Stage 6: Old Friends and New

I never felt so groggy and tired in my life.

I swear, it felt like I rested on a pile of rocks. The mattress I woke up on was really beat up and the springs were sticking out in all places.

Besides the fact that I'm still stuck in the nineteenth century, I thought that was just enough. But now I've had it, this whole thing is messed up. I don't like being in this place at all.

I got up from the bed and kicked off the covers from under my feet. Apparently, I still have my dirty clothes on. That's a good thing, although my black capris have reached its end. It was torn up pretty badly, but good enough to keep my butt covered. Although, my light blue sleeveless tee and blue hoodie seemed to be safe. The only thing is I've got bloodstains all over me.

I gasped a little bit. I don't have my book bag with me. The only thing in this room was just this beat up bed and an old lamp. The lampshade was lop-sided and it looks really torn apart from the inside.

I guess they just don't return old furniture…this place does look pretty old. I mean, the floorboards are scratched in all places and pieces of the ceiling are falling right off.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I pulled the covers that I kicked off two minutes ago and pretended to sleep.

I opened one of my eyes slightly and from what I saw there was a figure standing at the door. Could it be the same one that attacked me from last night? If so, I'd give him a piece of my mind.

But, the figure from last night was a lot taller from what I'd expected. This guy was a few inches shorter, and he wasn't carrying a katana with him either.

However, this guy seems to be a lot friendlier. I mean, just look at him. You could tell by just looking into his eyes.

The figure standing at the foot of my door has hair as white as snow. His eyes were a deep shade of silver and he's wearing some sort of a black overcoat. Oh no, he wasn't just wearing black, there was a red bow tie tied around his neck, and he wore a white collared shirt. There was a silver cross pinned to his overcoat, from what I knew in my books, he must be in some sort of special group.

Unexpectedly, he walked closer to my bed and I closed my eyes straight away, pretending to sleep. He took the covers off my head and I could feel a slight breeze touching my face. Even if my eyes aren't open, I could tell that he was staring at me.

"God," The boy started to say, he sounded a bit younger than I'd expected him to sound. "I cannot believe that Kanda went and did this to you..."

I woke up from the sound of that, I did it the natural way. Y'know, the whole wake-up-and-stretch scene, I don't want him to know that I was eavesdropping.

"Oh thank goodness that you're awake!" The boy's eyes widened with surprise, "For a second…I thought you were dead!"

I didn't understand what he meant by just saying that. Of course I wasn't dead, that 'Kanda' guy or whatever his name is only scratched me with his blade slightly. Not enough to chop off my head for sure.

"I'm Allen by the way," he closed his eyes and continued to smile, "Allen Walker."

I suddenly woke up back into reality, before I could even realize it, there was a huge red scar coming down his left eye. Whatever happened to him to even get such a scar like this one, that looked like it must've hurt. Bad.

Now that you mention it, that would suck having a scar like that. That is, even if it's coming down one of your eyes.

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but somehow something inside me is holding me back. I couldn't even try to put this into words.

Maybe…it has to do something with the huge scratch on the back of my neck. I tried to say 'hey' but it just hurt me. My muscles now feel so sore all of a sudden…

"Oh yeah, " Allen looked down at me with disdain, "I'm sorry for my friend's behavior from last night. A lot of this might not make sense to you, but my friend assumed that you were an akuma. He tried to kill you, but I stopped him from doing so."

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. First people say that I'm superhuman since I have wolf abilities, and now I'm an akuma. Next thing you know, I'll be working late in pie shops down a street of a little town I'd like to call the city of idiots and retards.

But…I should stop being so grouchy, I mean…that's how I've been feeling ever since I time traveled into this century. Ever since…I realized how much of an insensitive jerk Toboe turned out to be.

Tsume must be drowning Toboe's sorrow with beer right about now.

"Well it's my fault actually…" Allen closed his eyes and still continued, "Because of me, you were the one ended up getting hurt. I sensed a soul that was inside of your body and for a second I thought it was a dead person's soul inside of you."

I blinked for a split second, and then I couldn't help but to place my hands on Allen's.

I smiled and even if I couldn't speak right now, Allen could tell that I was telling him that 'I'll be fine'.

