Summary of Chapter ONE: Even though he had just come back from a mission, Kanda was assigned another task—to safely deliver a package from the seaport of Calais, France. In the package, is a new type of weapon that has high expectations from both Central and Inspector Leverrier, for it may have the ability to defeat the Millennium Earl and his endless army of akuma.

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{TWO}

The Ferryman of the Styx 1

It was almost five o'clock in the early morning. The weapon was acquired for and the mission was half-way towards the road to completion. Or so it was supposed to be. The ferry was going to depart port in approximately five minutes and yet the special package was still outside on the deck, instead of being loaded onto the ferry. And it seemed as if Link wasn't having any intention of returning to London anytime soon, for he was leisurely taking his time doing something else. Kanda remembered the Jr. Inspector a while ago had said that he was going to make a call for a few minutes. But it had been more than just a few minutes. Why in damnation was the Two-pimple taking so long? Wasn't he the one who liked to enforce accurate timing and precise scheduling?

Now Kanda was really miffed. Why waste time here, when he could be off completing another mission—which he was assigned to after this one, and retrieve a new innocence or obliterate the akuma? Instead, he had to guard some idiotic weapon concocted by the fools of Central.

Speaking of Central; Kanda glanced over at Link, who was behind a pile of crates (Kanda was a few feet away from him), speaking nearly inaudible commands into a small communicator hidden behind his ear, almost as if he didn't want any spectators to overhear what he was saying. His expression showed the look of exasperation as he disputed with the person on the other line. The conversation was muffled and Kanda could only catch a few words here and there.

"—and I […] find […] […] him, understand? We […] [...] schedule […]." Link then turned a dial on his communicator device and spoke—in his normal tone of voice, to another person on a different line.

"I sincerely apologize, Inspector," he said. "We are having some technicalities, but do not worry for I will straighten them out." And as he took a breather, he listened to the other person (whom Kanda presumed was Leverrier) and scribbled instructions onto his notebook at an incredible pace, his slight nods and 'yeses' interjecting in between at numerous times. And after what seemed like a Himalayan of 'yes'—'yes' and 'yes', the Jr. Inspector was finally finishing his long extended call with the Inspector.

"Yes sir. I will, sir," he finally concluded. After hanging up, he then looked up at Kanda with a frown, acting as if he just recently noticed his apparent presence. But of course, it might have been likely that Link was frowning for his dislike for the obviously insane height difference between the two of them. (Even though Link was Kanda's senior by one year).

"Yu Kanda," he said after clearing his throat, "it seems that there is a slight disruption in the mission. Another person is expected to join us on our trip back to London, although it seems that he is currently being delayed. In the meantime, my men and I"—he motioned towards the tan-uniformed men who previously brought the package from Central—"will search for him, while you load the crate onto the ferry and guard it until I come back escorting the particular individual. There is a connection between him and the weapon, and it is vitally important that—"

"So in other words, you didn't do your job," Kanda countered, his eyebrows furrowing even deeper than normal.

"Excuse me?" Link said, astonished by the fact that an exorcist would talk back to an Inspector. This extremist act was out of proportion of the Black Order Hierarchy and the Junior Inspector was very unused to the thought of someone rebelling against a superior. But apparently, he did not know Kanda Yu—the exorcist known to have a commanding authority of his own.

"Tch." Kanda leered intently at the Jr. Inspector. "If you disrupt my mission, I will kill you."

Link watched as the Japanese exorcist picked up the crate like a box full of cotton and hauled it over his shoulder, walking towards the place where the ferry was docked. The Junior Inspector recorded a brief note in his notebook and closed it shut.

Inspector Leverrier had ordered him to report anything that happened during the mission. So he, Howard Link, would write the records and logs in his black notebook and hand it to the Inspector when it was complete. And this was what he wrote so far:

"If anything critical has occurred to the weapon, it would be the cause of Yu Kanda, the exorcist in charge of the safety of the said weapon, who handled the package with such remarkable caution and consideration."

--

Kanda set down the crate onto the floor, a heavy clump sound from inside the box echoing from its wooden exterior to the white barren walls of the storage room. He then leaned against the wall and crossed his arms while gazing around his surroundings.

It was pitch dark, except for the minuscule light from the single murky incandescent lamp hanging from the ceiling. It flickered now and then, as the shadows from the suitcases and other crates of different sizes appeared every moment or so—but also disappeared in the twinkle of an eye. Kanda breathed through his mouth, for the stench of gutted fish and raw meat products rotted the air and overfilled the room.

He then shifted his eyes towards the crate that he was guarding. It was surprisingly heavy when he had carried it. It almost felt like as if the crate was packed full with lead or some other type of bulky metal substance. Nevertheless, thanks to Kanda's constant daily training, he had managed to carry the package with no difficulty at all.

