A/N: Yay! I'm alive! I haven't dropped off the face of the planet! Or at least I don't think so… Well anyways, sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I had some major writers block for the entire first half of the chapter then I realized I had to actually design Rie's fans which took me the better part of the day (couldn't design one I liked…) But enough of my ranting.
Chapter Three
The following morning Kanda descended the stairs into the dining room to find everyone else already there. They sat around the table eating a large breakfast and talking. By the way the chatter ceased and they looked at him as he entered, he knew they had been talking about him. He would have to remember to hurt them all later.
"Yutan! Rie called as she spotted her older brother. He glared at her while walking over to a seat set with an untouched plate of food. Even if it wasn't originally intended for him it was his now. "We were just gossiping about you," Rie told him with an innocent smile. He froze in the middle of eating and closed his eyes, trying to ward off the frustration that he felt growing. He wasn't doing so well. "Do you have a girlfriend yet?"
"Hey, Kanda," Allen asked. "Is it true that you—"
"Say it and die," Kanda cut him off. He turned an accusing gaze to Rie. "What have you been telling them?"
"I told you," she said, like she was talking to a two year old. "We were gossiping about you."
Kanda was about to snap something back at her when Lenalee cut in. "Hey, if we're all done eating perhaps we should look for some signs of akuma or Innocence." While Kanda and Rie's bickering was entertaining, they had more pressing matters to attend to and if she let them begin, who knew when they would stop.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Allen, who had been busy smirking at Kanda, turned to Lenalee now. "I think it would be better to split up this time. Now that we know more about what we are looking for it would probably be better this way."
"Don't go making decisions for us, Moyashi," Kanda spat.
Allen whipped his gaze back over to Kanda. "It's Allen."
"I do believe Allen may be correct in this matter Kanda," Krory said timidly.
"Yeah, Kanda," Lavi smiled. Normally he would have called Kanda by his first name but he seemed very grumpy right now, so that would probably be a bad idea. "We can cover more ground this way."
"Besides, we can all take care of ourselves," Lenalee added. "There have been no reports of level three akuma so we should be safe in pairs."
"But there are only five of us," Krory pointed out.
"I'll go with Lenalee!" Rie raised her hand, volunteering herself as the sixth member of their scouting party.
"No," Kanda said instantly.
"C'mon Yutan," she whined. "I wanna go too!" She was talking in a childish manner now, hoping to wear Kanda down. He was about to argue with her when he realized that everyone else was watching them. Finally he turned away from Rie with a sigh. She was too stubborn anyways.
Rie, knowing she had won, turned back to Lenalee. "So, where would you like to begin?"
After breakfast cleanup, which Rie stubbornly enforced, the exorcists split up in groups of two; Rie with Lenalee, Allen with Lavi, and Kanda with Krory. The two girls patrolled their designated section of the city, looking for signs of akuma or innocence. Of course, Rie had ulterior motives to choosing this area of town to patrol; it was the shopping district. There wouldn't be anytime for shopping, but she could window shop. If she saw something that interested her, she could always come back and buy it later.
"So, you haven't noticed many akuma lately?" Lenalee asked her suddenly.
Rie had to laugh. "So I get to be a main source of information?"
"Well you are a local," she replied with a smile.
"True," Rie said. She paused for a moment, thinking, before answering Lenalee's question. "I haven't seen any akuma around. Of course, I haven't been out much lately. I've been busy."
"Doing what?" This girl seemed very open and outgoing, the complete opposite of her brother. Lenalee found her very interesting.
"Practicing. I'm a dancer and I'll be performing at the festival."
"You dance?"
"Yep!" She smiled warmly at Lenalee. "Have you ever tried dancing?"
"No," Lenalee replied. "I've been with the Order since I can remember so I've never had the chance to try anything like that." She thought she something dark pass over Rie's face when she mentioned the Order but it was gone so fast she thought perhaps she had imagined it.
"I've got an idea! As soon as we get the chance I'm going to teach you how to dance," she declared.
Lenalee laughed at the other girl's enthusiasm. "If we have time."
They spent several hours wandering around their designated area of town, talking to several people, but mostly just being where they could be seen. So far, nothing. Finally, Rie had to call a stop. "What is it?" Lenalee asked.
"I've got to prepare of the festival this evening," she replied. "I know that searching for akuma and the innocence is more important than the festival…"
"Don't worry about it," Lenalee said. "Do the others know to return around now?"
"Yeah, I told them before we parted."
"Let's head back then." The two girls returned to Rie's house just moments before the rest of the exorcists. Kanda, as expected, was as grumpy as ever.
"Did you guys find anything?" Rie asked them.
"Not us," Lavi sighed.
"We spent hours going down the main streets and side alleys, talking to people here and there," Allen explained.
"We didn't have much luck either," Krory said.
Kanda didn't feel like elaborating. He did have something to say though. "Is there a reason why we are following her orders?" He asked, gesturing to Rie.
"Because I'm the smart one," she stated bluntly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go get ready." With that she whirled around and entered her house. The exorcists heard her close the door to her room then turned to each other. They quickly decided to continue their patrol of the town.
In her room Rie was preparing for her performance. Opening her closet she removed her two fans from their holders. Opening them up, she placed them on the dresser, the hand painted images reflected in the mirror. The picture was of a large crest in the centre of the fan and an oriental dragon on either side. The main background colour was a deep purple with black shading on the upper portions. There were also flowers on the left and feathers on the right. She had designed them herself.
Next she took her hair out of the pig tails and slowly began to brush her hair flat. She breathed slowly as she watched her reflection calmly in the mirror. Nerves were a part of everything in life, but she couldn't let them get the better of her. She had been performing for about a year now and had developed a method for taming her nerves.
