Happy belated birthday to our dear General Cross! Break out the wine everybody! Maybe he'll come back into the manga! Hopefully next week I'll actually manage to update on Thursday! XD Thanks to ilikedan, WillowC1, and Kuraun Kuraun for reviewing!
Dobby's Imaginary Sock
Disclaimer: Nope. I'm definitely not Katsura Hoshino.
Chapter Nineteen: Gradual
"He shall be justified in everlasting memory
And shall not fear evil reports."
Traditional Latin Requiem Mass
He didn't know why he was doing this. Every aspect of this whole situation was against the years of strict training he'd undergone, but when Neah had asked him to teach Mana and Sophia how to fight so they could at least defend themselves he had said yes. That was how Sanjiv found himself in the countryside outside of the city of Rome with three pupils and a spectator- the akuma- in tow.
Considering everything Neah and the others would have going against them once either the Black Order or the Millennium Earl found out what they were up to self defense lessons did seem like a good idea. Only about a week ago the tiny golden communication device, or 'the Thing' as Cross and Neah had taken to calling it- had almost eaten Mana. Neah hadn't fared to well in that fight either, which may have been why he tagged along. Sanjiv only wished that the Noah of Destruction had asked someone else to teach this class- if it could even be called a class. He wasn't too sure how well this would go. If only Cross were not so busy at the Order at the moment…
They finally stopped in the middle of an empty field. The akuma child sat down under the only tree in the area about ten meters from where they stood. It was far enough away that the kid would feel some independence but close enough that he'd still be under Sophia's control if he were to try anything funny. Sanjiv set his bag down and turned to look at his 'students.' Mana was fiddling with his tan trench coat and looking up at the clear spring sky. Sophia was taking in the Italian countryside with wide grey eyes while fidgeting with the pants she wore. The pants along with the shirt, coat, socks, and boats were an old set that had belonged to Cross in his younger years. The young Bookman supposed it must feel odd to her to be wearing boy's clothing. Neah was the only one focused on him. The young Bookman cleared his throat.
"So…" he began, looking his three pupils over, "Have any of you had any kind of defense training before?"
Mana scratched to back of his head and began to laugh. "Nope!"
Sophia only blinked at him like some sort of lost puppy dog. Neah began drawing pictures in the dirt with his foot while his ears turned red in embarrassment.
It was going to be a very long day.
Sanjiv closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts. It would do no good becoming… frustrated. A Bookman was not supposed to be frustrated for a Bookman did not feel. He was only an observer of the big picture. This class, if that is what it was called, was only a training exercise for him. It didn't matter that he happened to have a Noah, an ex-Noah, and a rogue exorcist as sparring partners. He wouldn't be leaving a footprint on history if he happened to teach them anything.
"I suppose we'll start from the beginning then," he announced. Sanjiv paced in front of his three pupils until he stopped in front of Mana.
The juggler looked at him in complete silence. "What am I supposed to do?" he finally asked.
"You're our first volunteer," replied Sanjiv. He saw Neah and Sophia both inch away from the unfortunate elder Walker. "Now I'm going to throw a punch at you, and you're going to block it. Got it?"
"Okay, Professor Sanjiv," chirped Mana mockingly. He planted his feet firmly in preparation. "I'm-"
His punch connected with Mana's stomach, causing the juggler to lose his breath and stumble backwards. Sophia threw both her hands over her mouth before running over to help him. Neah started walking towards him, glaring all the way. "What the hell was that for?!" he spat. "He wasn't ready!"
"In a real fight there won't be time to prepare," Sanjiv answered blankly. "You have to assume that your enemy can strike at any moment. This isn't like the wrestling matches they hold in London, you know. Keep thinking that and you won't stand a chance against your family."
Mana leaned against Sophia as he returned to his feet. "I'm alright!" he called out. He swept his bangs out of his reddened face. "You pack quite a punch, Sanjiv."
The young Bookman had to admit that he was impressed. First off, the juggler had only been down on the ground for two minutes. He was a lot more resilient than he looked. Mana Walker was also much stronger than he expected. His punch hadn't met skin and bones, rather he'd hit defined muscles. Of course, it was the logical outcome since the boy had made a living juggling and tumbling for the past eight years. "Ready to try again?" he inquired.
Mana didn't say anything this time, choosing to focus on his opponent. Apparently he was a quick learner, too. It was one of the several small similarities he'd noticed between Mana and his younger brother. This time when he threw the punch, the juggler was reader to receive it in the palm of his hand.
While Mana continued blocking this hand, Sanjiv addressed Sophia and Neah. "Now, this kind of a block works if you're of equal strength or stronger than your opponent. I would not recommend it when fighting a stronger opponent. You'd probably injure your arm and get hit."
"What do we do then?" questioned Sophia. She stared intently at him.
Sanjiv turned his eyes back to Mana. There was something about her grey eyes that always made him feel very… self-conscious. He wished that she'd stop doing that. "In that case you'd want to use a different defensive strategy," he responded. He threw his other fist at Mana. The older Walker brother noticed this and ducked below the incoming fist. "Dodging is often a good choice."
