Chapter 5: The Night of Lost Innocence

The evening had been uneventful. Calm. Daine, who had been feeling faint from hunger because of the strain of lending her power to three different people, had been satisfied by dinner, which she had gone out to get with Kanda as an escort. He'd said he owed her, apparently. It made Daine laugh, because he was being almost nice. When they had come back from feeding poor, starving Daine, they had found a note addressed to them, which basically said that her and Kanda were a team. Kanda took one look at the note and threw it away. He really didn't care about whatever Win and Lavi had to say to him about sharing a room.

"Kanda…?"

He grunted in response. Daine sweatdropped at his apparent animosity.

"Um, where are we staying tonight?"

Kanda stared at her. He had, in truth, completely forgotten about this part of the "team" thing. All he had really considered was the fact that Daine might be the most barely tolerable person on this trip, perhaps even at the Black Order's headquarters. And of course, the fact that he did not want to be paired up with Win, who was the least tolerable of all living creatures on the planet. She had actually succeeded in one-upping Lavi, a feat he had not believed anyone could accomplish. Lavi was another person he didn't want to be paired up with. Along with Allen. Yes, Allen got on his nerves too. Stupid little bean sprout.

"I don't care."

Daine laughed nervously. What an answer. She knew, she just knew that regardless of what she decided, he was going to have a problem with it. And she had to face the facts, what were the odds of her sleeping with Kanda viciously glaring at her all night? None. Well, if she was going to get silently chewed out, she might as well do so in her own room, where she was more comfortable. At least that way Kanda wouldn't complain about her invading his privacy or something like he probably would if she picked his room.

"Would you mind sleeping in my room?"

All she received was a grunt in response. Feeling rather defeated, and still stinging from his comment about her uselessness in battle, she hung her head and led the way. She was useless and she knew it, and it wasn't fair to the others that she was such a burden on them. Worn down by such pessimistic thoughts, she trudged along, unaware of Kanda's curious stare.

"ALRIGHT, A SLUMBER PARTY!"

"Lavi, calm down…"

Win watched Allen chase Lavi around said redheaded exorcist's room, twitching.

"Just how did I get stuck rooming with that idiot, again?"

Ideally, she wanted to be paired up with Allen and Daine, but things didn't really work out. Lavi was jumping on his bed, bouncing rather high for a grown man. Win silently wished the bed would break or something. No, that he'd bounce to high and hit his head on the ceiling. The bed was actually comfortable, and she had every intention of sleeping comfortably on it tonight. So she didn't want him to break it.

"Lavi, why are we in your room, anyway?"

He stopped bouncing and looked at her happily.

"Because Allen's is tiny and cheap, and I knew you wouldn't want me in yours."

Win had no way to argue against that. Allen frowned suddenly.

"Wait a second, why is my room tiny and cheap? I just noticed that…This room is huge! And Win said mine was cramped! Why is that?"

Lavi laughed in the sort of way that one might expect him to suddenly whip out a folding fan to cover his mouth with.

"Because it's youuuuuuuu."

Allen glared at him. Win sighed. Tonight seemed as though it would be a long night.

"Um, Kanda?"

There was a grunt in reply. Daine sweatdropped.

"Where should I put my things?"

He glared at her.

"Put them wherever you want to. I'm not going to do it for you."

Daine was beginning to feel a little bit ticked off by the way he was treating her. It wasn't like she had asked for this, and it was his own fault for choosing her as his partner! Deep down, Daine knew that he had picked her because she was the least offensive of the group, in his mind, at least, but she was feeling irritated and thus felt that he genuinely hated her.

"That wasn't what I meant. I only wanted to know where I could set it down so that it wouldn't disturb you, but-"

She bit her tongue before she could say something rude. Kanda looked at her for a moment before harrumphing and turning back to cleaning his sword.

"In the corner. It's less bothersome if you set it in the corner."

Daine stared at his back for a moment before smiling slightly.

"Okay. In the corner it is."

She quietly set down her things in the place he had specified and for some reason felt a little sad. Her things were just in the way. Like she was. Suddenly morose, she sat down in the same place, on the floor, sighing. She really was in the way. All she ever did was need rescuing and she hated it. What was the point of having Innocence if you couldn't even use it to help your friends? Useless. That's what she was.

"Quit brooding."

Biting her lip, Daine glanced up at Kanda, whose methodical movements, wiping Mugen with a neat cloth, had stopped. There was an odd brand of silence in the air, as though he were pausing with the intention to say something else but never quite finished. Daine shrugged and didn't say anything, rather looking around the room curiously. Everything was rather neat, and Kanda's things weren't strewn all over the place, like they were in her room.

