HEY THERE PEOPLE!

Sorry about the last chapter, as you know I had to split it up into two pieces so that I could do some more stuff that I wanted to do with this story. I still hope that you liked it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own DBZ or D. Gray Man. NO OWN! NO OWN! DON'T SUE!

Now, my dear fangirls and fanboys, please enjoy my newest installment of The Lost One! Now with actual plot development (and dream sequence)!


I was running down an abandoned dirt road, wearing my gi that looked like my dad's. It was ripped and dirty, and blood was starting to solidify on it. But it wasn't my blood, no I wasn't even cut. I looked around as I ran. There was nothing around, no houses, no gas stations, no nothing. The air was thick and hot, dust was flying around like a blizzard. I was panting, the dirt invading my lungs, my feet cracked and bleeding. My lungs burned and my legs felt like lead, heavy and useless. I had no idea why I was running, I just knew that I had to. Like there was some compelling feeling, telling me to just get away, to get as far away as I could get.

Soon, a dark figure came slightly into view. It was tall, and I could tell that it had short-ish hair. It was wearing a long coat with a hood over its head. As I got closer, I could clearly identify the person as a man, he seemed thin and a bit short, about 5 feet and a half tall. His clothes were black and white, with a silver crest on the left shoulder. 'Exorcist,' I thought as I continued running. Finally reaching the man, I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently.

"Help me," I begged, "help me, please! Something's after me! Please, you have to help me!" As I shook him, his hood fell off of his head, revealing the man's face. It was Allen, only, not quite. His skin was a bit darker, and his eyes were a bright golden color. I was terrified. "A-Allen, w-what ha-happened to you? Are you feeling alright?" I stuttered, backing away from him slowly. He didn't reply, he only gave me a horrifying toothy grin that spread all the way across his face. I backed away even more, stumbling over a rock and landing on my ass. Before I could pull myself back onto my feet, I heard a loud rumbling noise, almost like a stampede of rhinos. And then, there was childish laughter.

"Pretty little exorcist! What's your name, girly?~" I spun around on the ground to come face to face with a monster. Its skin was all white and black, a black star on its stomach. It's body was humanoid, with large, bulging eyes and huge and white bat-like wings. 'So, that was what I was running from' I thought as I scrambled up onto my feet and burst into a run, trying to escape the horrid creatures behind me. Before I could get away, Allen grabbed my forearm and yanked me back, holding my arm in an armlock.

"Hey, hey, hold on. It's okay, there's no need to worry," Allen cooed, whispering in my ear. It didn't sound like Allen though, like something was talking through him.

"A-Allen?" I asked quietly.

"No, no, I'm not your brother. My name is Neah," he whispered, "shh, shh, just calm down, don't cry, it won't hurt a bit. It will hurt a lot!" He giggled too. Neah snapped his fingers, and the monster came towards us. I struggled against his grip, but it was like being clamped down by titanium. The monster raised its hand, forming an energy blast in his hands. It glowed deathly purple, crackling off electricity as he placed his hand right in between my eyes.

"Good-bye, pretty exorcist," he said, giggling one more time before blasting my skull open. I howled in pain, before slumping down in Neah's grip. I could see a bright white light, I could faintly someone whispering my name.

'Katie... Katie... Katie~! Katie, wake up~... Katie wake up!"


"Katie!"

I sat bolt upright in my bed, a gargantuan amount of pain overloading my senses.

"Katie! Oh thank Dende you're awake! You were screaming in your sleep, and were sweating really hard, are you okay? You look really pale," Gohan said. He was kneeling next to my bed, his elbows resting on the sheets. I doubled over, pain surging through my entire body.

"Gohan, the bottle on the nightstand... hand it over, please!" I asked. He nodded, and quickly snached the transparent brown bottle off of the table, placing it in my lap. I twisted the cap off with my left hand and carefully took the dropper and filled it to the brim. I then put a drop on my innocence and one in my eye. It stung for a good ten seconds, but then the pain subsided to a dull ache. I quickly yanked off the covers, running over to the closet and sloppily pulled on my new uniform.

"Uh, Katie, what are you doing?" Gohan asked once I came out of the closet. His eyebrows were scrunched up in suspicion.