Just then, two more figures came into my room as well. Maybe…those are Allen's acquaintances?

One of them was a girl, possibly about my age to be exact. She had long, turquoise hair that's tied up in pigtails, and her eyes were bluish-green. Her uniform was insanely cute I just can't help myself. She was wearing somewhat of the same thing Allen was wearing…in fact, all of them were. The only difference with her outfit is that, the top looks more feminized. She wore a plain white skirt, and she wore a black hose…or was it a pair of tight black pants? Hmm, I don't think they'd have something like that in this century. And, she wore black slippers, not the kind you would wear to bed, but the type you would wear while you're out and walking around.

Then…there was a guy with long black hair that's tied up high into a ponytail. He left his overcoat open and he was wearing bandages around his body.

My eyes widened straight away. I noticed the katana he carried with him, with my blood still stained on the edges of the blade. I'm guessing that this was Allen's friend Kanda.

Just looking at Kanda gives me the creeps. No, let me rephrase that…he is a creep!

"So…" The girl with pigtails started to say, "She's woken up?"

Allen suddenly looked up from the side of the bed, suddenly spoke, "Oh, Lenalee! I didn't see you there. In fact, I didn't see any of you guys coming in."

"Sure you didn't." Kanda said sarcastically, "Obviously you wouldn't see us. You were so busy proposing to this girl whom I nearly killed last night."

I felt like I wanted to punch Kanda's lights out. But, I didn't have the strength to do so…even if I was a wolf, I still remained pretty weak.

But instead, I saw Allen got up and walked up close to Kanda. With an angry expression written on Allen's face, Kanda took a step back.

"All I am doing is checking if she's alright. Unlike you, you nearly killed her after when I said that this poor girl's soul was a clean soul. We're here to put dead souls to rest, not the souls that are still up and alive. It's our job as exorcists."

So…that's what they are…they're exorcists. Does this mean…I'm one too? Nothing makes sense anymore.

Kanda continued to stand there, with just a blank expression written on his face.

Allen, with his eyes that shine like silver stones, took a good look at Kanda. He then gave out a huge sigh and then he said, "Y'know, sometimes…you can be the most annoying person to talk to…even as a partner, you don't even give any mercy."

Ouch. That was pretty harsh. I mean, it's just a joke, don't people in the nineteenth century understand what jokes are— wait, what the heck am I doing? I guess I lost so much inches of blood when I took a huge strike in the neck last night I might be losing my head (oh, that was terrible).

As for Kanda, he stood there quite firm in place. Looking at how this guy's feeling, he looks pretty pissed off. I'm serious, he looks seriously pissed off. I know in the next few minutes something in this room is going to break.

Apparently not. Well, a few seconds beforehand, I did catch a glimpse of Kanda pulling out his katana for just a split second, but then he slipped it back into it's sheath. Despite of what has happened, I used to read so many fiction novels about exorcists. But…the ones in my books carried only carried magical weapons…but Kanda's katana just looks like any other sword you could even buy at any cosplay conventions or possibly retail stores.

I guess…I could be wrong. Maybe there was magic deep within his katana. I wonder about Lenalee and Allen…what kinds of weapons do they possess? I know mine…taking to dead people. Yeah, that power is so beast I'm not even kidding. Not.

I let out a huge sigh; not being able to talk just sucks so badly. It feels like there was a huge lump stuck inside my voice box shouting out 'get me out of this godforsaken place'. I can hear so many echoes inside my head…every inch of my body wants me to talk.

I used to be the 'girl that speaks rarely' when I was young, or so…before I even had friends. That's when I met my old friend Ziggy…he's changed everything for me. But not as much as Toboe done for me, and now, I talk so much now. That should make my mother happy, all she ever wanted was for me to have a social life and to have friends.

But, I let my memories get the best out of me. I suddenly woke up into reality after when I heard Allen say, "Hey, young girl! Why are you staring into space all of a sudden?"

Well, that was a nice way to addresse someone...

But, then I felt something drop inside my throat, could it mean that I can speak now?

Nope, I tried to say something, but all these banshee screeches where the only sounds coming out of my mouth. Boy, was that embarrassing.

"Should I go and get the doctor?" Kanda snickered at me, "Because I think we have a dying animal in this room."

