D. Gray-Man (c) Hoshino Katsura

Please read the comments at the end.

Enigma of the Heart

Chapter 2

Allen had, in particular, thoroughly enjoyed his meal at the 'Blue Star Restaurant'. The steak was tender and juicy, the french fries crunchy, the cheesecake thick and rich, and he had even ordered another serving of the poutine, he had liked it so much.

The three Finders were friendly and held up conversation well. Jon was the leader of the three. He was seventeen with a sick sister back home in New York. He said that that was the reason he joined the Order: They said they could help her with their sciences. Jennifer, despite her height and childish appearance, was the oldest of them. At thirty-two, she took on a motherly role in any kind of group she was in. Aiber was the goofiest of them all. Over-eager and clumsy and twenty-three years old, he did have his pluses, like how he had the best endurance of them all and could chase an Akuma at top speed for a few minutes.

And the only reason that Kanda knew this all was because they would not shut up. Even after they had all finished their food and paid the bill - putting it on the Order's tab - the five of them were stuck there because the Moyashi and 'Baka To the Third Power' insisted on conversing so much. Kanda was about ready to snap when - thank the proverbial Lord - the Fantastic Four decided to leave and find someplace they for their duration in St. Catherines. Kanda stood with the rest and huffed in relief, almost 'happy' that they were finally leaving. He gathered Mugen, his suitcase and donned his coat which he had long since shed.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Mia?" a bartender called from his station by the whiskey. He was calling to the same waitress who had served the Exorcists earlier. She smiled at the aging man as she pulled on her gloves. She had her coat and hat on, apparently intending to go home.

"Yes, yes, I will be here." she promised the bar. "What would all of you do without me?" The bar laughed, and she turned to leave. The Order members followed, only Kanda noticing who they were behind.

"Is there someplace that you guys are already staying?" Moyashi asked the finders.

"Yes," said Aiber. "A little inn just down the road here. We reserved a couple extra rooms just in case, and I think that you shou-"

Just at that moment, an explosion from their right nearly blew the group over.

"Akuma!" Moyashi shouted as his eye and Clown activated. The hulking forms of two level two Akuma loomed over them, their grotesque demon-horse-like features twisted into sick grins of malice and black, translucent bat-like wings spread wide. "You guys get the rest of the people out of here!" the bean ordered the Finders. They obliged, and set to evacuating the now screaming civilians.

Kanda drew Mugen. "Activate!" He was about to attack with Moyashi close on his heels when he glimpsed the waitress from the bar. Her hat had been swept off her head from the gusts of the Akuma, and wisps of her honey blonde hair were being wrenched free of her bun. Her big blue eyes wide and staring with fear at the Akuma. She looked over to Kanda, and he found himself frozen in her vision.

Her eyes flashed with a brightly glowing green. Innocence green.

Then Kanda watched as many things happened nearly all at once. Time seemed to slowed down, making every detail sharp. Moyashi jumped past him; The waitress watched him and screamed something that sounded like 'stop'; Her hair burst completely free and a bright green light enveloped her as she looked at the Akuma one last time; He heard Moyashi shout in pain; The green around the woman grew, engulfing most of the street, and Kanda was blinded; civilians screamed, but the waitress's scream was the loudest. And the eeriest.

Then it was all done. As quickly as it had started. It was really no more than a flash of the bright green light, but so much was affected. Kanda was blinking around dark red spots in his vision, trying to clear the blotches. He barely found the shape of Moyashi laying in the snow in a wounded heap. The waitress was at his head, bent over him. Kanda stood shakily on his feet - he fell down? - and stumbled over to the two. He dropped a hand heavily onto the woman's shoulder. She jumped and cried out in surprise, turning to see him in a bleary state glaring weakly at them both. He sniffed when he saw Moyashi, grimacing in some sort of pain as he clutched his left shoulder. His Innocence had since deactivated, and now he was just a mess of white hair and black cloth in the mussed snow.

"Baka." Kanda huffed. We was surprised by how feeble his voice sounded. That never happened, not even when he nearly died fighting Skin. He felt physically drained, as if that green explosion had done something to him.