"Well, Komui said that the antidote wore off with sleep, and that bottle was a diluted version of the medication, and I need to rush and get to Komui's office before they wear off. That would be very, very bad. Now, stop standing there like an idiot and toss me my jacket, we've got to hurry!" I said, running to the door while Gohan tossed me my jacket. I pulled it on, trying to button it up and get the belt around myself. "Oh, forget it." I hissed, leaving the jacket to just hang off of my shoulders and the belt around my waist. I burst out of the door and started to run down the halls.

"Katie, wait up, I have something to tell you!" I heard Allen yell. He must've heard my door slam while I was sprinting out.

"Can't stop, gotta get to Komui's before my meds wear off!" I yelled back, turning around to face him.

"Well, at least let me come with you, so you don't get lost. Then I'll tell you after you're done."

I sighed, beckoning him to come with me with my hand as I turned back around, bustling down the hall. Eventually Gohan managed to catch up with us, running to my side. He smiled at me as we sprinted down the dank hallways. I smiled back, panting from the amount of strain I was putting my lungs under. I turned to Allen, "Oi, how close are we?" I yelled at him.

"Very close, I think its just down that hall, and then to the left."

"You think or you know?" I asked. He was really starting to get on my nerves with the 'I think' this and 'I think' that. It had always irked me when people say that, I mean, you either know or you don't.

"Cut me some slack, this is only my third month here!" Allen yelled at me.

"Yeah, well at least you were comatose for one of those months," I muttered under my breath as me turned the corner. My chest was burning, and my feet felt like they were going to start bleeding, and yet I still tried to power through it.

Suddenly, I started to get a scratching feeling at the back of my throat, and started to cough violently. It felt like my mouth was filled with sandpaper, it was completely dry and scratchy. I coughed into my hand, hacking up little pools of blood. My eyes pricked with tears, I could barely see.I stopped running and grabbed Allen's arm, shaking it to get his attention.

"Allen, *cough cough* I need *cough* you to help me *cough* to Komui's *cough cough*. I can't..." I said while practically hacking my lungs out. He nodded quickly, swiping me off of my feet by picking me up bridal style. I wrapped my arms around his neck, practically hugging him as I coughed over his shoulder. I could barely see Gohan run up behind my brother. He came up to my ear, and whispered, "I'm going to go find Piccolo, stay safe, don't do anything stupid. Understand?" I nodded, still coughing. At that moment, Allen sped up, leaving Gohan in the dust as he went on his search for our teacher.

We came to a huge set of wooden doors with beautiful, curving golden handles. He yanked on one of them, peeking into the room. Then he ran through, making hundreds upon thousands of papers fly through the air as he passed. Everyone of the Science Division started whining, apparently they had just pulled another all-nighter. Allen came right up to Komui's desk, where the lazy ass Chief was dozing. Putting me down on the paper-littered excuse of a desk, he walked right up to Komui and pulled him up by the collar of his lab coat. He then proceeded to slap him across the face, hard. He didn't wake up. Allen then activated his innocence, which he told me was named Crowned Clown, and slapped him again, even harder that time.

Komui woke with a start, rubbing his red hand-printed cheek, anime tears running down his face.

"Allen, why do you have to be so mean?!" he whined. He then noticed me sitting on top of his paperwork-strewn desk, hacking up blood into my hands. He gasped, "Oh no, not good, definitely not good," he muttered as he started fumbling inside of the drawers of his desk. "Alright Allen, what are her symptoms?" he asked. He was serious, too serious, and it worried me. The pain in my arm started up again, as well as the pain in my eye.

"Oh, shit!" I coughed out. All the heads in the Science Division turned to me. Komui chuckled.

"Well, I guess that ship has sailed," he said as he put back a bottle he had grabbed and started searching for another one.

"What's wrong? What's going on?!" Allen panicked, his expression frantic. Komui sighed,

"Well, let's see, as you know, your sister's medication wears off with sleep, and so I gave her a diluted version of it to take in the morning, so she would have enough time to get here and get the actual antidote. But now it seems that it wasn't enough, and so I was about to give her a sedative to get rid of the pain in her throat, and a little something of my own to prevent the arm and eye pain that was bothering her before, but now I need to give her an extra strong version of the antidote like I did last night to stop it before it gets worse." As Komui explained, I tried to hold my breath to stop the coughing so I wouldn't further dirty my hands and almost everything around myself with blood. As you can guess, it didn't work, it just made things worse. After Komui was done explaining, he pulled out the same brown bottle as last night, and had me lay down on the couch that Allen cleared off.