"Really?" inquired Mana. He smiled at the young Bookman. "You should have said so earlier. I'm the king of dodging! They called me the Artful Dodger in one troupe, although I didn't steal anything from them…"
The young Bookman threw another punch at Mana, mostly to stop the juggler's rambling. He was not surprised when Mana threw himself backwards into a walkover. Sanjiv had seen Mana do more complex tricks than that when he'd run into the juggler in Venice.
Sophia was more impressed and gasped, her eyes widening in awe. "That was marvelous!" she exclaimed. "How'd you learn to do that?"
"Practice," said Mana with a wink. "It's what I do for a living sometimes. Or course, I wouldn't have started on this career path if it wasn't for a certain Git."
"He knows how to do these kinds of things, too?" asked Sophia. She looked at him skeptically. "Why did he become a magician then? Acrobatics seem like their more fun."
"Oh, believe me, he's a much better magician than an acrobat," scoffed Mana. He did a front somersault and stood up right in front of Sophia. "Acrobatics isn't quite his style. You should see him perform sometime if he ever gets out of the Black Order. He's not exactly your traditional circus magician, but that makes his show even more fascinating. I've seen hundreds of magicians, but none had the same command over the stage as the silent Magician Cross."
Mana and Sophia continued to chatter, so Sanjiv turned his attention to Neah. The younger Walker looked completely bored compared to the other two, despite the fact that he, just like Sophia, had never seen his brother do acrobatics. He walked over to Neah, and the young Noah didn't notice him until he was about half a meter away. "I thought you were still working with Mana!" he protested, stumbling backwards in surprise.
"He's busy, if you can't tell," Sanjiv replied. He took a swing at Neah, which the boy blocked. From the force of the block, the young Bookman concluded that in his human form Neah was not as strong as his older brother. "So it's your turn. You have a lot to work on, Neah Walker."
"What do you mean?" inquired Neah.
"You're going against the Clan of Noah," stated Sanjiv. "All of them are natural fighters with thousands of years of knowledge. You are only in your first incarnation, so you have a lot of catching up to do."
He left Neah to ponder that thought and called the other two to attention. If he was going to have three sparring partners, he might as well make them three good sparring partners. Sanjiv was not going to waste his time during this bordering-on-helpful session. "Mana, how about you teach Sophia some effective ways to dodge," he suggested. The juggler nodded and did a chain of cartwheels to a spot about five meters away. "Neah, we're going to continue working on blocking."
oOo
At the end of the day, Cross wished that he had taken a sick day. If he could go back in time, then he would have taken Sanjiv up on the offer two days ago to teach Mana and Sophia how to properly defend themselves. But he had wanted to get more work done on the Thing, so he walked right into this disaster. It all started when he arrived in the Science Department. He quickly found out that he would not be getting much work done today, for Raphael had called a staff meeting. Everyone was gathered in the main laboratory listening to Dr. de Orta, who was standing on a wooden crate. Cross wondered why the others didn't mention that the box was labeled 'Fireworks', but then again even scientists liked to live on the wild side at some point. He turned his attention to Dr. de Orta.
"In recent months there was an investigation on a factory explosion in northern France," stated the head scientist. Cross thought back to what Neah had told him three months ago and quietly gulped. Apparently the Order was much more observant than he'd hoped. "We just received confirmation this morning from European Headquarters that the explosion was related to the presence of akuma stored there by the factory owner. He has been arrested, but the new Chief of Central Headquarters, Malcolm C. Leverrier, would like the general staff to undergo some basic defensive training."
Several of the older scientists began to grumble and mutter among themselves. One of the younger ones, a bloke Cross recognized from the mechanical engineering section, spoke out hesitantly. "I don't see how this will help," he said, timidly tucking a strand of blonde hair behind his right ear. "I mean, even if we know how to defend ourselves, we still can't protect ourselves from an akuma."
"That's not the point!" hissed Mr. Meucci. He looked at his younger compatriot in scorn. "They want us to be able to defend ourselves against traditore, like the man working for the Earl."
The young blonde scientist looked down at the ground, scuffing his shoes so that he'd have something to pay attention to other than Antonio Meucci's glares. Dr. de Orta gave them an exasperated look. "Please do calm down and pay attention!" he sighed. "Yes, our concern is about the Earl's human agents, but we're working on ways to develop more portable talismans to combat akuma. I have a list here with your groups that I'll be posting up on the main bulletin board. Please find your group and then head down to the training rooms. Your instructor will be waiting for you there."
Cross waited while the entire Science Department shuffled over to the bulletin board. He didn't want to be caught in that mess of complaining middle-aged men. The young blonde scientist also stayed back to wait for the older scientists to search the list for their names. Both young men shot glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes, but neither of them walked over to the other to talk. Finally the moment passed and they went up to examine the list. Cross found his name under Group Four that would be meeting in Exorcist Training Room A on the twelfth floor.
He began making his way up to the twelfth floor. The blonde man headed in the same direction. It occurred to him that the man might be in his training group, so he decided to introduce himself just to get it over with. "I'm Cross," he said to the man.
"Oh... sorry?" replied the blonde man. He slowed his pace so that he wasn't so close behind.
