A couple days later, the three Exorcists found another job for Miranda to participate in, with Allen's help. It had only been due to Allen's persuasive comments to the employer that Miranda had even got the chance to try for the position. Apparently, he had already hired and fired Miranda more than once and wasn't looking to get anywhere near her again. Allen had to convince the circus director that she would only be selling tickets; he would be the one performing the act, as to not injure Miranda-or any of the innocent people who happen to be caught in the way.
That was where the two were the next day, Allen with a large pumpkin on his head as he juggled multiple balls and balanced on a large one while Miranda was dressed as a witch, handing out tickets to the little children.
Lenalee and Katsu waited for the other two to get there break, leaning against a building's stone wall.
"Allen's really good at juggling," Lenalee commented, watching him closely.
Katsu hummed non-committing, keeping her eyes focused on Miranda instead. She could care less about Allen at the moment; Miranda should be the one they should be caring about. She was the one who had to land this job. It was the only way they would be able to get her confidence up enough to get the Innocence to stop rewinding the town and let them leave.
"Miranda's not doing too bad either," Katsu added after a moment, trying to remind Lenalee of the reason they were doing this in the first place.
Lenalee smiled, nodding her head in agreement. "She looks like she's really enjoying it. It makes me happy, seeing Miranda so happy. She's had too many bad things happen to her."
Katsu's throat clenched painfully once, as she recognized Lenalee's words. "You said that about me once too," Katsu whispered, remembering the day that Lenalee had approached her. She had only been in the Order for a month or so, and Katsu had just returned from her first mission with Kanda, overjoyed with her success. Lenalee had rushed over to her, engulfing her in a hug, muttering those words, "It makes me happy Katsu, to see that you're finally happy here too."
Katsu shook her head, forcing the memory out of her mind. She needed to focus on the mission at hand. She wasn't going to allow it to be a failure.
"And they remain true to this day." Lenalee's eyes fell onto Katsu. The dark, loving orbs expressing all the affection she held for the girl in front of her.
Katsu looked away, unable to handle such strong emotions in her friend's eyes.
"Every time you or anyone I care about is sad, I'm equally devastated." Lenalee looked back over to Allen and Miranda. "That applies to Allen and Miranda as well."
Katsu followed Lenalee's gaze, once again watching Allen balance on the ball. She understood where Lenalee was coming from, heck she agreed with Lenalee that it always hurt to see a comrade get injured, but even that had limitations. She could only care so much. It wasn't that she didn't want to care more, she just...couldn't. She was proud that she came so far in her capability to care in the last couple years.
"Do you still hate Allen, Katsu? Even after knowing him for a couple months now?" Lenalee asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Katsu responded without a moment's hesitation. "You don't understand the pain he's put me through, Lenalee. You can't even begin to understand."
Lenalee pursed her lips. "You're right, I don't. But I do know that Allen isn't the type of person who would do that intentionally. You saw him after he found out that his injuries had been transferred to you. You saw how he tried to make it up to you, apologized to you. I would bet he's even trying to find a way to control it, or at the very least prevent it."
Katsu shook her head. "I can't. I can't forget it. My whole life...it would have been so much simpler, maybe ended up differently..." Katsu sank to the ground, grasping her head. Lenalee just watched her friend, understanding the feeling of all the 'what if's going through her head. "Even my own Innocence betrays me and reacts to him. I can't..."
Lenalee crouched down, resting a comforting hand on her friends shoulder. "Can you try? Little steps. Maybe stop avoiding him at the Order to start. Then when you're comfortable, make small talk."
Katsu didn't answer, hiding her face in her hands.
"Hey, Lenalee, Katsu!" Allen called, waving over to the two girls. "We have a break now!"
Lenalee nodded, calling back, "We'll be right there!" She turned to Katsu, "C'mon, let's go see how the others are doing and leave this depressing conversation for later," Lenalee joked, offering her hand to Katsu.
Katsu looked up from her hands. She seemed to pull herself together; any trace of confusion and panic left her expression as she confidently took Lenalee's outstretched hand.
Side by side the two female Exorcists made their way over to where Allen was resting.
"Where's Miranda?" Lenalee asked, once they were close enough.
"She decided to keep working, to put up a good image." Even through the pumpkin head, the two could tell Allen was smiling. "I really think we have a good chance with this one. The ring master even told us if we kept up the good work, we'd have a permanent job."
Lenalee smiled brightly, "That's great!"
"Keeping the job will be the real challenge," Katsu muttered. Lenalee roughly elbowed her in the side.
"Stop being so grumpy today."
"Sorry, I'm not in the right mood at the moment, but I think you would find it understandable," Katsu glared pointedly at Lenalee.
Lenalee sighed.
"What's the matter?" Allen asked, sounding as confused as he probably looked.
"Katsu's just in a bad mood today. It's great that Miranda might actually get this job." Lenalee smiled a little forcefully, as she changed the subject. "You were really skilled balancing on that ball Allen."
"Thanks. When I was a kid, I used to be in the circus with my foster father."
"That must have been so cool, to be able to visit so many different countries," Lenalee gushed.
"It sounds nice, but we had a hard time just getting by. What about you Lenalee? How did you come to the Order?" Allen pulled his knees to his chest, leaning forward in interest.
"Oh, I've been in the Order for as long as I can remember. Mine and Komui's parents died when I was young. Not long after, the Order picked me up since I was an accommodator for the dark boots. I was alone, and without my brother, who was my only living relative, for three years. But then Komui joined the Order for my sake and became the science division supervisor." Lenalee explained.