I laid down on the plush couch, allowing Komui to drop some of the antidote onto my arm and eye. As soon as the pain subsided in my arm and eye, he rushed over to a gargantuan chemical table covered in test tubes and beakers filled with strange colored liquids of all different shades and viscosities. He grabbed a deep blue, thick liquid in a rectangular like beaker and came rushing back to the couch. He then sat on a rolling chair next to me.

"Alright, I need you to swallow this," he said as he handed me the beaker. I stared him blankly.

"All of *cough* it?" I asked. I sniffed the strange liquid. It smelled like skunk cabbage, and so I immediately turn away from it.

"I know it smells bad, but I promise that it will stop your coughing," he said, pushing the beaker back to me. I slowly nod, and take a small sip of it. It tasted even worse than it smelled, but I managed to choke it down. My throat immediately felt better, the sandpaper feel completely leaving my throat. Even the blood that I was coughing up stopped creeping up my throat. I sighed with relief, it felt fantastic to have no pain! I almost forgot what it felt like to live free of pain. I then turned to Komui.

"How did you do that? And, uh, can you please explain why I was coughing up blood?" I asked, my voice hoarse after my coughing fit.

"Well, it was simple really, I already knew the possible side effects of the antidote, and so I had a bunch of possible medicines to help fix the side effects, coughing just happened to be one of them. The others were accelerated heart rate, dizziness, irritability, and possibly growing taller by a few inches for a short period of time. And-"

I cut him off, "Wait, the diluted meds could make me taller?!" I asked.

Komui nodded, "Well, yes, they could, but-"

"TALLER. NOW. GIMME." I demanded, putting my hand out for him to place the bottle in. Allen snickered behind me. "Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, but you too would jump at the chance to be taller, and we both know that, Allen~," I said. Allen stopped laughing. "Anyways, on a more serious note, why was I coughing up blood? I mean, it wasn't one of the side effects, was it?" I asked.

"Well, no, it wasn't. My guess, it was your body's way of fighting off the medication. Since the meds are new to your body, it needed a way to get rid of it. It had already entered your bloodstream, and so it rejected it by having you cough it out of your body. You never took cold medicine as a kid?" he asked.

"No, I never needed it. I've never been sick before."

"Huh, odd," Komui muttered. "Anyways, the original meds are just strong enough to keep you healthy, so here is the original, in pill form so you don't have to put it in your eye and feel the stinging anymore," he said, handing me an orange twist top bottle filled with white and blue pills. I thanked him with a nod, and then turned back to Allen, giving him one of the largest bearhugs in history.

"Oh-ho! What's this for?" he asked.

"For helping me get in here," I said. I don't really know why I hugged him, I guess I was just caught up in the moment. "So, weren't you going to tell me something?"

"Oh! Right, well, there's another new exorcist coming to the Order!" Allen said chipperly.

"Oh, okay, who is this person?"

"Her name is Eri Wenham, and I think she's about your age."

"Alright, when will she be here?" I said, rubbing my temples, I could feel a headache coming on.

"In about a week or so, so stay on the lookout for her."

"Alright then, Allen, do you wanna go to breakfast?" I asked my brother, standing up from the cushy sofa and walking to the door.

"Yeah, sure," he said, leading me out of the Science Division.

Komui called after me, "And remember Katie, you have training with General Cross at nine thirty!" I waved it off, walking down to the dining hall next to Allen. After we made it out of the doors, we came face to face with Gohan and Piccolo.

"KATIE!" Gohan yelled, wrapping his arms around my hips and giving me a nice hard squeeze.

"Gohan... can't... breathe!" I gasped, and with that he let go of me.

"Katie, are you alright? I was so worried!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry to make you worry."

"Damn right you are, you scared the living daylights out of the both of us, are you sure you are okay?" Piccolo interjected, towering over me by a good few feet. I gulped.

"I know, I'm sorry Piccolo," I apologized, bowing my head in despair. Piccolo only chuckled and ruffled my snow white hair.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I thought I heard you saying that you were going to breakfast with your... brother." He could barely let it out. Oh well, I hoped that people would get used to it with time. I nodded at him, turned back to Allen.