But for the first time in a long time—or even in his life, Kanda was asking himself a question. And that in itself was very strange, for he usually never really cared about other things not related to him in any way. However, this crate seemed different. When he had carried the box, he had felt tiny shifting movements and heard scuffling from inside the wooden walls.

If this thing really was a weapon, why the hell would it move?

He strained his eyes and scrutinized the crate with an intense calculating gaze. It wasn't moving right now and the crate was still, with not a sound peeping out from it. This should have proved that the box didn't even move in the first place.

But Kanda was positively sure that the crate had fidgeted when he was handling it. And he was also sure that whatever weapon was inside that package, it was sure to be bad news. There was a sinister aura emanating from inside the crate, not too different from a murderous intent that a bloody killer would have.

Then suddenly, Kanda shifted his eyes from left to right, and put a cautious hand on the hilt of Mugen. A small box that used to be stacked on top of the other big crates, dropped and the lid pried open from the sharp contact—its contents spilling out and rolling to Kanda's feet.

There were slight shuffling noises creaking against the deteriorating wooden floor. Kanda slowly and warily approached the area from which the box had fallen from, his hand still on his Innocence. Then the noises were brought to a stop. He carefully rolled his feet from his heels to his toes, in order to prevent his boots from squeaking against the floor. And as he was about to inquire who was there, the door to the storage room unexpectedly opened and the dull light from the premature morning shone through the dim of the room, blinding Kanda's dark brown eyes.

"Sorry, sir. But you don't have any authorization to be down here," said the person who opened the door.

Kanda watched as the person entered the storage room. And as the person walked closer to him, Kanda realized that he was the ferryman.

"You don't have the authorization to be down here, sir," said the Ferryman again.

Kanda, still keeping a wary eye on the area that he heard the unusual noises, said, "Sorry. But you have to complain that to the other guy with braided hair outside on the dock. We are from the Black Order and it is required of me to stay at the storage room to guard our delivery."

"Black Order? I have never heard of such a place."

Kanda handed the Ferryman some papers that he took from out of his uniform pocket. The man swiftly scanned the documents, his eyes widening the further he read on.

"From the Vatican? The Pope himself? You people are under him?"

"Yes, now I hope that cleared up some misunderstandings," Kanda said.

"Oh, yes, yes indeed," said the Ferryman, appearing to be satisfied with the answer. "I'm sorry for my behavior. It's just that there tend to be stowaways once in a while, and the storage room is a perfect place for vagabonds like them to be creeping about while getting themselves a free ride." The man paused as he stared at Kanda's uniform—which could be quite flashy to the common and rich folk alike. "And you're uniform is very peculiar looking. Never seen anything like it."

"Hmph. Now I have a job to do, if you will excuse me," said Kanda, tired of the tedious conversation that the Ferryman was bringing up. He was still worried about the strange noises from behind the other crates, and Kanda had a feeling that it wasn't just a normal stowaway.

And as for the Ferryman, he excused himself and walked outside the room. Before he completely closed the door, he smiled and said, "Yes, please. Do your job, sir. I will make sure that no one bothers you."

The Ferryman closed the door and his smile grew even wider to almost impossible lengths.

"Now. Off to do my job as well."

--

"You. Come out now. I already know you're there," Kanda commanded sharply. When no one revealed themselves, he clicked his tongue as he swiftly picked up his feet and came at the area where the noises came from.

"Damn it," Kanda murmured under his breath, when he saw that there wasn't a trace of life behind those crates. He looked around, watching out for any irregular shadows that seemed out of place or shifted in the slightest movement.

"This is my last warning. Come out now, before I slice you to bits."

Kanda scanned through the whole room one last time, but did not see anything out of the ordinary. But sight wasn't the only good sense that Kanda had. He quickly turned around and sliced a certain crate, with his Mugen, in half. Kanda smirked as he approached the intruder, who was still cramped up in the position of hiding behind the box. But since the crate was now cut up, the stowaway—wearing a dark coat with an enlarged hood which covered his face, slowly lifted up his head and awkwardly smiled.

"I'm, um…a traveler. Nice to meet you."

--

Whew, finally finished this, huh. Anyways, I wanted to thank the readers who had reviewed last chapter. I appreciate the comments a lot. A lot more than you can ever realize.

Also, some of you think that Allen's in the package? Well, let's just wait and see shall we?

And by the way, I was typing this while listening to "Strength" by Abingdon Boys School and "The Sore Feet Song" by Ally Kerr, two of the most awesome songs ever. I especially love Takanori-san from ABS/TMRevolution. He is a good singer in my opinion, and is the one person that inspires me to write. Besides Allen of course.