It was then that Cross realized that the blonde man was a social nitwit. "I don't mean I'm angry," he remarked. "I mean that my name is Cross."
"Oh!" exclaimed the blonde man. "That's a funny name. I'm Gregory Miller. Sorry I've been following you all this way. I just arrived at Central Headquarters last month after working at the North American Branch- very nice people there. They threw me a going away party-"
"It's fine," Cross responded, cutting him off before Gregory could continue blabbering about everything in existence. He almost preferred the awkwardly silent Gregory from earlier. Luckily, they reached the training room before they could continue any sort of conversation.
That's when Cross decided he must be one of the most unfortunate scientists in the entire department. The instructor for Group Four was none other than Indivar Khanna. Cross had been successful in avoiding the exorcist for the past month, and now his perfect streak was ruined because of a stupid self-defense lecture. Khanna glared at him as he entered the room. "Is everyone here yet?" he asked, impatience hardly concealed in his gruff voice.
The other scientists in his group looked very intimidated. Cross couldn't blame them, for the groups of fifteen scientists were all relatively young and weak-looking compared to the thirty-five year old exorcist. He couldn't help but think that Dr. de Orta or some other older member of Headquarters had assigned all of them to this group on purpose.
Khanna appeared even more agitated when nobody chose to respond. "Well, then everyone stand up," he ordered with a flick of his wrist. "I'm not giving some stupid lecture about how to defend yourselves. The only way to learn this is through experience. Now everyone pair off! The odd one out will have to work with me."
As quickly as possible Cross and Gregory agreed to be partners. He'd take the awkward rambler over Khanna any day. Some twenty year old man straight out of Oxford ended up with the Indian exorcist. The scientist was already sweating through his lab coat and looked ready to faint, although they had yet to actually do anything. Khanna rolled his dark eyes, obviously not pleased with his 'volunteer.' Cross thought he saw the exorcist look at him out of the corner of his eye, but he chose to ignore him. He knew exactly what Khanna would do if he became his volunteer. First, the exorcist would probably mop the floor with him- he wasn't weak, but he still lacked any discipline- and then proceed to ask him about what happened in Liverpool. It was obvious from the glint of Khanna's eyes that he knew who Cross had met up there and that meeting a member of the Bookman Clan in a cafe in Sicily had not been a coincident as Cross had insisted. He was in big trouble.
Fortunately, Khanna decided to let him go this time and turned his attention to the trembling, sweaty scientist in front of him. "Everyone pay attention!" he barked, causing everyone else in the room to jump. "You all know valuable information about the Black Order, so I don't want any of you messing up when you're attacked."
"When we're attacked?" interrupted a young Chinese man. "We don't even know if these people know who we are."
"Shut up!" snapped Khanna. "In case you've forgotten, Dr. Zhang, we're fighting a war. At some point, you will be attacked, even if it's not for another twenty years. Now, we're going to begin with someone attacking you from behind."
It went exactly as Cross expected. While Khanna explained how to throw an attacker off by rotating the arm closest to them, the Oxford scientist passed out. The Indian exorcist's eyes twitched, but he didn't say anything more. Cross and Gregory dragged the man off to the side while Khanna worked on his next victim, Dr. Zhang. Dr. Zhang did a bit better than the last guy. He actually managed to master the behind the back moves. However, when they moved on to a frontal assault Dr. Zhang quickly fell with a bloody nose due to a well-placed punch from his partner. Khanna grumbled, but he stepped in to replace Dr. Zhang only for his partner to fall down with a black eye a minute later.
Gregory wasn't doing too well either. Cross found it easy to smack away the blonde scientist's hesitant uppercuts and to dodge any headlock Gregory attempted. By the time there were only seven scientists left standing, Gregory looked ready to collapse in a crumpled heap. It was a bit discouraging for Cross to see his coworkers like this. He began to worry that should he stay in the Science Department for the rest of his life he'd eventually end up like them: scrawny, lazy, and unfit. That would not be acceptable.
Khanna seemed to be fine despite having taken down at least half of the group. The exorcist hadn't even broken a sweat yet. In fact, Cross would say that Khanna looked bored. He stood there with his hands in his silver-trimmed coat, waiting for a signal that he could continue his mutiny of a self-defense class. After two more scientists fell down completely exhausted, Khanna walked over to a table on the other side of the room. "You guys can't even fight hand-to-hand combat," he grumbled. "Don't ask me why the Order wants to arm you. You're all more likely to hurt yourselves."
"Arm us?" gulped Gregory. He fumbled while straightening his necktie.
Khanna handed him a rather large knife. "This wouldn't be a problem if you lot never left Headquarters," he replied. The exorcist handed Cross a smaller regulation-sized dagger. It appeared as if he knew the blonde scientist needed all the help he could get, even though Gregory was more likely to hurt himself with a bigger knife. "Until they decide to keep all of you locked up here upon joining the Order, you need to carry some sort of defensive weapon. Do not use it unless directly attacked. We're not going to intervene with the authorities if you accidentally hurt someone."
Cross almost felt like snorting, but he refrained himself. He could picture the entire group sitting in a jail cell and seeing Khanna pass by like he didn't know them. Then the exorcist would double back, drag him out of the cell, question him about everything he knew, and throw him back in there to rot. Two more resounding thuds brought Cross out of his reverie. Now there were only three scientists left standing: an Australian named Henry Galloway, Gregory, and himself. This was not looking good.