"Well then, let's go!" I said, clasping his gloved fingers with my own as we walked side by side down the hallway. It took about five minutes to get there, and that's a long time to walk through a building. When we got there, we found almost every finder in the Order and Allen's little group of exorcist friends. Lavi, Lenalee, Kanda, Tori and Deidre were all at a table, eating their various breakfasts.

"Hey Katie! Looking good in the uniform!" Lavi hooted from the table, and then got a very resounding slap across the face, courtesy of Lenalee. I giggled and walked up to the line of people at the window for food. When it was finally my turn, I walked right up to Jerry's window.

"Hey there sweetie, what'll you have this fine morning?" he asked, leaning with his elbows against the counter.

"I'll have 25 waffles, extra maple syrup, 30 or so strawberries, tons of whipped cream, and lots and lots of apple juice," I ordered, putting my palms flat on the counter, leaning in slightly.

Jerry smiled, "Alrighty then honey, coming right up! Man it is so fun cooking for you and Allen!" he said, walking off and starting to mix the waffle batter. A few minutes later my waffles were ready, and I walked away from the food window with a mountain piled high with the large square pieces of heaven. I plopped down next to Kanda, who was quietly slurping his soba noodles.

"Aw, why do you have to sit next to that grinch? Why don't you come sit with me!" Lavi pouted. Kanda justed grunted and continued to eat his soba. I snickered at Lavi's childish reaction. I started eating my waffles, and after about fifteen minutes I was done. I looked around, seeing Tori and Deidre's awed expressions.

"Where the hell do you put all of that?!" Tori exclaimed, dropping her spoon into her soggy bowl of Froot Loops. I just shrugged it off, standing up to return my tray.

"I've got to go, hey, does anyone know the time?" I asked.

"Uh, 8:50, you better hurry if you don't want to be late for training," Lenalee said, standing up as well. She grabbed my tray, "You get going, I'll take care of this," she said, smiling.

"Oh, well then, thank you! I'm off," I said, bolting out of the dining hall and to the training hall as fast as I possibly could, pushing down finders as I went. Finally I made it to the training hall, seeing General Cross in all of his red haired glory.

"Hey, get over here girl," he said, beckoning me to come towards him. I did, and with that my training as an exorcist began.


Every day for the next week was like that. Get up, get dressed, go to breakfast, train for four hours, break for lunch, go train with Deidre and Tori, (which was slightly terrifying) break for dinner, hang out in the lounge with the other exorcists, and then go to bed, completely exhausted and totally not ready for the next day. And to top it all of, my mission had been postponed so that the "Eri" kid could come with. Everything had fallen into a sort of rhythm. That is, until one day.

I was walking down to breakfast, completely starved and in need of nourishment, when I noticed someone that seemed a bit out of place. She was taller than I was by about half a foot, and had long, wavy brown hair. She wore a dark blue hoodie that looked to be a size larger than needed and a pair of light blue jeans. I could see that her shirt had words on it, but I couldn't read it. I must've needed a new glasses prescription. She seemed nice, and I was just about to go talk to her when Krory pulled me away.

"Miss Katie? Miss Katie, may I speak with you?" he asked, walking up to me shyly. I complied and walked to the dining hall with him.

"Yeah, sure, what'cha need," I asked.

"Well, I just wanted to ask if you were alright, you've been seeming a bit down lately," he said timidly. I laughed quietly. Yeah, he was right, I had been down lately. You see, Allen had left on a mission a few days ago, and I hadn't seen him in a while. Komui said that he was going to be out of contact for a day or two, but it had been five days since he had left, and there was still no connection. But of course I wasn't going to tell Krory that, the man seemed to cry at every little family tragedy.

"I'm fine Krory, it's just that I'm worried about being on a mission for the first time, that's all," I decided as my answer. It wasn't a lie, I was horrified to go on a mission. I had just learned to activate my innocence correctly, and now in one day I had to go on a mission. Of course it was going to be with almost all of the other exorcists, all with their own unique purpose (so to speak). Lavi, for his supposedly excellent defencive skills, Allen, because he's my brother, and he's really good at what he does, Krory and Kanda, for their fantastic offensive skills, Miranda for her time-stopping disc, just incase one of us got hurt, Lenalee, for reasons unknown, and General Tiedoll, as adult supervision. All of these people were coming, not to mention Deidre, for she too had to go on her first mission. Tori was going to stay at the Order, she was having trouble with her innocence ever since Deidre had whacked her arms with one of her ski poles, bruising a spot over her tattoos. She was going to have to wait until the bruise was gone to get back to work.

