A/N: Whew… Another update done… I'm supposed to be busy right now, but I just can't concentrate on doing it at the moment. xP So I decided to update instead! :) Thank you to all those who reviewed and sorry for the delayed chapter!

Just two notes –firstly, I decided to write this chapter in Lavi's POV so you know what to expect and secondly, I might be a bit slower in updating this time. The reason is written in my profile. Sorry!

Anyway, I'm not even sure how many people still read this part so I'll just get on with the story. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Erm… I'm assuming you already know what's written here. Do people still even read this part?? O.O

Chapter Two

As I recovered from the impact of the crash and looked up at the person who just bumped into us, I couldn't help but think how strange this person seemed. At first, I honestly thought he was an old man with his white hair, but when I took a closer look, he looked no older than us. Actually, he looked younger than us but his hair is white! It just seemed so peculiar to me. I've been to a lot of places in my life, recording history with Panda but I've never seen hair with that color at that age. It doesn't look bad on him though, it actually suits him pretty well.

I took another closer look when I thought that this person seemed familiar. I know I haven't met him before, because if I did, I would've remembered, not only because of my memory but also because, in my opinion, anyone would remember him because of his hair…and scar. I did a double take when I spotted his scar. I wanted to make sure that it was a pentacle I saw on his forehead that started the mark that ran all the way across his left eye through his cheek. It looks like it had been a painful cut, despite the strange shape. I wonder if Lenalee and Yu noticed it too.

As the boy hastily put his hood back on to cover his hair, I suddenly found out I had been staring. I noticed Lenalee and Yu had been doing the same; of course, who wouldn't wonder about what kind of story this person has with his trademarks that seemed to defy all normality? I don't mean that in a bad way though. Said boy quickly stood back up and I honestly thought he was going to make a run for it. I was, again, surprised that he apologized and offered us a hand in getting up – not to mention he was smiling politely – despite the fact that we might have made him uncomfortable. I gladly took it, and so did Lenalee. We both said our thanks but Kanda just stood up on his own, ignoring the boy's outstretched hand.

"Che, I don't need your help, beansprout. And watch where you're going." Obviously that came from Yu but… beansprout? I was desperately holding back a fit of laughter. I swear I saw the boy's eye twitch at the nickname but he kept his polite smile. This made me want to laugh even more.

"I'm sorry and my name isn't beansprout, sir," he pointed out.

"Oi, you there!"

"Eeep!" white-haired boy exclaimed when he heard the gruff-sounding voices from a distance coming closer. I couldn't help but be amused by his antics.

Suddenly, I felt a gush of wind and next thing I knew, the beansprout wasn't there anymore. I looked at Lenalee and Yu, with the former one being as clueless as I am and the latter looking the opposite direction with an eyebrow raised as if saying 'what the heck?'. I followed the direction where Yu was looking, only to find a cloud of smoke behind beansprout as he ran at top speed. Wow, he's fast for a normal person, I thought. Suddenly, a whole group of tough looking men were in front of us. Scary, was the first thing that entered my mind.

"Hey, do you know where that person you were talking to a while ago went?" one of them asked. I had to look up to be able to see their faces. They were huge, not to mention intimidating with their muscles and all. I wondered what the beansprout had done to make these people chase after him. Comparing how small the kid was and how massive these men are, I'd say beansprout's in BIG trouble.

"He went that way," I said, pointing to different direction from where the beansprout's really gone. I couldn't help but pity him. Those men looked like people you don't want to mess with. Well, unless you're Yu that is. They went to where I pointed and Lenalee sighed in relief when they were gone.

"Why were those men after that boy?" Lenalee asked. I was thinking along the same lines and I don't think even Yu knew the answer so I guess she asked that without really expecting an answer. Those men earlier remind me of those debt collectors Panda and I saw chasing after people in our travels for some reason though…

"Maybe beansprout-chan has debts to pay?" I voiced out. But there was another thing bothering me. I usually know for certain when I've seen something due to my photographic memory so I've never felt vague familiarity, like how it was with the beansprout. I decided to make my thoughts known.

"Do you guys somehow feel that he's familiar?"

"Yeah… I feel like I've seen him somewhere, I just can't remember where," Lenalee answered. I left it at that and figured that if it's something I'm supposed to remember, I would. I wouldn't completely trust him yet though. There's still a possibility that he's an akuma in disguise.

"Whatever. Let's just get this mission over and done with," said Yu walking ahead. We all decided to go to the same direction as the kid earlier and ask around there. That's the only place left that we haven't been to yet, so might as well. The town was quite small, so it probably won't even take a day to explore it.

--

After splitting up and a few hours of more asking around, we met at an intersection and found out we still came up with nothing. All the people with the same hair-color as the one in the dream had the same dreams, so they were all out. At that time, we were pretty sure that all we've asked all the auburn-haired people already, whether they're children or adults, and we were beginning to lose hope of ever finding this person. We decided to eat a late lunch and resume asking around once we're done.