She frowned, suddenly. How had they ended up in Kanda's room, anyway? Daine had intended to have them stay in hers, but when they got there, Kanda had simply told her to gather her things quickly. When she had done so, he led her away, and she vaguely wondered when the plan had changed.

When she was silent, Kanda sheathed his now, admittedly, exceptionally clean sword and turned to her frowning.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

Daine started, surprised by the sound of his voice.

"Um, because you were on the bed?"

He raised an eyebrow at that, itching to draw his sword and start polishing it again.

"Don't be an idiot."

Daine stared at him for a moment, and he felt like she was testing him to see how far she could push him before he would explode. Then, seemingly realizing that he was beginning to find her behavior irksome, she jumped up and sat on the very corner of his bed. Awkwardly. Kanda jaw tightened as he decided to simply give up and go back to polishing the perfectly shiny Mugen. He had a feeling that it would be very clean by the time morning came.

Daine sweatdropped as she watched him.

"Um, Kanda?"

He grunted without looking at her. She watched him some sort of fascination.

"Are you planning on blinding the akuma when you draw your sword or something? Because-"

He shut her up with a vicious glare. Daine, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable, looked away from him. It wasn't his fault, though. Not entirely, at least. She just wasn't used to people. Other than Win, of course. And-damn. The surly exorcist next to her was radiating murderous vibes. Surely he wouldn't intentionally harm a fellow exorcist. Daine thought about that and sighed in dry resignation. She was useless, and quite frankly, even she would have to admit to being of less use against the Millennium Earl than a finder. Which was just sad. In her mind's eye, she saw Kanda strangling a finder for putting him off his food with his "noise."

Perhaps the disquieted feeling in her stomach wasn't all too off the mark.

"You should sleep soon."

Bewildered, Daine blinked at him, wondering who he was and what he had done with the real Kanda. Her soft grey eyes met his condescending stare and she suddenly felt more at ease. He stared at her for a moment before snorting in disapproval, going back to wiping down his sword.

"You won't be able to use your power effectively if you're not at full strength. You should always be prepared for an attack."

Daine was suddenly struck with a sense of guilt. She felt as though the narrowed eyes that were, at the moment, watching her were saying something different. Something more like if you had kept yourself at full strength, you wouldn't have passed out on us and become more of a burden than you were at the start. Mentally wincing, she nodded at the black-haired exorcist, who for some reason had been almost obsessively wiping down his sword since they'd arrived in the room.

"You're right."

It went unspoken that at that moment, as Daine considered how she was feeling, or rather, of how much use she could be at this particular moment in time, the exorcist seated beside her had noticed that she had looked pale, to the point of being peaky whilst they had been in the kitchen. In fact, he noted, he had not been feeling so well himself, worse than he was now, at any rate, though the power Daine had given him had been coursing through his veins at its peak then. They suddenly looked at each other and Daine's mouth fell open.

"Kanda-that's it!"

He stared at her for a moment, perplexed, until it clicked and he felt as though he should beat himself for his stupidity. Wouldn't it have been a hilarious coincidence that Daine, who was immune to the sickness because of her innocence, started to feel its effects while in the kitchen? Wouldn't it be, if Kanda too, once cured, had felt ill? Daine had already jumped to her feet, ready to run out the door.

"It's not on one of the cruise stops-it's in the ship's kitchen!"

Before she could make any move, Kanda had leapt past her, Mugen in hand, and run out the door, not even pausing to shout over his shoulder in his gruff, low voice, "tell the others."

She nodded an affirmative and took off in the opposite direction.

"Holy shit, GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

Win shoved rather viciously at Lavi, who had been jumping up and down on the bed with a completely serious-grim, even-look on his face, until he tripped and fell on top of her, dragging Allen down with him. She was in a terrible mood. Scratch that, she was feeling completely and totally homicidal. Even ALLEN, whom she generally got along with, was annoying her. And he was the second farthest thing from annoying in her book, the first being her little not-sister Daine. Lavi pouted when he landed on the ground with a rather nasty thud.

Daine stumbled into the room before he had the chance to sit up.

"We've found it."

The three rather distracted exorcists stared at her for a moment before jumping into action. Win was the first one to scramble to her feet, her claws unsheathed with a vicious ringing noise as she nimbly vaulted at the door, grabbing Daine's arm in so smooth a movement that it could have only been born of custom and dragging her out the door. The two were off with nothing but a glimpse of Win's nearly white hair as she whipped around the corner. Allen watched them go, feeling almost confused.