"Oh, well that's to be expected. I was horrified to be on my first mission! I'm sure you'll be just fine. I've seen you train at times, you're amazing. You've practically a legend around here, forcing yourself through the levels of training. I'm sure that you're going to be fine, so don't worry so much," Krory said happily in his quiet, timid voice. I thanked him and walked over to the dining hall. The "Eri" chick had already fled the hall and was, I assumed, inside the dining hall. I marched in proudly, my white hair swishing lightly across my back in its high ponytail. I plopped myself down at a table next to Deidre and Tori, wanting to keep my distance from the new girl. Tori looked tired, and Deidre looked... distant.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked cautiously. I felt like I was defusing a ticking time bomb for some reason.

"Nothing much, Deidre's just staring at the new girl, strange looking isn't she?" Tori muttered, her chin resting in her hand. I glanced over in the direction Deidre was staring in, seeing Eri standing nervously at the food window. She looked overwhelmed, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Uh... I'll be right back, I have to go to the bathroom," I said as I rose from the table, rushing to the bathroom. I knew that if Eri was going to have a breakdown, she would come straight to the ladies' room, as it was the closest room to the dining hall. I slammed the door open anime style, looking completely crazed in the mirror. I walked over to the sink and straightened my trench coat in the mirror. I then smoothed out my hair and tried to make myself look busy by washing my hands.

There was a huge SLAM! as the new girl bursted into the large bathroom. She panted for breath as she leaned against the wall, sliding down to the ground. I coughed politely, grabbing the girl's attention. I walked quickly over to her, looming over her kneeling form. It made me feel tall. I like feeling tall.

"Eh, hello?" I asked. Her head snapped up, hearing a resounding crack from her neck. She gazed at me, obviously confused. She slowly stood up, sizing me up as she went. I sized her up too, using the close contact to my advantage. She seemed around my age, but was roughly a half foot taller than me, even in my sneakers. She had long wavy brown hair that went down to about the middle of her back, pulled up into a low ponytail. Her dark brown eyes looked almost black, sending a chill down my spine. So this was the fabled "Girl of the Future", she seemed pretty average to me.

"Um, hi! I believe I already know who you are, by reputation, but I don't think you know who I am. I'm new," she said. Oh, she was making this too easy!

"Okay... New's a bit of an odd name, don't you think?" I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. She was flustered at that comment, and I inwardly smirked.

"No, no! My name's not New, I'm new HERE. My name is Eri Wenhamm. I don't have any innocence yet, but I will in the future, hopefully, if the guy named Komui gets his act together," she tried to explain. I giggled a little, just quiet enough for Eri to not hear.

"Alright, that makes a bit more sense. Hey, Eri, I'm Katie, Katie Walker. If you are who I think you are; you've already met my brother, Allen. If you're a Wenhamm, you must be related to Reever to come here. You were the one who was in the future before, right?" I said. I already knew the answer, Eri Wenhamm, Section Leader Reever's long lost beloved daughter.

She nodded, "Yep. The girl from the future. That's me. And yeah, I'm related to Reever. Hey, that might make a halfway decent book title! 'The Girl from the Future'. Kinda cliché though," she babbled. She must have been nervous, but she then quickly got back on track, "Anyway, I've heard about you from… a side conversation. You're amazing! It's really great to meet you. Hey, I've been wanting to ask you a question."

"Shoot," I said leisurely, leaning back onto the bathroom counter.

"Uh, well… were you always… albino?" she asked in a quiet voice. I nearly choked on my own spit.

"WHAT?! NO! No, no, I wasn't. I wasn't! It's complicated, I'll explain later. Anyways, I really haven't heard that much about you; since, you said it yourself, you're new here. But I bet you'll be really great once you get your innocence!" I said with false chipperness, "Watch out though, Komui's kinda… crazy. And if he starts walking towards you with a power drill, run. As fast as you can. Don't look back. Just run," I advised as I offered her my right hand, Time to see how tough this chick is, I thought. She gripped my hand gently, somehow knowing that it was sensitive. When we drew her hand back her eyes lingered on the green cross on the back of my hand, my innocence.

I wanted to know more about this Eri, if that was her real name. I pushed that thought aside as she once again spoke.