"Kanda!!" Allen shouted as he walked towards me, placing a hand over my own hand. "That's not a nice way to treat our guest!"

"I'll go and get my brother Komui." Lenalee surprisingly said in the middle of the fight. "Maybe…he will know what to do."

She walked up towards me and pulled me out of the covers with just one pull. I lost my footing for a split second and then suddenly regained it before Kanda could say anything.

"Come." She told me, trying to help me up to my feet. "Don't worry though, my brother's a good person, he won't do surgery to your throat or anything like that…unless if it's something lodged inside your voice box or something. Maybe the injury you received from Kanda might have something to do with it."

I really don't know if I should relax or start panicking. I really hate to go see a doctor, even if it wasn't surgery, I'd still be frightened. And I really don't want to see one now. Besides, maybe a freak thing will start happening along the way. Maybe…like if I suddenly started speaking…or, or maybe I might be able to open a portal and go back home.

But nothing else happened just as we got there. That was fast, I mean, this place looks pretty huge I thought the infirmary was just a couple of hallways or floors away. But oh no, there has to be one across the hallway, three doors down from my room.

"Komui?" Lenalee said as she knocked on the door (while dragging me with her other hand). "If you're in there…shout 'I like bunny-rabbits'!"

I honestly don't know why, but I found her joke to be funny. I tried my best to keep it all in, but I couldn't help myself. I swear I was tearing up so hard, that my neck pain worsened greatly. It hurts so bad…it felt like I ate something hard…like rocks or something.

Sadly, her brother answered as he opened the door, he had the same facial expressions as Lenalee. The only thing is, he's got more maturity and his facial expressions appear angular like most adults are. Although…he's got the same eye and hair color as she does. His hair was quite long actually, with the tips curled out outward. It must've taken a lot of effort to get hair like that.

Obviously…this guy has the same uniform as everybody else, the little difference is he's got more features than everyone else. He must be skilled as an exorcist then.

"Lenalee, cut it out with the stupid jokes already it hurts!" Komui complained randomly.

"I really didn't do anything to hurt you big brother," Lenalee smiled as she let go of my hand. "I only said it to get your attention. Anyways, it's not about me. It's my friend over here. For some reason, she can't seem to speak up…I think something's happened inside her throat."

When Komui locked his gaze at me, he then gave out a hoot. Oh joy, not this again.

"Well, aren't you just adorable!!" Komui chimed, even if I am used to it, it gets more annoying every time I hear it. "Of course I'll be happy to help your friend out sis!"

Lenalee smiled and then said, "Thanks Komui."

I suddenly felt worried. What was he going to do? I hope he doesn't cut a hole inside my neck or I'll never live it down again.

I sat down in one of the blue cots they always had in a doctor's office and he took a good look at me. I could hear him humming while he examined my neck.

"Hmmm…" Komui murmured just as he took the bandages off carefully, "Well, at least there isn't any major infections on her neck. Or at least…not enough to have to do surgery."

"Oh." Lenalee said as she sat down in the chair with one leg crossed over the other leg. "What do you think it is then?"

"Well," Komui began, still looking at the huge cut on the back of my neck, "It looks like she's got a minor blood clot inside of her neck. Maybe that's causing her to not speak at all. Don't worry though, that doesn't mean she won't speak for a long time. Let me just say it should take probably one to three days of rest. Sometimes, it may be able to heal overnight if she's lucky that is. Although, it's rarely happened before and I really can't say for sure…"

"Oh…" Lenalee finally said as she stood up, "That sounds good, I will go and tell Allen and Kanda."

"Oh yeah, wait a second Lenalee. Could you do one more thing for me?" Komui said quickly.

As she placed her hands on the doorknob, she looked past her shoulder and then at Komui. As she did, all she could say was, "Yes, Komui?"

Komui let out a sigh, as he took a stack of papers and placed them on the top shelf. "Go and fetch Kanda for me, I need to have a little talk with him in my office about his naturally rowdy behavior. I seriously can't take it anymore, now that he hits girls with his 'Mugen' it's really gone too far."

So, that's the type of katana he's got…that sounds like an exorcist-related weapon to me. It's essential for highly-trained samurais such as Kanda.