Daisya and Kanda would always get into fights and most of our time together was spent with the General and I trying to keep fights from getting too bad," Marie shrugged.

"That sounds like it wouldn't have been much fun either," Miranda said, "Though, having seen Kanda and Allen getting fights I can imagine that."

Marie realized that that was one of the first times that Miranda had said anything about seeing around him without apologizing repeatedly. She must have been getting used to being around him. "Yes, and thankfully Daisya knew better than to use Charity Bell inside. We might have had to fix a lot of walls, otherwise."

"That does seem like a good thing," Miranda agreed. She hadn't ever met Daisya, but she knew many stories about him from Marie, "Did any fights start today?"

"No, Kanda was in a better mood today than usual, and Chaoiji is hardly confrontational towards us," Marie answered.

"That's good, at least," Miranda smiled.

"It was," Marie agreed. He could always tell when Miranda was smiling, based upon the tone of her voice, and he had heard that tone in her voice the entire conversation. He sometimes found it hard to believe that she could be so awkward and nervous sometimes, when she acted like this.


The streets of the town were rather crowded. Marie was listening to Miranda's specific footsteps just beside him to make sure she didn't get lost in the bustling area.

Miranda was careful not to get sidetracked or stumble so that she could easily stay close to Marie. She was glad when they had finally reached an area that seemed to be the end of the largest area of the crowd.

"Good thing this restaurant is closer to the edge of town, otherwise it might get far too busy," Marie tried to start a conversation.

"Yes, that is nice. Hopefully the crowd will have reduced a bit when we're going back," Miranda agreed. The crowd had her nerves on edge, so speaking in the happy tone she usually used around Marie was difficult for her at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Marie could hear the unease in Miranda's voice.

"Yes, sorry. I just don't do very well in crowds," Miranda assured, "I'm fine, don't worry."

I should have taken the long way, Marie though. He knew that route was typically less crowded, and now that he thought about it he knew that she had always been particularly tense in crowded areas, "On the way back we can take the long way, it goes outside of the city and through the park, but it's always less crowded."

"That sounds like it would be a good idea," Miranda agreed with a slight nod. She felt bad for making Marie worry about her, but she was so used to isolating herself that being in crowded areas bothered her no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, "Thank you for bringing me out to dinner, Marie."

"It's the least I can do, after canceling lunch," Marie assured, "And it's nice to get out of Headquarters for awhile."

Miranda lightly hugged Marie's arm and laid her head against his shoulder before she spoke, "It is nice to get out for awhile. It's been so chaotic recently."

"Yes, I hear that the Science Department is already looking for a new building to use as the European Headquarters," Marie said, "I went to Komui's office yesterday to deliver a paper, and it sounded very chaotic in the rest of the department."

"Isn't it usually chaotic in there?" Miranda asked. She tended to avoid that part of the Order, because it seemed every time she was there she ruined something, but she had heard of the unfortunate happenings of that part of the Order.

"Yes, it usually is. Yesterday was worse than normal though," Marie explained. "And I doubt Komui was helping anyone by sleeping." The last statement was added with a small laugh.

Miranda laughed too, "From what I've heard he probably would have caused more trouble for them if he had been awake."

"You're right, he would have," Marie agreed. After a few more minutes of pointless conversation they reached the restaurant. Marie could always remember the specific sounds of this restaurant, as it had a small string trio that performed there around the evening rush time.

Miranda nearly tripped as Marie stopped walking, but she managed to regain her balance just before she toppled forward, "Is this it?"

"Yes, we're here," Marie answered with a nod.

It was a rather large restaurant, Miranda observed, and it wasn't extremely crowded. Another thing Miranda observed was that all of the waiters and the hostess of the restaurant shared similar features, which made Miranda think that it was a family owned place.

It wasn't long before her and Marie had been seated at a table near the back of the restaurant, the tables near the large front windows were all full leaving only tables lining the back wall and sides of the single roomed dinning area open.

The meal passed by with pleasant, random, cheerful conversation. The bill was put on the Order's tab, and within two hours of leaving the Headquarters Miranda and Marie were walking back. This time, however, they were taking a path through the lightly forested park that bordered that side of the town.

"Thank you for bringing me out to dinner, Marie," Miranda thanked as she walked beside him. It was just dark enough outside Miranda was beginning to have trouble seeing things on the ground that may trip her, so she was focusing more on looking at her surroundings than the path in front of her.

"You're very welcome. Did you have a good time?" Marie asked.

"Yes, I did. Did you?" Miranda asked.

Marie was about to answer but was cut off by a rather startled yelp from Miranda. The toe of her shoe had caught on a rock and sent her sprawling forward across the ground.

"Miranda? Are you okay?" Marie asked.

Miranda sat up slowly to make sure she hadn't hurt herself too badly before answering, "Yes, sorry. I tripped."

"I could tell, and you don't have to apologize," Marie said. He offered her a hand up, being able to figure her general location based on her voice, heart beat, and breathing.

Miranda gladly accepted that hand up. She was thankful she had come away from the trip with, as far as she could tell, a slightly fabric-burned hand. When she had tried to catch herself the fabric of her gloves was pushed across the palm of her hand and left a small, raw, sore patch near her wrist, "I almost made it a day without falling down."

Marie had to chuckle at her statement. He was glad she could show some good humor about her clumsiness, sometimes. He knew she often got very upset with herself about it so hearing her joking about it was a relief, "I'd say this counts as a day. It is nearly dark out, isn't it?" Marie didn't really know if it was dark or not, but he figured it was close to sunset.

"I guess I could count it," Miranda smiled.

"Are you alright to walk the rest of the way?" Marie asked. He didn't want her to keep tripping.

"Yes, I'll just have to be more careful," Miranda assured.


A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading, please review~