"Lavi, why are they running off so fast? And…where are they going?"

The redheaded exorcist shrugged, frowning thoughtfully. And then scrambling to his feet and invoking is innocence.

"Big hammer, little hammer, grow, grow, GROW!"

Allen, in a reflex, did the same and invoked his akuma fighting weapon.

"Wait, Lavi-"

The other man shook his head.

"We have to find them."

The grey-haired boy caught the urgency in his friend's voice as he spoke. His mind was churning, fraught with possibilities. He distinctly remembered being sick…the feeling after eating…he knew where the innocence was.

"Lavi, they're heading towards the kitchen!"

The other man's expression was uncharacteristically serious as he nodded at Allen.

"But they don't know they're heading into a trap."

Allen's stomach twisted into knots.

"But Kanda's alone, and Win-"

He understood now the underlying feeling of panic as he too rushed after the girls. Win would be at a severe disadvantage having to protect Daine as well as herself. Allen guessed that Daine, while having recovered at least to a certain extent, wouldn't be able to give Win the power that she would need to fight off an entire horde. A trap.

"Lavi, if they know where the innocence is, why don't they just take it? Are they that desperate to eliminate five exorcists?"

Lavi shook his head as he turned sharply round a corner, followed by Allen.

"If they could just take it, I think they would. Think about it, Allen. Our innocence is the cure to the sickness. I don't think anyone would actually be able to get that close to the innocence without their own to counter the illness. They need us."

Allen understood.

"They've been waiting for us to figure it out and try to take it. But then…

His face took on a more troubled look.

"If they're waiting for us to take it, why did they try to kill us?"

Dark implications hung about their heads as they picked up the pace, running towards the kitchen once again. Lavi grit his teeth.

"We need to hurry."

The kitchen was in shambles. Literally. Hurricane Kanda had struck, and he had not been merciful. In his hunt for the innocence, he had managed to tear the room apart. He had long since figured out that the akuma aboard the ship had been waiting for them to retrieve it, so he only planned to find it, and wait for the others. In any case, he was feeling rather violently sick. Damn. His proximity to the innocence must have worn through the energy or whatever it is that Daine had given him more quickly. He cursed as the urge to throw up hit him like a heavy club to the stomach. He could feel that it was close, but where?

Win and Daine had nearly reached the kitchen when they were attacked. Win knew, after being informed by Daine, that the akuma were unable to get near the innocence since the sickness was so strong. Neither had known, though, that they were racing into a trap.

"I thought they needed us!"

Win slashed an akuma in two with a lightning-quick strike of her claws, Daine ducked to avoid a blow, keeping her cool as best she could, which was to say, panicking. The girls were separated and Daine hadn't been able to give her friend any of her power.

"I thought so too! Why are they attacking us? The only way-"

Daine paled. The only reasons the akuma might have for attacking them were that they had either overpowered Kanda and taken the innocence from him or they had found another way to get what they wanted. She cursed.

"WIN, WE HAVE TO GET TO KANDA!"

The white-haired girl nodded at her from across the hall, gritting her teeth as she countered a blow with both of her claws.

"Go! I'll cover you. Give him-"

She broke up, trying for a swipe at an akuma's head even as Dain protested. The exorcist snorted at her friends exclamations and shoved her left fist, claws extended, into what looked like it might have been the akuma's jugular, if they had such things. It exploded. A cat-like smirk spread over the fighting girl's face until she threw herself into the fight again.

"JUST GO! And tell that girly-man that he'd better keep you and the innocence safe, or I'm going to kick his ass to kingdom come!"

Daine hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, before nodding and running off. Or rather, ducking and dodging her way down a hallway until she reached the kitchen door, threw it open, and stopped short. Ahead of her was blackness, utter dark.

"Kanda?"

Her heart was threatening to pound its way out of her chest, and a shiver ran down her spine when she heard a low, gruff voice say, "leave, Daine." A soft, deep chuckling filled the air, and she was shoved into the room from behind, or was pulled as though by an invisible force and the door slammed shut behind her.

A lone butterfly, seemingly made of light, floated by her head and she suddenly felt dizzy. There was something close, and she felt as though the air around her was wrong.

"Nice of you to join us…Daine…"

A light flared to life and Daine found herself staring into a pair of dark, tawny eyes.

The Night of Lost Innocence/End.