Moyashi just gave him something like a cross between a smile and a wince. "You would think that you would have gotten used to this by now, Kanda." he slurred.

"You'd think." Kanda repeated lamely.

The waitress was staring at the two of them with something between fear and shock. "Who are you?" She was clearly panicking.

Kanda looked at the distressing woman, raising an eyebrow as Moyashi sat up, gingerly holding his shoulder. "How many times has that happened?" he asked, ignoring her question.

The woman swallowed. "A-a lot." she stuttered out. "I-I don't know what it is! Things just happen and I can't stop them no matter where I go! It-it-I-c-ca-" She broke down into quiet sobs, just as the Finders came up to them. Jennifer helped Moyashi to his feet.

"Any casualties?" he asked. She shook her head.

"But you're injured." she commented. There was no blood on Moyashi, but he was obviously in pain. "We need to get you somewhere to tend to you."

"We have some bandages at the inn, and it's right over he-" Aiber stopped mid-sentence as he looked down the road to where the inn was. Apparently, the Akuma got to it before they could: more than half of it was blown apart. "Here." He slouched in dismay. "Aww, man! Our rooms are half-gone! Now what?!" Aiber was obviously one of those types to settle on the worst scenario rather than make a new one.

"You could board with me, if you like." came a shaking voice. It was the waitress, being helped to a standing position by Jon. She had gathered herself together, and only her shaking voice and red eyes told that she had been crying.

"With you?" Moyashi asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I live at an inn just down this way." She pointed the opposite way of the destroyed inn. "We have rooms to spare. I owe you for helping me, too."

Kanda didn't know what she meant. They had barely done anything to help her. But he was in no position to argue: if she was offering them a place to stay, he would take it, seeing as he really didn't have a place to stay, now. And, hey, maybe she could offer a discount if she already lived there.

"Come on, let's go." He motioned to the Finders. "You three, try to sift through the rubble and look for your belongings. We'll meet you at the inn."

XxX

The inn was called the 'Shining Tree Inn', and earned it's name doubly. Surrounded by silver ice-and-snow covered poplar trees, it was really quite small. Only three floors and it looked just barely double as long as it was tall. Despite the size, though, Kanda had to admit, it was quite pretty inside. The lobby was dotted with few people, and it lead into the dinning area to the right, or up stairs to the left immediately behind the front desk. It was English-styled, with dark red walls, gold guilt frames depicting the Queen, and chair-rail and banister, and silver accenting the walls in artfully spaced decorative studs of sorts and silver around the doorways. Red cushioned and not-too-comfortable-looking arm chairs with gold decorative legs and frames dotted around a gold-manteled fireplace on the left side.

From the state of the place, though, Kanda had to guess that none of the gold, silver or velvet was real, or very little of it was. The "precious metals" were tarnished, and some of it chipped in small places to reveal wood instead of actual metals. The fabrics were faded and the mantel had smudges of soot on it. But in the broad picture it was alright.

"Very pretty." Moyashi commented. The woman weakly smiled her thanks, eyes still puffy from her earlier crying.

"I never introduced myself, did I?" she asked, stepping behind the desk and opening a booking log. "I'm Mia Ceil, pleasure to meet you." She stretched her hand over the desk. Moyashi shook it gently with his right hand.

"My name is Allen Walker, this is my comrade, Kanda Yuu."

Mia shook Kanda's hand carefully. She had a very light grip, making it seem as if she were very fragile. "It's very nice to meet you both, Mr. Walker, Mr. Yuu."

"My last name is Kanda." Kanda ground out. He hated when people used his first name, especially like this. Damn, ignorant western people.

Moyashi suppressed a giggle. Mia looked from one boy to the other, confusion written all over her face. "But, he said-"

"Japanese custom." Moyashi interjected. "Their last name goes first, because it is considered disgraceful to talk to someone using their first name when they don't know them very well." Moyashi smiled wider. "That, and he hates his first name."

"Do you find intense pleasure in pissing me off, Moyashi?" Kanda asked. His tolerance level for the idiot was depleting again.