As Katsu listened, she felt the tickle of a little green monster. How could Lenalee talk about her past so easily, like nothing bad happened? Even when she had told her the whole story, Katsu noticed how the girl barely batted an eye. How could the dark side of the Order not still hurt her?
"What about you, Katsu?" Allen asked, snapping Katsu out of her thoughts. Lenalee winced when Allen asked the question. Expecting Katsu to blow up, in light of their recent conversation.
"General Tiedoll brought me to the Order," Katsu answered in a clipped tone. It took all of her will not to think of the conditions the fatherly man had found her, or how cruelly she had treated him. The man truly hadn't deserved it.
Allen, realizing that Katsu wasn't in the mood to elaborate didn't press further. He actually felt pretty lucky that Katsu shared any information with him at all.
The trio sat in silence for a moment longer, waiting for Allen's potential boss to call him back to work when a short blue haired girl approached them, a lollipop in her mouth.
"Hey, where can I get ticket for the pumpkin and the witch?" The girl demanded, taking a long lick from her candy.
Allen, the ever enthusiastic worker, rushed over to the girl's side, dragging her back the way she came. "Right this way!" He turned back to the other two briefly to wave.
Katsu sighed once Allen was out of sight, "Are you happy?" Katsu grumbled. "I was nicer."
Lenalee smiled sadly. "I don't want you to force yourself to be nicer to him because of me. I want you to do so to be able to understand the bond between siblings."
Katsu huffed again rolling her eyes.
"You idiot!" A man yelled. Katsu and Lenalee's heads snapped up when the recognized the sound of the ring leader's voice.
"Miranda...no..."Katsu whispered dejectedly standing up to follow the action. As they turned around the corner, they were faced with a crying Miranda on the ground with Allen crouching before her, trying to comfort her. The ring leader was standing above them, glaring down at Miranda.
"I'm so sorry," Miranda sobbed, "While I was dealing with another customer, he just..."
"It's okay," Allen comforted, "What did he look like?"
"He had a brown top and slightly long hair. He ran in that direction." She pointed to her right.
Lenalee turned to Katsu, "Keep an eye on Miranda." She immediately dashed off in the direction that Miranda had pointed, jumping onto the roof to gain better access to the ground below her.
Allen ran after her, taking the ground.
Katsu walked over to Miranda and knelt down next to her. She offered the poor woman her hand.
Miranda smiled taking it.
When Katsu took another look around her surroundings, to see if there was a threat, or by chance, the thief, she noticed with a shiver that they were all alone, save for the blue haired girl.
She stood a good distance away, leaning in their direction as she sucked on her lollipop. Her dark eyes were wide as they remained focused on them.
"I was expecting you to go with them," The girl said, eyes focused on Katsu. "You're the cursed one aren't you? I've heard stories about you from the Earl." She giggled childishly. "Though, I was expecting your scar to look more rugged."
Katsu blinked in shock once she realized this girl was mistaking her for Allen. It was a strange feeling, even though she didn't have long to ponder on it. She had never been mistaken for someone else. For looking like a boy, yes. She even preferred it that way, but for someone else entirely, Katsu wasn't too sure she liked the feeling.
Coming back to herself, Katsu glared. "What do you want?"
The girl smiled sweetly, though it only made Katsu want to puke. "The Innocence of course."
Katsu snarled, "Never." She pushed Miranda behind her. She didn't know what was up with this girl, but Katsu wasn't getting a good feeling in the pit of her stomach.
In the middle of pulling Miranda behind her, everything went dark once again like a flick of a switch. Katsu mentally swore. The thief was an akuma, either that or Allen and Lenalee just ran into one.
Katsu's attention didn't remain on that thought long when she caught wind of the laughter. The evil, sinister, 'made her want to crawl up in a ball and pray for death' laughter. It was caught in the melody of a higher pitch, more gleeful one.
"Oh, how could I have made such a mistake? Of course you're not Allen, but I've heard many more stories about the one whose eyes turn red." The girl clapped her hands gleefully.
Katsu's entire body tensed. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe.
Miranda shook her lightly, soft sobs make their way past her mouth. "K-Katsu? Are you okay?"Katsu couldn't respond, even though she knew she probably should, to reassure the easily scared woman behind her.
The girl giggled, "It looks like you haven't forgotten either."
Katsu shivered, and her mind was growing foggy. Had she still yet to breathe? She took in a deep breath. No, she just got plenty of oxygen, yet her mind continued to grow foggy and unclear until, ultimately, she collapsed.
Miranda shrieked, rushing to catch the falling body. "Katsu?" She called to the unconscious girl. The girl's head simply rolled to the side, unresponsive. Miranda curled around the white haired girl, sobbing. "I'm so useless! I can't even keep a thief from stealing money! Had I done that, none of this would have happened! Why did that Innocence clock choose me?" Miranda wailed.
The blue haired girl grinned. "Clock Innocence, you say?" A dark look cast a shadow over the girl's eyes. "Where is your Innocence?" She asked, couching down so she was eye to eye with Miranda.
Miranda trembled, holding the body in her arms tighter.
"Tell me where it is, and I'll be less inclined to hurt any of you."
Miranda's lips trembled as she fought to say nothing.
The girl frowned, glaring at Miranda. Miranda whimpered, holding onto Katsu, hoping it would lend her strength as she sat at the girl's mercy.
Oooh, how does Road know Katsu? Heh. I felt like being evil by ending it there XD. Feel free to review. :)