Allie

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Allie asked. She was still confused and didn't really get the message earlier. They had went outside, around a few corners, and into a dark room before she dared to speak. She looked behind her to see Akisame closing the sliding doors that led to the outside, shutting out any and all light.

"Don't you remember? I had said that I wanted to speak to you about what we talked about earlier," Akisame said, his voice sounding close to Allie. Allie heard his footsteps walking past her then stop a few feet away.

"Yeah, but I don't really remember what that was," Allie admitted. Her eyes were slowly but surely adjusting to the dark. Akisame sighed as he lit some candles.

"You were telling me the story of the pasts of Ashley and Haley. And I must say, it is quite a coincidence that you three came to live at a dojo not far from here. Or shall I say fate?" Akisame said, turning towards Allie when there was enough light to see clearly. Allie looked around to see what kind of room Akisame had dragged her into. All around her she saw stone statues of people that looked like Buddha or something religious. As her eyes scanned over the many statues, she thought she saw the silhouette of a large man, similar to the Elder. However, when she looked back, it was gone. Allie shivered.

That's not creepy at all. Allie thought sarcastically.

"Allie? Are you listening?" Akisame asked. Allie snapped her head towards him.

"Oh um, no sorry, I was looking at these statues. Did you make them?" Allie asked, trying to get her mind off of the ghostly silhouette. Akisame walked up next to her and stood right behind her. Allie felt that if she moved back even 1 centimeter that she would bump into him. But some part of her didn't mind that he was so close. She actually liked it. Allie felt a blush coming on as this thought entered her mind.

"Yes, actually I did. It's a hobby of mine," he said.

"I-I see. That's interesting. Um, what else do you like to do?" she asked. She felt herself stuttering a lot as she saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye. Akisame didn't seem to notice it though as he stroked his small mustache.

"Let's see. I like to write poems, songs, carve these statues, and other things that I don't really care to share at this moment," Akisame said.

"Oh, okay," Allie said. The shadow moved again, getting closer and closer to them, each time one of them spoke.

"But, enough about me. Why don't we get back to the topic at hand?" Akisame said.

"Yes, I too would like to know what it is you two are keeping secret," a voice said behind them. Allie screamed and turned around, bumping into Akisame's chest. He placed his hands on her arms and held her until she stopped shaking.

"Allie, don't worry. It's only Elder." Akisame said.

"Well, yeah I realize that, but when did he get here?" Allie asked, her voice shaking from the shock of the Elder's sudden voice.

"He's been here the whole time," Akisame said, as if stating a fact that should have been obvious.

"It's true. You noticed me a few times as well, Allie," Elder said. Allie blinked twice.

"So I was right when I thought that that shadow looked like you?" she asked. They nodded and Allie sighed, a breath of relief. "Okay, sorry for screaming."

"It's perfectly understandable," Elder said.

"And it was a cute scream as well, so all is forgiven," Akisame said. Allie blinked twice, not really believing what she was hearing.

"Huh?" she asked.

"So, about this story of our new friends' pasts'. I would like to hear it, if you don't mind retelling it, Allie?" the Elder asked. Allie shook her head.

"Um, sure but could we go into a more lighted room? The story isn't exactly pleasant and, no offense Akisame, but this room gives me an uneasy feeling already," Allie said. Akisame didn't look offended. Instead, he walked away from her and proceeded to blow out the candles. The Elder helped. Now, normally Allie would have expected them to walk up to each candle and blow it out separately, but these guys weren't normal. Akisame stood in front of a bunch of rows of candles, as did the Elder. They both took a huge breath, and in one go, blew out the flames on the candles. Allie was left with her mouth open in shock. Thankfully the lights were now out so the other two couldn't see her.

"Shall we go?" Akisame asked his voice suddenly next to Allie. She almost jumped, had her wind not been knocked out by him picking her up and carrying her in arms, bridle style. Allie blushed slightly.