This evening though was little difficult. A festival was a perfect target for an akuma attack and tonight was the opening ceremony, where she and her two fellow dancers would be performing. Of course, her brother and the rest of the exorcists would be there so she imagined there was no real danger even if an akuma did attack.
Finally getting her nerves under control, Rie stood up and continued to prepare for the festival.
oOo
Evening was beginning to fall when the exorcists arrived at the festival grounds. Strings of lights had been hung between roof tops and tree branches, illuminating the brightly coloured stalls and stages set up throughout the square. Children ran around unsupervised with balloons trailing after them, some wearing funny masks and costumes, others wearing fancy dress clothes. Parents and other adults were socializing in groups; men standing in groups laughing loudly and sharing a beer and women sat on benches and gossiped while others were shopping at the stalls. The festival was to celebrate the different cultures that lived within their city so the stalls sold everything from food delicacies to clothing to toys from all over the world.
"There are too many people here," Kanda muttered.
"Stop your muttering, Kanda," Allen muttered back.
"We don't want to upset the little kiddies, hmm? Let them enjoy their festival." Lavi smiled at two young boys who were playing with a new ball their mother had just bought them.
"Until one of their parents turns out to be an akuma and attacks the festival," Kanda spat.
"Enough, Kanda," Lenalee told him.
"I'll be able to detect any akuma before that happens," Allen said confidently.
"Hey," Lavi said suddenly. "Where'd Kuro-chan go?" Looking around, everyone realized he was right; Count Krory was no where to be seen.
"Count?" Lenalee called.
"Kuro-chan!" Lavi yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth. Thankfully, it didn't take too long to locate him. They found the Count looking at the merchandise of a stall selling small bobbles and trinkets. A cat sat on a chair beside the merchant who was sizing up Krory. Allen could tell he was debating charging the obviously clueless Krory more than the items were worth. That's when he noticed something else as well.
"Timcampy!" He lunged for the cat that had the golden golem's tail sticking out of its mouth.
"Hey!" the merchant yelled, startled. "What are you doing to my cat?"
"Your cat is trying to eat my golem," Allen said while trying to pry the cat's mouth open.
"What the hell's a golem?" the merchant asked skeptically. "He's just eating a bird."
Finally the cat spat out the golden golem. "Timcampy!" Allen grasped the golem and backed away from the cat. "Why do you always have to get eaten by cats?"
"Heh," Kanda smirked at Allen, who turned to glare at him.
"Please don't wander off like that Count," Lenalee sighed.
"I'm sorry, Lenalee," he said, somewhat embarrassed. "I just saw something that was very interesting and I couldn't help but stop and look at it."
"Don't worry, Krory," Lavi said, patting him on the back. "How 'bout we go find the stage Rie is dancing on?" Everyone agreed and they once again began to walk through the crowds. It didn't take long to find. The stage Rie was dancing on was illuminated by softly coloured paper lanterns and the volunteers directing the people who came to watch the performance all wore traditional kimono.
"This must be it," Lenalee said, leading the way to the seats. They were directed to seats in the third row and they sat and waited for the performance to start. They had agreed to sit back and watch the dance. Well, mostly agreed. Kanda, of course, still thought they should be looking for the akuma. Once the crowd settled down, the dance began.
Three young women stepped onto the stage and it took a moment for the exorcists to realize that the one in the centre was Rie. Her blue bangs were brushed to one side and the rest of her hair was done up in a mostly traditional style. She wore a long, purple dancer's kimono with an elaborate design of flowers, dragons and feathers to match the two fans she held in her hands. Her eyes, which were now painted with purple and black makeup, were closed and her expression peaceful, a slight smile on her lips. Her right arm was extended out to her side, holding the fan away from her. She held the fan in her left hand down over her stomach. The two girls behind her, wearing slightly different outfits and fans, stood in similar positions. When the music began, so did they.
Slowly at first, though speeding up slightly as it continued, they began to dance to the music. They moved perfectly in time with one and other, moving their fans in expert movements. They whirled around each other, raising one fan in the air then lowering it in a spinning motion while raising the other. Soon the music was quite fast and the dance had moved away from the traditional and was becoming slightly more modern. That didn't seem to matter to the crowd; their attention was completely riveted on the dancers. Even the exorcists couldn't look away. The dance was entrancing and the dancers more beautiful then anything they had ever seen.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the stage and people started screaming. The exorcists lurched to their feet in alarm, readying their anti-akuma weapons. The akuma were already on them though and they barely had time to react. Using his Clown Belt Allen managed to pull himself and several bystanders to safety.
"What's going on?" Lavi called to him.
"I can't sense them!" Allen called back frantically.
"How is that possible?" Krory had activated his Innocence and now looked every inch a vampire. He had also managed to pull several people to safety.
"I don't know," Allen replied. "It's like their not even there!"
Kanda slashed clean through an akuma with his Mugen. "Don't be stupid," he yelled at the others. "Their here, and their attacking. Now fight! Don't expect me to come running to your aid because you let your guard down." Suddenly he remembered his sister standing alone and unprotected on the stage behind them. He turned around to see an akuma almost upon her. He wouldn't be able to make it to her in time.
Thankfully Lenalee was closer. Using her Dark Boots she smashed the akuma away into another, destroying them both. Rie breathed a sigh of relief and looked over to Kanda only to have her heart stop in fear. A large akuma which appeared to be a level three was directly behind Yuu, preparing to attack. Even if he noticed it now, he wouldn't be able to do anything. Even he might not be able to survive a direct attack from a level three akuma.
Kanda, not able to sense its presence either, didn't see it until it attacked, and then it was too late.
"BROTHER!"