"Only as long as you keep disregarding my real name, BaKanda~."

They glared at each other for a moment, and Mia grinned. "The love between you two is amazing. I never thought that two men could ever be such good friends." The boys both turned to the girl. Kanda glared daggers, Moyashi was shocked. Mia still smiled, looking down into her book. "I'll just put your rooms down under 'Walker', then."

XxX

It was almost unnerving how calm Mia was after the incident with the Akuma. It made Kanda wonder how many times something like that had happened. Because even now, as the two Exorcists sat at a table in the dining room with a dozen other people, Mia was there, greeting customers and waitressing tables as if this were just a night like any other at the little inn. Even as she served the two of them, her smile never wavered. This was something Kanda deeply questioned when the dinning staff no longer needed her help.

"How many times has that happened." he barked as soon as she sat at their table. Moyashi had his mouth too full to scold his rude question. His shoulder seemed to be a bit better, as he was eating with it, albeit shakily, but eating none the less.

She just stared blankly. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean the attack." Kanda elaborated. "How often has that happened. You seem pretty accustomed to it by now."

Her eyes were downcast. "I had thought that I had told you before. It happens quite a lot. I travelled around a lot until recently, trying to avoid the attacks. Until I realized that the attacks were only aimed at me. Then I just travelled to keep the attacks away from people. You know, trying to shake them off?" She shook her head. "But it never works. They always find me. I don't know what they want."

Kanda watched her for a moment, as she stared at the tablecloth. "It looks like you do know, though." he said.

She started, but calmed herself, looking at Moyashi as he rolled his shoulder. "We haven't gotten any attention to your shoulder, yet, have we? Come, let's take you upstairs. I know some first aid, and I have some supplies in my room." As she took Moyashi's arm and lead him into the lobby and up the stairs behind the front desk, Kanda decided that Mia did know. And she probably knew a lot.

XxX

Mia's room was simple, much simpler than the faux-extravagant guest rooms. A single bed under a small window, covered in a brown blanket, a small bureaux, two arm chairs, a hat rack and a wardrobe and shelving unit, set beside the door. The room was littered with various paraphernalia, including a few dozen books scattered about, papers and quills and inkwells, and, upon closer inspection, what looked like a fuzzy stick half stashed away under the bed. Mia offered the two chairs to her guests, and began sifting through the mess for a small, battered white box with a red cross on the front.

First thing Moyashi did when he entered the room, was open his suitcase. Out of it, flew the little golden orb-thing that was Timcanpy. The thing had gotten himself locked in the suitcase. He pet the evil thing a little before setting it on his shoulder. Mia stared.

"What is that thing?" she asked, amazed.

Moyashi smiled at it. "This is Timcanpy. He was my Master's before, he's like my pet now. You can pet him, if you want! Don't worry, he won't bite."

Kanda scoffed. Moyashi glared. Mia didn't look to reassured. "Alright, then. Come over here, Mr. Walker." She said, opening the set and pulling out lengths of linen bandages, compresses and salves. "Take off your jacket and let's see what we can do with you're shoulder." Kanda noticed that she was not looking directly at him intentionally, instead keeping her eyes on the bandages or on Moyashi as he stood.

"You don't need to call me 'Mr. Walker', you know. Just Allen's fine." he said with a smile, taking off his jacket. Mia smiled back, and nodded. "But my shoulder doesn't really hurt like it did before." he commented, unbuttoning his shirt and rolling his shoulder, forcing Tim to take flight. "After I had a bit of food, it started feeling a lot better. I don't know, I don't think I really did anything to it in that attack, either. All I knew was that it hurt a lot and I was exhausted." He stripped his shirt, revealing his blackened arm, and tattoo-like shoulder. Mia gasped at the sight. Kanda had an idea.

"What happened to your arm?" she whispered, extending a hand as if she were going to touch it, but stopping short. Maybe out of fear of the thing. It really was kind of disgusting.