Just then, we spotted the beansprout with his hood on, playing…poker? Wasn't he too young for that? But then I thought, maybe he just looked young. He was playing poker with a couple of adults, and all of them seemed frustrated. They must've been losing against him judging by their facial expressions. The bean's innocent face must've been what made these people underestimate him, I thought. He won again, and he must've been winning most, if not all, of the games considering the amount of money that he gained. Seriously, this kid is full of surprises.

After collecting the money from reluctant people, he thanked them and bowed. I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to him again and ask him why those men were chasing after him. Probably we'll remember why he seemed familiar when we talk to him and he might be able to help us too. Lenalee was probably thinking along the same lines, and Yu looked like he wanted to go somewhere else and work on his own. There weren't anywhere else to look though, so I guess that's why he stayed.

We were about to approach him when he seemed to have seen something and stopped walking. I stopped and looked at the direction he was looking at and saw a little girl who looked homeless and malnourished sitting in an alley with cardboard, probably as a makeshift bed. Her clothes had holes on them, some of them roughly patched up with fabric that didn't match. She kind of reminded me of the little boy in the dream. I wanted to feel sorry for her, but as a Bookman, I'm not supposed to. I've seen a lot of people like this in my travels with Panda and he always tells me off whenever I would go near to help them.

"Poor girl," Lenalee said, as she started to take a step to approach the girl and probably help her. She stopped, however, when she saw the beansprout come closer to the little girl, but he didn't go that close. I wondered why he kept more than an arm's reach between them if he was going to help her. He knelt down and then I saw that the little girl was slowly edging away, as if frightened. Beansprout smiled in a kind and – was that understanding? – way. He reached for something inside his cloak and took out a bag. I remember that bag. It was where all the money he earned – or won – was. He offered it to the little girl, who was still shaking in the corner in fear. I wondered why she would still be scared at someone offering her something when it came to me - she had probably been betrayed a lot of times before, and was scared that this beansprout would do the same thing. It was then I realized.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

It was as if he had dealt with this kind of person before, that's why he didn't come too close. He probably knew that the girl would be scared, and the distance was kept to keep her from having panic attacks. He didn't want to frighten her, but he wanted to help her too. He was still smiling in a gentle way, and the girl's fear was slowly turning into one closer to curiosity. Beansprout offered her the bag and she slowly stood up from her corner, cautiously walking toward him. She was hesitant, but the boy was patient and didn't force her into anything. Finally, she reluctantly took the bag and stared at him in question.

"Keep it," he said, answering the little girl's unspoken question. "Use it to buy food, clothes and somewhere to sleep."

The little girl's eyes slowly started to fill with tears and beansprout, with his smile still on, patted the little girl on the head and stood up.

"Use it wisely, ok?"

The little girl nodded and clutched the bag tighter. She looked up at him and smiled widely.

"T-thank you! Thank you so much!"

The little girl bowed and took off, probably to use the money that beansprout gave her. If he was playing poker with those guys for this, then I guess it wasn't bad. Lenalee was smiling as she watched what happened. Yu was silently standing there, but I knew he was watching too. At that time, I thought it was impossible for this boy to be an akuma. We weren't wearing our uniforms so he wouldn't recognize us and he didn't seem to see us so if he was an akuma, then he would've attacked that little girl. I was about to try and approach him again, his back was towards us so I guess he still didn't see us, when his face fell and he sighed.

"What am I going to do now…?" he asked no one in particular. I stopped again. "I'll never be able to pay master debts now. And those people will kill me!"

I blinked. I was surprised that I was right about the debts part but… master? That surprised me even more.

Just then, the kid turned back and was about to start walking again when he saw us. He stopped and waved at us. Lenalee started walking towards him, and I followed. A could've sworn I heard Yu mutter a 'che' before following too.

"Yo beansprout-chan!" I greeted while grinning. I couldn't hide my laughter anymore when his eye twitched again at the nickname and I swear I saw a small vein pop in his head.

"Why are you guys calling me that? That's not even close to my name…"

Lenalee chuckled.

"Ahh sorry about that," I said, recovering from my laughter. "The name's Lavi. Nice to meet cha!" I introduced myself. I don't even know why we're introducing ourselves to someone we don't know, but I feel as if we could trust him. I know Panda might kill me if he knew I was being careless.

"My name is Lenalee Lee but you can call me Lenalee." I guess Lenalee also trusted the beansprout. "The grumpy one over there is Kanda."

"Ah… My name is Al…" he started. I noticed he kind of trailed off a bit on the last part, as if he was going to continue saying something but decided against it. There was a brief flash of hesitation in his eyes, though I would've missed it if I blinked, before he continued, a bit more certain this time.

"You can call me Al. Nice to meet you too," he said while wearing his usual smile. I guess Lenalee didn't notice his brief pause. I'm not sure about Yu though.

"Che. Stupid beansprout."

"I'm not a beansprout! Why do you call me that anyway?"

"Because you look and act like one."

"Act…? Do beansprouts even move…?" 'Al' tilted his head to the side. Both Lenalee and I had to laugh at the two.