"I didn't even give any of you a pistol yet," huffed Khanna. He turned to face Henry Galloway. The brown-haired twenty-five year old scientist began to quake in his well-polished leather shoes. Cross saw the chain of Henry's pocket watch knocked against the buttons on his lab coat as the Indian exorcist walked toward him. As soon as Khanna place a hand on the hilt of his own dagger the Australian scientist fainted.
"Shit," he muttered as Khanna turned to face him and Gregory.
"Do either of you know how to handle a knife?" inquired the exorcist.
"N-No sir," stammered Gregory, "b-but I'm quite t-t-talented with a saw and a h-h-h-hammer. Ever s-since I was a little b-b-b-boy-"
"Stop it with the stuttering," stated Khanna. He placed a tan hand on his forehead. "It's giving me a headache."
"Sorry, sir," apologized Gregory, averting his eyes to the floor.
"I might have been a magician, but I didn't specialize in knife-throwing parlor tricks," responded Cross.
"I thought you were a scientist," quipped Gregory. He looked at Cross with a look of astonishment as if he were seeing something extremely foreign.
"Shut up!" snapped Khanna. Cross was almost glad that the exorcist had disturbed Gregory's latest train of thought. "It looks like you'll have to be our volunteer, Mr. Miller. Would you step forward?"
The blonde scientist's eyes widened, but he began to walk forward. After the third step he began wobbling on his feet. "On second thought," he said, his voice sounding very distant and somewhat slurred, "I think you'll have to take this one, Cross."
When Gregory hit the floor, Cross decided he was never speaking to the blonde scientist ever again. Now it was only him and Khanna. He was pretty certain he saw the Indian exorcist smirk, making him think Khanna had planned this all along. If only Mother were at Headquarters right now... Then again, considering she hadn't been too keen on Sanjiv either, she might gang up on him as well. Cross looked at the other scientists on the floor behind him. Several of them were still conscious, so at least he'd be able to get off on the Liverpool incident for now. Khanna would never bring up one of his blackmail points in front of other people. He worked like a water snake, slithering through the muddy waters of a jungle river and then surfacing when nobody else was paying attention. The presence of the other scientists, however, was not going to keep him from getting his ass kicked.
"It's a bit unfortunate," said Khanna as he pulled his dagger out of its sheath. "I was hoping to work with somebody who had a bit more experience, and I got stuck with you and the rest of this lot. Hopefully you know at least how to hold a dagger."
Cross reluctantly pulled the blade out of its sheath. To be honest, he had not idea what to do with it, but if he wanted to get out of this without a long trip to the infirmary he would have to humor the exorcist. "I think I can handle it," he replied coolly.
Without saying a word Khanna charged at him, causing Cross to unintentionally step to the side to avoid him. He really didn't want to fight the exorcist, so he would attempt to avoid the the exorcist at all costs. Any sensible person would think Khanna was mad running at him with a dagger, and the general societal protocol was to avoid madmen.
Khanna didn't run too far past him. He only had to pivot to face Cross and with this motion the exorcist deftly disarmed him. Before he knew it he was flat on his face with both arms pinned behind his back. "That was pathetic," growled Khanna. The exorcist let go of him. "Never let go of your weapon that easily! Now get up and try again."
oOo
Neah really wondered when Sanjiv would actually teach them how to fight. For the past two days they'd only worked on blocking and dodging, but they still had yet to learn anything about offense. Of course, Mana was enjoying the dodging bit. No matter what the young Bookman threw at his older brother, he would flip over it or roll away like some sort of monkey. Mana was even teaching Sophia some of his tricks since he was so good at it, and she seemed desperate to learn something new and helpful. Neah would have been impressed if he wasn't so jealous of his show-off of a brother.
He knew that his brother had made a living as a circus performer for the past eight years, so of course he would be more nimble than the rest of them. It was just frustrating after being, well, pretty much the best at everything in their family during Mana's absence. True, he hadn't had much competition. His family had been more concerned with monetary, social, and military success. That left Neah to be the smart one, the strong one, the talented one. Perhaps he was too used to Road and her annoying presence praising everything he did. The past couple days had really made him realize just how slow he was.
Sanjiv's words still cut him to the core. He hadn't thought about the rest of the Clan having an advantage due to the Noah memory. It was highly probable that at least one of their past incarnations had been an expert at combat. Neah, though, was the first of his kind. The only memories he had were his memories, and no one had ever taught him how to fight before. If he had stuck around his family more, then he'd probably be learning how to fence right now or maybe that new French fighting style, La canne. Neah had no intention of returning 'home' for a long period of time, so he'd just have to learn on his own. That meant he would have to put up with being embarrassed until he actually obtained some skills besides occasional brute strength.
It didn't mean that he'd play along with all their tricks, though. He honestly didn't see the point of them sitting in the middle of the field with their eyes closed and not talking. Sanjiv called it 'meditating', but considering the faces Mana was making while trying to concentrate, Neah felt it was best that he didn't participate. He sat down under the tree near the akuma kid. The kid looked at Sanjiv, Mana, and Sophia and scoffed. "What are they doing?" he snorted.