"Um, Akisame?" Allie said. The sliding door was then opened and Allie saw Akisame looking at her a little strangely. She could see a tiny bit of some emotion, as if it was awakening for the first time, in his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I can walk," Allie stated.

"Nonsense, I wouldn't want you hurting yourself after your fight with Ashley," Akisame said. Allie sighed. She could already tell that no matter what she said, he wasn't going to give in. However, she did see Elder raise his fuzzy, blonde eyebrow at Akisame carrying her.

They all walked, well the guys walked and Allie was carried, to another room that actually had light in it. Here, Allie saw that all of Kenichi's masters were sitting there, drinking tea that Miu was currently passing around.

"What took you two so long?" Sakaki asked, sipping his tea.

"My apologies, but it took longer than expected to get her to notice that Elder was there," Akisame said, letting Allie stand on her own two feet.

"Hey! I did notice him!" Allie protested. Akisame raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh? Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted to make sure that it was him before saying so!" Allie said. It wasn't entirely a lie. Another reason was that she was actually afraid of being wrong and that it was a ghost or something creepy like that.

"I see," Akisame said, his voice getting quiet at the end. Allie glared at him. He laughed and went to sit down at the end of the table that all the masters were sitting around, motioning for her to sit next to him. Allie sighed and complied. Elder did the same except he sat on the other end of the table.

"So Allie, do tell us all of our new friends', Ashley and Haley, pasts. Oh but before you start, Miu. Would you please go and help Kenichi with entertaining our guests?" Elder said. Allie hadn't noticed that Miu, the elder's granddaughter, was still in the room. She nodded and went out the room, looking for Kenichi. About a minute after she left, Allie began telling the story.

"Um, I don't know which to start with," Allie muttered.

"You might as well start with Haley. To be honest, I think that she was the most confusing one when you told me about it," Akisame said. Allie nodded.

"Okay, I'll start with Haley. Well, I'll start with the basics with her. Ashley and I guess that Haley is 24 years old," Allie started.

"You guess?" Kensei asked.

"Shouldn't you know how old she is? She knows, right?" Apachai asked.

"I'll explain later why we have to guess how old she is. Anyway, Ashley and I found her about 3 years ago. Back then she was about 21. We found her with almost no memory of who she was, nor where she came from. All she knew was that her name was Haley. We still are looking far and wide for evidence of a place where she lived before we found her and of who she was. So far, we have found out that her parents are now dead and that she was kidnapped when she was younger, shortly after her parents died. We tried to find the place where she was held but we haven't found it yet. However, when we found her, we saw that she had several scars across her body, there were many teeth marks, and she had one burn mark on her arm. The very day we found her we tried to give her a bath to get rid of the muck and dirt that had found its way into her long, thick, strangely hair. But she wouldn't go near it. Saying things like, 'No more! No more! I won't go near water, no matter what you say!' She was absolutely terrified of any water we brought to her. Now it's not so bad, but for some reason she's still afraid of water," Allie said. The masters stayed still for a moment, thinking about what Allie had said. Allie sat in silence as well, feeling really frustrated that they hadn't found out more about Haley yet, and that she had to keep the fact that Haley's parents died a secret from her.

"What about the Taser?" Shigure asked.

"Oh yes, Sakaki mentioned that Haley had a Taser on her when he first met her. She had said something like how you and Ashley got her it for Christmas one year. But earlier today Ashley had said that you two weren't the ones to give it to her. She was about to say who did, but you stopped her. Now I sort of understand why, but would you mind elaborating why you did?" Elder said. Allie nodded.

"The truth is, and Haley doesn't know this, but she had the Taser before we ever met her. All she told us before she lost her complete memory was that a very old friend had given it to her, so that she could safely leave the place she was being held," Allie said.

"So that's the reason Ashley got mad at me," Sakaki said. Allie nodded.

"Yeah, that Taser was very important to Haley, and it was a clue for us to her past," Allie said. Sakaki rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said.

"Why don't you tell us about Ashley's past? Surely you know more about that?" Elder said. Allie nodded. Yes, she definitely knew a lot more about Ashley than Haley.