"I should probably get back to the dining hall, everyone's going to wonder what's taking me so long in the bathroom. What can I say, that Jerry guy is pretty chatty," she said.

"Yeah, he is. I'll see you around the Order, then! I really would like to see what your innocence is when you get it. Mine's my right arm, the same as Allen's, only opposite. But you probably already knew that. Oh, and here's a tip, get the B combo with extra mitarashi dango. It'll be great!" I said as I started to leave the bathroom.

"Wait, what's the B combo? And what's dango? I'm a vegetarian and I don't eat seafood!" she exclaimed right before I stepped foot out the door.

"How the heck can you be a vegetarian? And not eat seafood? Oh, right. You lived in the future. I guess it must be more common there. The B and E combos are vegetarian, but the A, C, and D combos have meat or seafood. The B combo is soba noodles, and dango is delicious and is meat- and seafood-less. Hope that helps! See you around!" I explained as I stepped out.

"Thanks, that'll help a lot. See you!" she replied. She followed me out of the bathroom door. I turned to go to Komui's office while Eri headed back to the dining hall.

As I walked away from the tall girl, I could feel my blood boil. I mean, I should like her, right? She didn't do anything wrong, then why did talking to her make me so… enraged? I tried to brush it off, but the feeling stuck to me like glue, and I hated it. I stormed down the hallway, jaw clamped tight in frustration. I passed a few finders, all of them seeming to cower with fear. As I passed, I heard one of them whisper to his buddy, "Man, she has anger that could rival Kanda, you sure that she's that sweet Allen kid's sister?" I stopped mid step, and turned to the finders.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" I asked the finder with a fake smile, my eyes and jaw clenched with anger. They froze, not making eye contact.

"No ma'am," they said, backs shooting up straight like a firecracker. I sighed, releasing all of my tension.

"No, no, it's okay, I-I'm not angry, it's just… look, I'm sorry," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose while taking off my glasses, "I-I don't know what came over me. I-I've got to go, I'm sorry," I said as I ran down the hall, waving them off as I left. I hated feeling like this, feeling so… furious. It was awful, but after taking a good long walk around the Order (and by "long walk" I mean that I got lost) I came across everyone's favorite grumpy exorcist samurai.

"Oi, you," he said grumpily as I passed him in the hallway. I walked passed him, ignoring him. "Oi, you! Moyashi-chan, stop for a second, I need to talk to you," he yelled after me. I turned on my heel, spinning furiously to face him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something Yu?" I asked angrily. The look on his face was pure shock, and then anger settled in.

"Who told you that?" he asked through gritted teeth. I gave him a venomous smirk, as I told him that I had heard Lavi call him that when I was first in the infirmary. He groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose to prevent a headache.

He growled, "Don't you ever call me that again if you like where your head is now."

I smirked, deciding to see how far I could push my luck. "Oh? Does little straight-fringe not like his first name?" I asked.

Kanda growled even louder, baring his teeth and pulling Mugen out of its sheath. He then proceeded to push me up against the wall, pushing the edge of his katana across my neck. I gasped as the cold metal of his blade pressed against my voice box, threatening to slice into the delicate flesh. "You want to say that again, Albino Meinu?" He growled like a dog. I tried to give a smart retort, but as I opened my mouth his sword pressed harder against my throat, nicking my neck. I felt blood trickle down my neck, and stain the collar of my brand new trench coat. Ohhoho, no he didn't, now it was personal.

I reached up and grabbed the blade of Mugen, pushing it back until it was off of my neck. Kanda seemed very surprised at my strength, and my ability to grab the blade without cutting my hands. I then threw his sword away, rendering him defenceless. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down to knee him in his groin. He groaned out in pain, bending down to try and protect himself, but to no avail. I pushed one of my feet in between his legs and wrapped one of my ankles around his leg while I pushed his shoulders back, forcing him to fall down flat on his back. I put my foot on his chest, making sure that he stayed on the ground. I leaned over and grabbed Mugen off of the ground, pointing it at his face. His expression was of total shock, and I think some fear. The sword was dangerously close to his face as I smirked down at him.

"If you know what's good for you," I said quietly, "never threaten me like that ever again, or it will end in blood." Kanda only growled at me, a humiliated look on his face. I know that it must have been very humiliating to have a kid kick your ass, it had happened to all of the villains that I had encountered. I saw a look of fear glint in his eyes, and I froze. I dropped the sword, the sound of hard metal clattering to the stone floor. If I knew anything, then it's to never have a man who's your ally be fearful, it's just bad news. I took my foot off of his chest and backed away, offering my innocence hand to help him up.