"Meditating," replied Neah. He watched his brother again wrinkle his nose, looking like he was trying to stop himself from sneezing.
"That's dumb," commented the kid. "How's sitting there doing nothing going to help them fight the Earl and the Clan of Noah?"
"I guess it helps them focus," responded Neah. He tried his best to sound as convincing as possible.
"Focus doesn't defeat armies of akuma," muttered the akuma kid. He looked down at the ground. "You guys are screwed."
That last bit raised some ire in Neah. He didn't need the kid telling him how impossible it all seemed. Neah had thought about those dark fears long enough himself. He'd considered everything that was at stake, he'd chosen his allies carefully, and he meant to see this through to the end no matter how bitter it might be. The kid just didn't understand what this war was really about. He didn't understand that human beings are truly strong. "Not as much as you'd like to think," said Neah. He cracked a smile at the kid. "We've already destroyed a whole factory of akuma, and we stopped you from running off. Don't count us out just yet. The only direction we can go right now is up, and that's the last thing my family is expecting."
Sanjiv finally stood up in the middle of the field, just in time to avoid Mana's rather explosive sounding sneeze. The young Bookman stared at Neah's older brother who offered Sanjiv a sheepish smile. Sophia gave Mana a handkerchief and then helped him stand up. Sanjiv turned to Neah and yelled, "We're moving on. It's up to you whether to join in or not."
Neah pushed himself up to a standing position and jogged over to where Sophia and his brother stood. The akuma kid leaned up against the trunk of the tree and began playing lazily with the dirt. There was something odd in the kid's eyes. He could almost swear that for a moment the akuma looked sad that Neah was leaving him alone.
oOo
Cross hoped that Dr. de Orta would come down to the training room soon so that they could stop this whole charade. It had been at least half an hour since Khanna started sparring with him, and he was starting to feel bruises forming. The other scientists just watched while the exorcist threw him around the room. He'd tried to take it politely at the start, but after about ten minutes he and Khana both were shouting insults at each other. Cross couldn't help but think that they must look very silly at the moment: a thirty-five year old man arguing with a seventeen year old.
Khanna seemed to grow more frustrated with each passing minute. It reminded Cross vaguely of the time they'd searched the animal cages in Sicily. Back then, however, Khanna had looked composed and cool. Today the exorcist looked about ready to blow his top. His frustration probably had nothing to do with his skills personally. The exorcist was probably just taking out his feelings of what a waste of time this training was on the best opponent he could find in the room. That had unfortunately been Cross. He wondered if Khanna would knock it off if he gave in and fell over.
The ferocious glare the exorcist gave him at that moment made him doubt it. "You're terrible at this," stated Khanna. He pushed a single loose strand of hair out of his face. Cross noted that the exorcist wasn't even breathing heavily. It made him wonder exactly what exorcists were made of. "Even after forty-five minutes you still can't hold onto that dagger. You would have been long dead if this were a real fight."
"Well it's not," snapped Cross. He pulled it back again with a now broken hair-tie. "I don't go out on the town like everyone else, so I still don't see the point of this all."
Khanna's eyes narrowed. That only confirmed to Cross that somehow the exorcist knew that the first part of that statement was not true at all. He seemed to move past this, for he once again ran at Cross. Cross managed to block the first couple swings this time without losing his dagger. After a fist to the side, though, he lost the dagger once more.
"And if an accomplice of the Earl were to break into Headquarters, what would you do then?" snarled Khanna. The exorcist tried to kick Cross' legs out from under him, but he rolled out of the way. He wasn't nearly as good as Mana, but he had been the one to teach the juggler basic tumbling in the first place. Cross had practiced some tricks in his spare time with the acrobats. It would have been a shame to lose his tumbling skills, for there was always the chance that the troupe could fold.
"Does that really matter?!" shouted Cross. "An intruder would have to go past the exorcists, the Crow, and administration before coming close to the Science Department. We'd probably be evacuated before they arrived."
Khanna picked up the pace of his attacks, causing Cross to do a variation of a front handspring he hadn't used since his time in the circus. It made his joints ache, but he landed on his feet nearby the tables. "What if a day comes when all those people are not there?" asked Khanna. "You'd be at the mercy of the Earl and his adversaries."
Cross wasn't so worried about the Earl right now. There would be time for that after this class ended. He was more preoccupied with the gleaming dagger in Khanna's hand. Even though it wasn't as threatening looking as Khanna's sword, it still seemed to have that surreal power about it just like Asha. He half expected it to burst into flame. Unlike the past forty-five minutes the exorcist did not lower the knife when charging at the disarmed Cross. He began to worry as he dodged three very close swipes. The other scientists gasped as he backed into the table. There was no way now to dodge Khanna's attacks.
Khanna didn't give up and ran at him. Cross reached back on the table and hoped that there was something there which he could use to block the attack. That's when his right hand landed on something metal, and it wasn't the hilt of a dagger. He immediately grabbed the pistol on the table and released the safety. As soon as he was sure the gun was loaded, he took aim and fired a warning shot past the exorcist's left ear. The room fell deadly silent as Khanna stopped in his tracks.