"…how stupid can you get?" This one, again, came from Kanda. I saw another angry vein appear on beansprout's head and I'm beginning to get scared that the two might end up killing each other soon. Fortunately, Lenalee decided to stop the two and invited 'Al' to come along with us. I guess she was thinking of asking him some questions about stuff that might help. As we started walking back to the inn we were staying at, my mind began to drift again.

I wondered what the earlier hesitance was for. I had the feeling that he was hiding something but maybe he just doesn't want to give us his real name because of the debt collectors. Then again, he could really be hiding something. Someone wearing a hood and a cloak in this warm weather isn't really someone you'd think normal, not to mention his strange scar and hair color. I was also wondering about this master he was talking about earlier, and why he seems familiar. It wouldn't be good to ask him these things directly though, he might run away or might get scared or suspicious. I finally decided on one question.

"Hey Al, why were those debt collectors after you?" I asked. I figured it was the safest question I could ask at the moment, since we did see the debt collectors. He froze.

Okay so maybe it's not the safest question.

"Ermm… That's because of my… foster father," he answered. His poker face was good, I had to admit, but my senses are better. I noticed his disgust as he said 'foster father'. And, again, there was a pause before he said 'foster' as if the person he was talking about wasn't really what he said the person was to him, and I'm beginning to get suspicious of this boy even more. Panda taught me how to pay attention to even the littlest of details and the training and constant nagging are paying off, I guess. But who knows, maybe he just has something against his so-called 'foster father'?

"What did your foster father do?" Lenalee asked.

"All those debts are his, and now I have to pay them! He never pays for his own, and he doesn't even use the money for anything important!" he blurted out. Okay, so he does have something against his foster father.

"So you were playing poker to be able to pay them off?"

"Yes."

"You must have really good luck then," I said, remembering how he constantly won against all those other players. It was almost unbelievable.

As soon as I finished saying that, a dark aura started surrounding the beansprout. He's now wearing a creepy grin, his innocent and polite demeanor quickly disappearing. I started to back away as he started to laugh in a sinister way.

"Hehehe… I never lose when it comes to poker…" he said, evil grin still in place. Then, as soon as it came, it disappeared and 'Al' is now back to his usual self again.

"Anyways, I'm sorry, but I really have to go. It was nice meeting you guys!"

Before we could say anything else, he ran off again. There goes our chance of getting help… and some answers. I sighed. Another thing to wonder about was his discomfort, and why he suddenly had to go when I thought he would come with us. I was planning on asking him more questions when we got back to the inn too. Obviously the people here won't answer most of our questions aside from questions about their dreams, and he seems to be the only one we could ask. Well, except for the old lady but she said she already told us everything she knew.

--

Once we got back to the inn, Lenalee decided to report back to Komui before he had a fit and Yu decided to go back outside. The sun was already starting to set so I decided I might as well go back to the room and rest until dinner. As soon as my head hit the pillow though, I couldn't stop thinking about everything that's happened in the mission already. Missions to retrieve Innocence weren't strange, but the mysterious possible exorcist was. The kid we met earlier wasn't exactly what you would call normal either, but maybe he wasn't related to the mission. It wouldn't hurt to wonder though.

I tried my best to sleep, but I found that I couldn't. The dream also had me wondering, and I couldn't help but wonder what I'll be seeing next the moment everyone's asleep in this town. The old lady earlier told us that it's possible for the Innocence to stay with one person, whether they are aware of if or not, for days, so there's a possibility that we'll still be looking for the same person tomorrow. Maybe once we have another dream, we'd have more clues. I do wish that the Innocence won't move on to another person though. That would make it harder to catch.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud crash coming from somewhere outside. It didn't seem to be near here, but it had to be something big if it was far and I could hear it from here. I stood up and went to the window. There was smoke coming from one of the shops a few streets from where we were right now and I saw something that vaguely looked like the top of an akuma's head. I quickly rushed outside and saw that Lenalee was already running outside too.

"Was that an akuma?" she asked. She activated her boots once we got outside the inn and I nodded.

"Yeah I guess it was. It looked like it," I answered. There was another explosion, and I activated my innocence too and extended it to get there faster. Lenalee used her boots.

As we approached, I saw Yu was already there, the akuma nowhere in sight, and the people nearby looked scared but otherwise relieved. No one got hurt, and I heard Lenalee sigh in relief. She started to take care of matters with the townspeople, trying to reassure them and started helping with some of the repairs.

"Nice one, Yu! Good thing you were outside, or else we would've been too late!" I said. The only thing I saw was a glint coming from Mugen and before I knew it, it was already pointed at me.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me by my first name?" he questioned, his voice threatening. I gulped.

"And besides, it wasn't me."

I blinked in question.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It was that guy Komui told us to investigate. The possible compatible-user. When I got here, he already defeated the akumas."

A/N: Hah… Finally that's done. xD So what do you think? I seriously still think there's something wrong here, I just don't know what. O.O Ahh well.

By the way, I still don't know what hits are for… Can somebody please tell me?

Anyways please review! They're really appreciated and they encourage me to update! :)