He glared at it, but took it all the same. But there was something strange about him when he touched it, he… twitched, his large hand visibly shaking as I yanked him up. His hand was surprisingly soft, not covered in blisters from his sword like I thought they would be. He must wear gloves, the sissy. When he returned to his full height, he glared down at me menacingly. I froze.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I? Yup, lots of trouble. Okay, before you break every bone in my body, let me explain! I swear, it's a reflex, if anyone in the past did that, then they would probably end up dead on the floor, I swear I'm-" I was cut off by Kanda putting his hand up.

"So," he said, "what stopped you?"

I sighed, preparing for for a huge verbal smack-down. "Well," I began slowly, "you looked… scared," I whispered shyly as I looked down to stare at my boots.

Kanda gave a loud "Che", and chuckled slightly.

"I don't get scared," he answered confidently.

I stared scaredly up at his blank face. "So, you're not mad?"

"No," he said. Snapping back into his original train of thought, he looked at me with strong, cold eyes. "Anyways, Komui wants you in his office, your mission is tomorrow." I gave a quiet sigh of relief, thankful that he wasn't mad.

"Got it," I nodded, running off. I felt a bit better after letting off some steam. Before I left the hall, I turned around to face Kanda, while running backwards. "Hey Kanda," I yelled back. "If you ever touch my coat again, I'm so going to kill you."

"Whatever, see you tomorrow, Arubino no shōjo."


I walked calmly into Komui's office, somewhat knowing the layout of the place by now. I walked past the Science Division's newest piece of work, a robot that was supposed to help exorcists. I had now idea what it was supposed to help with, and I didn't want to know. I had a bad history with robots. Once, my friends and I went to visit New Namek, and Cooler, Frieza's brother, was there and tried to enslave the Namekians. Anyways, he had a crew of robots, and a small yellow one tried to chop us all up to use for energy to power his ship. It was horrifying. Anyways, I walked past the stacks of books, files and mission reports, and the clusters of desks where the overworked scientists laid whining, and finally reached Komui's office. There, in the middle of the room, stood Allen, Lenalee, Lavi, Krory, Miranda, Kanda, and General Tiedoll were gathered. 'How the hell did he get here before me?' I thought as I opened the door, 'And where the hell is Deidre?'. I tried to open the door quietly, but even so it still creaked loudly as it swung open.

"Ah, Katie! Good, you're here. Just in time, I was just about to explain the mission!" Komui greeted happily. "Now then, come, come! Everyone, gather around!"

Everyone began to come closer to Komui's desk, which was actually cleaned off and had a map of the world on it. It had a bunch of red and black markers, but there were more black markers than red. I glanced up at Komui, how was looking expectantly at me, as was everyone else.

"So, where's Deidre?" I asked. Allen looked surprised, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"No one told you? She got a stomach virus and has to stay in the infirmary so she doesn't hurt herself," my brother explained.

"Bummer," I said as I leaned over the table. "So, what am I looking at?"

Kanda rolled his eyes, "It's a map, dumbass," he muttered under his breath. I glared at him.

"What? No sassy nicknames this time? What's the matter, did you lose your precious katana?" I snickered playfully. Kanda only growled and reached his arm to his back to grab Mugen, earning a glare from his General.

"Yu-kun! You shouldn't act like that in front of a lady!" he admonished. Kanda just snarled and put his arm down.

"Oh, General Tiedoll, that's quite alright, I don't think that I can be classified as a 'lady' anymore," I explained to him as I brushed Kanda's rude comment off. Kanda glared at me.

"Shut up, Arubino no shōjo."

"No, you shut up, Sutorētofurinji," I snapped in his face. Allen and Lavi gaped.

"Since when did you know Japanese?!" Kanda accused, very surprised.

"My offer still stands, Kanda, anata wa nidoto watashi no kōto ni fureta baai, watashi wa anata o kuso o korosu deshou," I said with a smirk. Kanda reeled back, very surprised at my slightly rude comment. Lavi seemed to understand also, and he smirked.