He realized that firing at the Khanna might not have been the smartest idea he'd ever had. There was a high chance that the Indian exorcist would want to kill him afterwards. Cross prepared himself for the probable explosion when he suddenly noticed a strange look in Khanna's eyes. The exorcist was… impressed.
"Who taught you how to fire a gun?" inquired Khanna, finally breaking the silence. Everyone else let out a sigh of relief.
"An old friend of mine at the circus," said Cross. He didn't lower the pistol yet, afraid that the exorcist might change his mind and become angry.
"You were able to find the gun, release the safety, and fire all in under thirty seconds," stated Khanna.
Cross could care less. He hadn't been keeping track of the time. All he wanted was to not be brutally maimed by Khanna and his dagger. "So?" he questioned.
Dr. de Orta finally made an appearance at the door. "Ah, here you all are," remarked the Head of the Science Department. "It's time for us to get back to work. Is everything alright in here? I thought I heard gunfire."
"Cross was helping me give a demonstration," replied Khanna. "I don't think that this group is ready, though, Dr. de Orta. Silva should be available for further instruction in a couple days, so I suggest you send them to him. Until then, they shouldn't venture out into the city."
"Of course," agreed Raphael de Orta. The other scientists began to protest, but Dr. de Orta held up a hand to silence them. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Khanna."
Cross began to follow the grumbling scientists out of training room. He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, so he stopped and turned around. When he saw it was Khanna, he attempted to turn back, but the hand rooted him to the spot. "Come back tomorrow," he said. "I want to see what else you can do with a gun. It might even make up for your lack of hand-eye coordination with a dagger."
Normally, he would have spat back some sort of sarcastic comment about how Khanna couldn't dodge Mother's cane, but he held himself back. The exorcist wasn't the kind of person to give compliments lightly, so it would be best to take this quietly. "Alright," he responded without thinking.
The right corner of Khanna's mouth twitched up for a brief second as he left the training room. "Good," remarked the Indian exorcist. "That will give us lots of time to talk about Liverpool. Mother said she had the most interesting guests there in December."
That was the point when Cross realized he'd agreed to be Khanna's sparring partner for an unspecified amount of time. He immediately wished he could take back everything he'd said that day. However, he could not, so once again he'd lost to Khanna and his conniving ways.
oOo
After a week, his pupils managed to master the basics of defensive moves and focusing. He now had some half-decent sparring partners. Today, he decided they were ready to move on to offensive moves. Unfortunately, they were not as good at this as dodging. "Sophia," he said, "when you make a fist, you should not tuck your thumb behind your fingers. If you were to punch someone like that, then you'd break your thumb."
"Oh!" she replied. Immediately she fixed her fist. "Like this then?"
"Yes," he stated. Sanjiv moved on to the two Walker brothers who were now wrestling on the ground. Mana had 'accidentally' hit Neah in the stomach, causing his younger brother to attack him in retaliation. The young Bookman cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Are you two done yet?"
"Yes," they responded in unison. They turned to glare at each other. Sanjiv thought they looked more like little kids than teenage boys considering the dirt marks, scrapes, and bruises the brothers now sported.
"Well," began Sanjiv. He held up a hand to block a surprise attack from Sophia. She was rather strong for a girl, although her attacks had become weaker throughout the morning. The young Bookman was still trying to figure out why, but he was a bit too preoccupied with everything else to really think about it. "I think we'll change partners, then. I'll work with Mana for right now. Neah, you work with Sophia."
Sanjiv and Mana walked over to a spot closer to the tree where the akuma kid sat. The kid wasn't sulking today, which was a first. Perhaps he was finally accustomed to waking up in the early hours of the morning and watching them practice fighting. Then again, he could just be enjoying the slight violence.
It appeared that Mana didn't have the same aptitude for offense as he did for defense. The juggler aimed multiple swings at him that missed Sanjiv entirely. "Focus on me, Mana," commented Sanjiv. This seemed to slightly frustrate the juggler.
"I am!" he exclaimed. Several more wild swings missed the young Bookman. "I am totally focused on you."
"Then why aren't your hits coming even close?" asked Sanjiv. "If this were a real fight-"
That's when he saw the fright in Mana Walker's eyes. He knew then, that Mana didn't want to be in a real fight. In fact, the juggler was probably missing him on purpose. Mana was a defender, not a warrior.
Later on, Sanjiv wished that he hadn't been distracted by this revelation. True, it was important in uncovering just who Mana Walker was for his log, but he probably could have prevented what happened next. He didn't notice that anything was wrong until the akuma kid clutched his head. "Ow!" cried out the kid, shutting his eyes tightly. Sanjiv and Mana both stopped moving to watch the kid. When the akuma opened its eyes, they were red just like they had been back in the pub in Liverpool. The kid shook his head, though, and his eyes returned to their usual dull grey color. He pointed a finger over their heads. "Hey, look out!"
