Hello! Here's Chap #2. Enjoy! R&R, please! Love, Akemi H.

Chapter Two- Warmth

Everyone calls me Aki. I am 16 and I am a Finder for the Dark Order. As a Finder, we are rather defenceless against the Akuma or the Noah, and therefore, every single mission we go to might be our last one.

And yes, I am a girl.

Nee-san,

Lee and I have been sent on a mission to the Glowing Statue. I hope we'll find Innocence.

Pray hard for our safe return.

Take care,

Love, Aki.

I stuck the note under nee-san's door before we left for the Glowing Statue, which was in Nepal, a two days' train ride away.

The Glowing Statue, is like I have said before, a statue built in tribute to a brave warrior who had defended the town. The locals have said that the reason the statue glows is that it is a sign that the warrior is still protecting the town, even after he is dead. It is also said that the eerie neon green glow of the statue is able to repel evil. Not only that but recently, it is reported that the town was visited by monsters- Akuma, maybe- but the statue had glowed even brighter than before, chasing these monsters away.

It must be Innocence. It must be. We Finders have always had this confidence that a certain weird occurrence must be the cause of Innocence. And this belief keeps us going even into the belly of the whale. It's that strong.

Commander had equipped us with the newest shields, which according to him "were the closest thing you could get to Innocence". Even so, I felt nervous. It was my fifth mission, but I was still scared. Everywhere, Akumas were reaching Level 3, almost impossible to defeat. Lenalee-sama had nearly died trying to fight a Level 3 on her own. Who knows how long us Finders can last against them?

Lee held my hand as we sat side by side on the train. "It's going to be alright," He promised.

I believe him. I really do. But as a human, I still feel scared.

The two days' ride felt like the longest train ride I had ever taken, so much that even the four day train ride to Russia felt much, much shorter. Most of the time on the train was spent discussing different possible scenarios, the what-ifs in a mission.

Like I said, we're human. It's not like we're unwilling to be sacrifices to the Order. We are willing to be sacrifices for the Order and for the benefit of the war. But we don't want to lose our lives over something reckless, like tripping and falling behind everyone else, or accidentally leading everyone straight into the Akuma. The Exorcists will not be there to save us; they're too busy trying to save the world.

We are prepared to die. But I just don't know how dying is like.

Lee's hands are so warm. I don't want to lose these hands, this man, or this love. And as he held me in his embrace, I felt as though I could just lose myself and forget about the situation that I am in now.

But we're going to get through this, I'm sure of it.

We've finally reached Nepal. It's so cold, and even my Finder's robes weren't enough to warm me up. Well, it's not that you should expect Nepal to be warm like a tropical island or anything. Nepal is home to the Himalayans, the highest mountains on Earth. If anything, the place should be freezing cold.

Lee was checking the map. "Well, we're about a 5 hours' walk away from the village…" He stared out to the vicious snowstorm ahead of us. "But it looks like its going to take a lot longer."

We decided to get rooms for the night and wait for the snow storm to subside. Even at the state of the storm now, it was hard to say that we had a lot of choices. Strong, chilly wind blew through the tiny buildings in the city, making sure that the snow kissed our faces, so it was hard to walk, especially when you have a huge brick stapled to your back. We went to three inns, all of which turned us down.

"I'm so sorry, but we're full." They all said apologetically. "Why don't you try the ones at the outskirts?"

As if we could walk that far.

Eventually we found an inn with an empty room. Just one. "I'm sorry, but that's all that we have," The innkeeper told us. We had to take it. There was no other choice.

So we did.

The room was small and cosy, fit for one person, not two. And there was only one bed. Thankfully, the innkeeper had provided us with an extra mattress, so Lee offered to sleep on the mattress on the floor while I took the warm, cosy bed.

I couldn't sleep. Was I afraid? Scared? Anxious? I had no idea. But I could hear Lee's heavy breathing as he drifted off to dreamworld. I rolled over to the edge of the bed and leaned down to see him, fast asleep, his skin looking ever so pale and pallid. Was he cold?

Well, the only way I could answer that question was to touch him, of course. I held his cheek, and realised that it was definitely colder than my hand. Of course he was cold. He didn't have a blanket and probably didn't want to drape his dripping wet cloak around himself.

I jumped off the bed and pulled the blanket over him, and checked his body temperature again. A slight rise. He was fine.

But it was damn cold without the blanket wrapped around me. I huddled next to Lee as he slept on, oblivious to our situation.