"Wow Katie, I didn't know you were so fluent!" he said, jumping over to stand behind me. "So, where did you learn Japanese?" Lavi asked as he placed his hands on my shoulders, trying to make me relax I guess.

"Lavi, you do know that I grew up in Japan, right? Even though we spoke mostly English at my house, I still needed to know Japanese to communicate with others," I explained as I pushed Lavi's hands off of my shoulders.

"How many languages do you know?" General Tiedoll asked, trying to make friendly conversation.

I contemplated on it for a while, before answering. "Well, let's see, I know Chinese, German, Italian, Macedonian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Czech, Polish, English, Japanese, and Latin."

"Why do you know all of those languages?!" Lavi exclaimed. "Not even I know that many!"

"Well, I had a lot of time on my hands when my dad was gone for a few years, and I got bored. So I read a lot of fantasy books in foreign languages. It was pretty cool actually," I answered. Everyone stared at me blankly for a long while, before Komui spoke up.

"Okay then~. If you would all please turn your attention back to the map, then I can debrief you all and you can be on your way," he said. Everyone turned back to the map at the same time, and I found it slightly amusing.

I looked up at Komui, who had his serious face on. "So, what's up Chief?" I asked.

"There have been some strange occurrences in a small province called Saarland in Germany. Apparently, people have been going missing in the woods nearby. There have been many disappearances like this in all parts of the world, but this one is different," the Chief began as he passed out black folders to all of us.

"So what's different?" Miranda asked, nervous as ever. She was visibly shaking in her shoes, maybe she hasn't been on a lot of missions? I really wasn't one to judge though, this was my first mission, I had no idea what it was like.

"I'm glad you asked Miranda! The people have been disappearing on every night, except for nights with a full moon or new moon. They are all kinds of people, men, women, children, and even tourists. People say that they wander into the forest like they were in some sort of trance, a thick mist following them in. They wouldn't react to any sounds or anything like that.

"A finder a few days ago who was investigating this occurrence near the edge of the forest, when he went into this so-called 'trance'. His clothes were found a few days later by his teammates, his body turned to dust. What I want you to do is to find the Innocence that is causing this and to destroy all of the akuma in the area," Komui explained. I tried my best to follow along in the folder, but halfway through I gave up, it was nearly impossible. I was just about to turn and leave, but Komui wasn't finished yet. "I need you all to be careful, there have been several level 2 akuma sightings in the area, and a sighting of the Noah Tyki Mikk not too far from there. Good luck."

With that, Lavi took his cue to ask a question. "So, how long should this take?" he asked curiously.

"It will take about three days to get there by train and by boat, a good two and a half days to complete the mission, and another three days to get back. So all together,"

"Eight days," Kanda finished for the Chief, eager to leave. Komui nodded in agreement. I stayed quiet throughout the entire debriefing, I was afraid to speak up for saying something completely stupid. As everyone left, I backed away as quietly as possible, but before I could leave I was called back by Komui.

"Oh, and Katie," he called out. I turned around as slowly as I could, I was really scared of the crazed scientist. He smiled kindly at me, "Welcome to the family."

Looking at his face, I could see years of wear and tear shining through his features. He looked older than he should, with all of the pain and suffering, having to deal with the fact that he could be sending someone to their death every day. But looking at his eyes, I could see that he was still happy, staying here with his little sister just to keep her safe. It was sweet, and I could feel myself relax just looking at him.

"Thank you, Chief," I said as I went back to the door and followed the others out of the Order.


Footnotes:

1.) Albino Girl

2.)Straight Fringe (sorry this insult is bad, I'm horrible at coming up with them, so just bear with me here.)

3.) (warning, swear words) If you ever touch my coat again, I will fucking kill you.

ALRIGHTY THEN! I'm finally getting somewhere with this story! Aren't you guys proud of me? ^.^

Anyways, thank you guys so much for the support you gave me to write this story. From now on, I promise that updates will be every month or so, this one just came out early as a treat!

Now, about my other story, Demi-Saiyan and the Ring Bearer, it's gonna be a while to get it updated. I also want to get the next few chapters typed out, so I'm putting it on hiatus. I'M SORRY! GOMEN NASAI!

OH! I got a (slightly) major role in the high school musical in my town! Yup, a mere seventh grader, making her way in the nasty world of high school. Well, it's not that bad, but I've gotten lost a couple of times in the school, so that happened.

Anywho, thanks again for all of the love and support!

Katie out.