Sanjiv turned around to see Neah, no, the Fourteenth Noah. Neah's skin had turned ashy grey with black stigmata spread out on his forehead in a perfect line, looking a bit like a bizarre crown. From the look of things, Sophia had just kicked him from behind and apologized profusely. However, in the heat of the mock battle, she must have activated her Innocence. Sanjiv could see the feint glowing of the green crystal cross through her customary black choker. Neah Walker must have transformed in response to the shock from the kick and the Innocence. Sanjiv really should not have paired a Noah against an exorcist.
Neah grabbed her closest arm and whipped her around, sending her sailing about four meters away from him. She cried out as she hit the ground hard. This only seemed to agitate Neah even more. Mana was frozen in shock. The older Walker had seen his brother transform briefly over a year ago, but he had probably never seen the strength of a Noah. Sanjiv wondered what Mana would think of the strength of a fully awakened Noah.
"Neah?" questioned Mana. The Fourteenth looked at Mana blindly but then turned his attention back to Sophia. She had pushed herself up to her knees, despite the fact that she was shaking terribly.
Like a flash of lightning Neah zoomed towards Sophia. She rolled out of the way. Apparently Mana's instruction had done some good. Sanjiv looked at Mana out of the corner of his eye, expecting the older Walker to run forward and try to smack his brother upside the head. Mana, however, didn't move.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" called out the akuma kid. "He'll probably kill her if you don't, and he's your brother."
"I don't think that that's my brother in control anymore," breathed Mana. The older Walker's knees shook as he continued watching Neah run around. Sophia dodged most of the hits, but Neah landed a good kick that sent her rolling away from him. Sanjiv saw the green light of her Innocence go out, probably from the strain of fighting a Noah. Neah stopped nearby Sanjiv's bag to catch his breath, and then picked something up. That was when Sanjiv remembered he had left his dagger in his bag.
He had taken it off earlier lest it fall out and actually hurt someone. The young Bookman now understood why Bookman never took his dagger off his belt. Someone else more nefarious could pick it up intending to kill someone.
Sanjiv didn't know why, but he ran forward. Perhaps it was because he knew that there were no documented cases of an exorcist defeating a Noah. Maybe it was because he felt responsible for helping to create this moment in history by teaching them to fight in the first place. It was definitely not because he felt some sort of connection to Neah and Sophia. Definitely not.
He met Neah a few paces away from Sophia. Sanjiv managed to block the first several swings by dodging the blade and hitting Neah's lower arm. It felt rock solid compared to his human form. Kicking Neah in the stomach only made the young Noah slide less than a meter away. Neah tried to run around him, but the young Bookman stuck out his leg to trip him.
Sanjiv didn't feel that anything was wrong until the kid screamed out, "Bloody hell!"
It truly was a bit bloody, for there was now a gash running across half his chest caused by Neah running past him with the dagger. The cut wasn't incredibly deep. His dagger had pretty much only scraped him, cutting through a couple layers of skin. Still, he was bleeding quite a lot, for the gash was rather close to his heart. A couple millimeters more, and that cut could have been deadly. Regrettably, the minor nature of the cut didn't change the fact that it stung like hell.
The Fourteenth stopped halfway between him and Sophia as if to admire his work while Sanjiv fell to his knees. At this point, the young Bookman half expected the Noah to take out his bloodlust on him. Before Neah could move again, though, a strong fist hit him squarely in the jaw. Sophia had stood up again and snuck up on Neah while he'd been focused on Sanjiv. The younger Walker seemed surprised that she'd tried something as simple and arguably weak as a punch.
"Stop it, Neah," she seethed. Sanjiv could hear a slight quiver in her voice. "Just stop it."
Sanjiv couldn't believe it when Neah's skin once again became pale. The stigmata disappeared from his forehead as the younger Walker began to blink in a disoriented fashion. "What-" he began to ask. Neah then noticed the bloody knife in his hand and Sanjiv partially collapsed on the ground. He dropped the knife as his mouth opened wide.
"You went crazy," explained the akuma. The kid seemed to have decided that he was in charge now. "Sanjiv there is pretty lucky that you didn't run him through. You tried to kill Sophia, too."
That was not the way Sanjiv would have worded it, but he had to hand it to the kid for telling the plain, bitter truth. Neah turned paler than the young Bookman had ever seen him. "Oh, God," he mumbled, taking a step back.
Sanjiv fell down on the ground now that the fight was over. This seemed to alarm both Walkers, Sophia, and even the akuma.
"Are you alright?" questioned Mana shakily. He seemed to have regained the ability to move.
"Is he dying?" asked the kid.
"It's only a cut," he said. He tried to use the sleeve of his shirt to stop the bleeding, but the blood began to soak through it as well. "Could someone fetch me my bag? I'm going to need my medical kit."
Neah ran off to get it before anyone else could move. As soon as he returned Sanjiv pulled out a hide pouch that Bookman had given him. He pulled out a piece of gauze and a bottle of disinfectant that Bookman had taught him to make when Sanjiv began his apprenticeship. Sanjiv was pretty grateful to have a medical expert as his mentor. Everyone hovered over him as he began to clean the wound.
"I'm not dying," he finally said. They all sighed in relief. Sanjiv hadn't even noticed that they'd been holding their breath. He wasn't aware of the fact that an akuma even had to breath. Normally, he would ask about something that interesting immediately, but he decided that this question could wait. "I was wearing a pretty thick shirt, so I only got scraped."
