HELLO! Omg, I'm so sorry for not updating for such a long, long time. Even though it was the school holidays, I was still so busy (my school takes advantage of holidays to give us extra lessons that last longer than normal school hours), and on top of that, I was sick!

But here it is, the latest chapter! So thank you for supporting me up till now, and read, enjoy and review! xD

I don't own D.Gray Man. Dx

Chapter Five- Selfish

The closer and closer we got to the town, the more I realised just how much it resembled my hometown… when it was destroyed. Tears immediately filled my eyes as the memories came crashing down onto me. My legs gave way, and I stumbled and fell, lost in my own past.

The sight of the burning and crumbling houses, the overpowering fumes of smoke overwhelmed me. I could almost feel the souls of those who had just died. And those flames, oh God, those flames; fiery monsters whose only purpose was to destroy, to burn, to kill. I broke down, heavy sobs racking my body, but my eyes never left the town.

Lee was next to me, pulling me up. I was trying to pull myself back down.

"Aki…" He tried to soothe me as he gathered all of me into his arms. "Come on, Aki, they need us." He planted a kiss on my head and loosened his grasp.

I shook my head, tears flying in all directions as I did so. "No… no…" He held my arms and pulled me up to my knees, but I collapsed to the ground again. It was so painful, too painful. I didn't want to see what the Akuma had done. The bodies, reduced to sand. I didn't want to see that.

My conscience fought with my selfish thinking, arguing that I had willingly joined the Order as a Finder, even though I knew that these sorts of situations would be a norm.

But this was way too similar to the hometown that I had in my memories. Too similar.

And then there was my promise. My promise to myself. I don't want to betray myself or nee-san, because she was the one who heard me swear to myself. Fighting the tears, fighting the pain in my heart, I gave in to Lee and helped him pull me up.

"Lee… it's just… too painful," I muttered as I rubbed the tears away. He nodded briefly at me, and I knew that right now, I wasn't the priority. The Innocence was. I felt a pang of regret and I knew right away that shouldn't feel that way.

But he was already gone. I ran after him.

We ran, down the grassy slope and into the town, avoiding the places that were still embraced by flames. I felt my heart in my mouth, and I tried to push this feeling of nostalgia away, as the call of duty became stronger and stronger.

"Aki," Lee called, and I turned towards him. "You all right?"

I nodded, and he smiled. "Good," He said, pushing down my hood with one swift movement of his hand to ruffle my hair. "Then let's go. The other Finders, Harry, Rai, and Leon, are already here. In fact, they should be at the statue already, so we'd better-"

Lee was interrupted with the ringing of the phone behind his back. He hefted the heavy backpack down and answered the call.

"Hello? Lee speaking. Ah, Rai-san, yes, we're here. Yeah, the place is burning down, but I don't see any sign of Akuma. Dead bodies? Yeah, I saw them, sand and clothes. The Akuma should be somewhere around here…"

I turned away from him, and watched a nearby building burn down. I could hear the cries of a small child, cries of desperation for her parents.

"Mummy! Daddy!"

I walked out of the shack that had been hiding Lee and I.

"…Yeah it's a few minutes- Hang on, Rai-san. Eh, Aki! Aki!" Lee's voice got louder, and I realised that he was talking to me. "AKI! What are you doing?"

But the child… I wanted to tell him. I turned around to face him and to tell him that there were survivors in the area, but I felt a shadow over me.

"AKI! RUN!" Lee hollered. I ran, without even looking behind me. I ran towards Lee and grabbed his hand, and we ran together, trying to save ourselves from the one thing that would be killing us and stopping us from living this life.

Finders have short lifespans, I heard a Researcher say before. Damn right.

We turned a bend, and Lee pulled me down, on top of him. He wrapped his arms around me, and in this awkward position, I could hear his heartbeat, beating his fears away. I could feel his breath on my hair, and I knew that he was scared. Who wouldn't be? Maybe Exorcists wouldn't. They can fight these killers, but we can't.

I wrapped my arms around him, wanting to tell him that we were safe in each other's arms. But of course, we couldn't make a sound. Lee's heartbeat quickened as the Akuma loomed past, and I hugged him even tighter as mine quickened as well. He pressed me down harder on him, and my face pressing so hard on his chest that I could barely breathe. He was scared, just as I was.

The Akuma floated away, bringing with it all the fear we had. I tried hard to free myself from Lee's grasp, but it was too strong.

"Lee-!" I gasped, trying hard to breathe. I felt his arms weaken, and I sat up.

He placed his head on my shoulder. "I don't want either one of us to die, Aki," He whispered. I patted his head.

"Neither do I, Lee," I got up, and pulled him up as well, as a blooming confidence I never knew I had awakened inside of me. "Now let's go, the Innocence is waiting."

He gripped my hand as we ran, and I realised that maybe if we weren't Finders, we could be marathon runners, our stamina so strong we can run away from Akuma at top speed and still have stamina left to run some more.

We reached the statue a few minutes later, as it had been moved to the outskirts of the town. Harry-san, Rai-san, and Leon-san were already there, and they seemed to be trying to get through and unseen force that was surrounding the glowing statue.

"Lee-kun! Aki-chan!" Leon-san called, and we rushed over.

The statue glowed even brighter, and I covered my eyes.

"Hey, what's up with it?" Harry-san exclaimed.

"It wasn't glowing like this before?" I asked, confused.

Rai-san shook his head. "It wasn't even glowing!"

Lee took a step forward, completely unaware of the unseen barrier that I had placed my palms on. The statue glowed even brighter, and all of us covered our eyes.

"Hey," Lee called from inside the barrier. "Why are you guys grouping there for? Come closer!"

Harry-san shook his head. "We can't, Lee, and it seems that only you can get closer to the statue,"

Lee looked shocked. "Huh? Why?"

"Maybe you're its host?" Leon-san suggested.

My face fell. I don't want Lee to be an Exorcist. That would mean that he would be away all the time, fighting these monsters, while I would be stuck at home, following the same old routine… without him. It would be lonely. It would be hell.

I watched as Lee fingered the statue, and then he placed both his palms on the statue's. The statue glowed, and extended its barrier between us and Lee. I felt myself being pushed back as I saw the Innocence, in its raw form, coming out of the statue, and melted around Lee's hands.

Gloves. Black gloves. The Innocence had formed black gloves round his hands. Lee was now an Exorcist, and there was nothing I could do about it.

He looked at me, puzzled, as his moved his fingers around in the gloves.

I forced an encouraging smile at him as he held out his hands towards me. But all my selfish dreams had already drifted away.