"It's Innocence." Kanda told her, narrowing his glare down to her. She froze up, not willing to look at him. "People like us wield it. Exorcists. That's the type of thing that can kill those monsters we saw this afternoon. When it activates, it sends off a green flash of light, a lot of Innocence does." His glare intensified. "Much like the light we saw today."

Mia bowed her head, so that neither Exorcist could see her face. "Well, if you say that, Mr. Kanda, then it could have very well have been either of your Innocence's, right?"

Kanda glared harder. "Wrong." he said. "You have to take in the details next time, Miss. Mia. Like I said, most Innocence glows green; but that doesn't mean all of it does. My Innocence glows blue when it activates. And Moyashi's Innocence was already activated when the particular light we saw flashed." She refused to look at him. It was royally pissing him off. "And there are no other registered Exorcists here than us. And you must know, Miss. Mia, that an Exorcist who isn't registered by the Order is most likely an Exorcist who can't control their Innocence with the type of power that we witnessed."

The two boys watched her for a reaction that never came. "It was you." Kanda persisted. "You have Innocence, but you don't want us to know."

They watched a small, sad grin flow onto Mia's little face. "You're very insightful, Mr. Kanda." She turned to him. "You are right. I have Innocence. But I don't call it that. She told me what she really is."

"She?" Moyashi asked. "Who's she-AH!?" Suddenly, like lightning, Moyashi's blackened left arm struck out to Mia's neck, as if to choke her, the impact tossing her head back and nearly throwing her flat on her back. Kanda jumped up in shock, drawing Mugen. What was going on?! Moyashi would never do that!!

But just as he thought it, Mugen began to vibrate in his hand, and started pulling with an irresistible force towards Mia. It was all Kanda could do to hold onto the sword, to stay planted where he was. It was quickly turning futile, though. The Innocence are moving on their own! he thought. At the same moment, both weapons activated, glowing painfully bright in the small space, a great gust of mystery wind blowing the books open, sending papers flying. Kanda watched with utter horror as Mugen activated into it's 3rd Illusion, bolts of electricity flying everywhere from it. He looked up only for a moment, to see the Crowned Clown's Edge End pressed up against the delicate neck of the girl, so tight it should have drawn blood.

But it didn't.

"My child." an unreal voice spoke. It was almost like heaven itself. Thousands of years of knowledge and power, wisdom unknown echoed through it. It was beautiful, and yet horrifying all together. Just the sound of the beautiful voice made Kanda almost lose his grip on Mugen. "I've missed you." Slowly, Mia's hand rose up, gently, ever so gently, touching the black back of Moyashi's left hand. "It's alright. Mother's here."

And Crown Clown loosened it's hold. It went slack on Mia's shoulder, and snuggled up to her, like a new kitten looking for the warmth of it's mother's belly. Mia pet the hand with tender care, and looked to where Kanda still struggled with Mugen, her face hidden behind windswept hair. She extended a careful hand "Come, child. Be calm, come to Mother." And just like that, all of the wind died to a gentle breeze in the room, Mugen stopped pulling so hard, grew dimmer, and instead pulsed lightly, tugging slightly towards the proffered hand like a child who didn't want to leave his mother. And it occurred to Kanda: Had Mia called Mugen her child?

Gingerly, ready to pull back if needed, Kanda allowed Mugen to tug itself to Mia, until she was petting the dull edge, pulling it close to her face. "I've missed you, my children."

She lifted her head slightly, and the boys saw her face, both starting at the sight. She was crying glowing white tears, and her blue eyes were green. Innocence green. Just like before.

WAAAAAW.

To be honest, I'm really scared with how this story will turn out. I want to stay up-to-date with the updating this, but I'm afraid that in trying to do that, the chapters will end up sloppy.

And, I'm really scared that I won't be able to write it out as I want it to look. This is a plot that I have been wanting to do for a long time, and the storyline is very near and dear to my heart. If I can't get it to work what will I do?!

I'll cry, that's what.

I might do character studies for the OC's later on. I dunno.

And I love long chapters. ;) Just remember that.

Well, anywho, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Again, reviews and critiques are love~

~Raven