"Then why are you bleeding so much?" inquired Sophia.
He looked up at her to see her gazing at him with worry-filled eyes. He couldn't fathom why she was worried for him of all people. Sanjiv had barely interacted with her until the past year. Upon looking around at the Walkers and the akuma, he saw the same look on their faces two, albeit much more concealed in the akuma's case. They were becoming attached to him. That was definitely not good. The young Bookman did his best to ignore this realization for the meantime. There were more pressing matters right now.
"The skin here is very thin," he told them. "Plus it's pretty close to the center of the cardiac system. It doesn't take a deep cut to cause a lot of bleeding. Pardon me for a moment."
He turned around and took off his torn and bloody shirt. Sanjiv wished that he'd worn a button-up shirt like everyone else as soon as the cool spring air hit him. The wound, however, would need wrapped, and that couldn't be accomplished with his shirt on. He took out a clean piece of gauze, longer than the first one, and laid it over the cut to soak up the blood. Then, he began wrapping a bandage around it. In a matter of minutes he was done. Sanjiv slid on his shirt and turned around to face them again.
"You have quite a lot of scars on your back," commented Mana. Everyone else looked at him, causing the older Walker to cough in embarrassment. "What? I'm only stating the facts."
"I'm a wanderer who documents the secret war," stated Sanjiv. That was all he would say about those scars. He knew the story behind every one of them, but that was only for him to know. "Now let me see your hand, Sophia."
She seemed surprised, but she held out her right hand. As Sanjiv had expected, she, too, was bleeding where her fist had met Neah's jaw. Sophia let out a squeak of surprise.
"Why's everyone bleeding?!" exclaimed the kid. He seemed to draw back from them, maybe afraid he'd start bleeding, too.
The young Bookman took out another gauze pad and poured some disinfectant on it. "A Noah's body is pretty tough," he explained. "You can't use normal attacks when you're fighting one. Keep that in mind, Neah."
The younger Walker looked away guiltily while Sanjiv finished bandaging Sophia's hand.
"I don't understand, though," he muttered. Neah didn't raise his eyes to look at them. "I mean, I feel the effects of fighting, but I don't remember it."
"You were taken over by the Inner Noah because Sophia accidentally activated her Innocence," elaborated Sanjiv as he packed up his medical kit. Once again, Sophia began apologizing profusely. "Most members of your clan don't remember things when they're taken over by it. We'll just have to be more careful when you're fighting. Until you and Sophia get your abilities in check, you two can't spar together."
"Okay," they both mumbled.
"Anyone else want lunch?" questioned Mana. He gave a small smile, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "I'm starving."
"So am I," admitted Neah.
Sophia's stomach grumbled and she looked down at it in weary surprise. This caused the Walker brothers and the akuma to break out in laughter. Sanjiv felt the corner of his mouth turn up, but he quickly fixed his mouth into its usual neutral line. "I guess I am, too," she said. "I don't think I've felt this hungry since that time in Paris."
"Oh, you mean that time when I stole a chicken, a pumpkin, and six ears of corn and you were still hungry?" asked Neah with a smirk. Sophia blushed and dug the toes of her borrowed boats into the ground. Mana, however, cuffed his brother over the head. "Ouch!"
"Someday I'm making you go back there to pay that poor farmer," stated Mana. He took on a rather authoritarian expression. "Stealing is not acceptable in this family."
"Sorry," groused Neah. He rubbed his head where Mana had hit him but stopped when his older brother gave him an affectionate pat on the spot.
Sanjiv finally recalled an entry from one of Bookman's old logs. His mentor had come across an exorcist in the deserts of Mongolia. The man had finished exterminating a large herd of akuma that had been terrorizing a group of nomads. After that, he'd gone to the capital city and eaten an entire twelve course meal by himself. Bookman learned from the cook that the exorcist had a parasitic kind of Innocence that caused his nails to grow into several inch long claws. When Sanjiv had asked his mentor about this, Bookman explained that this had also been the case for every other exorcist with parasitic Innocence that he'd happened to come across.
"I hope then that one of you went shopping yesterday," replied Sanjiv. He steadied Sophia as she began to stumble. "Parasitic Innocence uses a lot of energy. Large appetites and exhaustion are normal for people like her. If she doesn't eat regularly, Sophia could become very ill."
This revelation seemed to scare the Walker brothers. Mana ran over to Sophia and pulled her onto his back, although she attempted to escape him. "Then we have no time to lose!" he exclaimed. He began to run back towards the city. "To lunch!"
Neah ran after them. "Mana!" he shouted. "Wait up!"
The akuma kid rolled his eyes, but he followed the other three with a smile on his face. Sanjiv chose to walk instead. There were many things that he needed to think about now that he had the peace of mind. The attachment issue caused him great concern, but there was one other thing that worried him more. There was no way that Bookman wouldn't notice his shirt.
Well this was a super long chapter. I might have beaten my record for longest chapter ever… again. A lot of character development in this one since last chapter was all about our favorite Thing. XD Now we just have to see if Cross can survive Khanna's training. xP Please review!