Author Note: Hi, here's part 2!

Me: I just love this chapter! Kanda, will you do the honors?

Kanda: I'm going to murder you!

Me: What? Do you not like the name of the store?

Allen: I love it!

Kanda: You would! Crowsnight doesn't own DGM or the characters, just the plot. I will soon own her bloody, decapitated head.

Me: Yay! Let chapter 7 proceed!

Situation

Chapter 7: Innocence in Cobalt Part 2

The door opening snagged my attention from Kanda's arms being wrapped around me to the finders entering. My boyfriend pulled away and slipped his shirt on as the finders started to chuckle. They were obviously ready to go to the store, and the bluenette was not happy about me tagging along.

We were soon walking to the store, Kanda and I in our uniforms. It worried me how close we were to the store, because within ten minutes, I was standing beside a very agitated Kanda in front of a store called "Kandy Land".

I laugh it the coincidence of the name and Kanda glared at me. I say, "What's wrong, Kandy? I think the owners named it well."

The finders join in and Kanda growls, "Don't call me that in public!"

I see body models in the windows wearing string bikinis, lace lingerie, and several costumes. I blush at the sight and I feel something hit me on the cheek. I look down to see a card that had "Allen Walker" written on it, proclaiming I was eighteen. I picked it up and saw that Kanda was already entering the store.

I follow him in, the finders tagging along behind me. I glance around the store, the place was huge! There was a counter to my right, clothing of every sort to my left, and whips, handcuffs, and other things I didn't recognize in front of me. My hand is pulled, and Kanda drags me to the costumes. For a split second, I thought he was shopping, but he begins to search the racks for the Innocence. I move past him and see a shelf with different colored lumps on it. Curious to know what they were, I pick up a white pile of clothing, sorting through the fuzzy things. I soon realize from the fluffy tail and lopsided ears that it was a bunny costume complete with mittens. I put it back quickly, but as I start to move past the shelf, I stop as something shiny catches my eye. My first thought was that Timcampy was hiding in a black pile, but figure out that it's a bell. A black cat costume.

I inwardly smirk at the bluenette rummaging through the clothes. I could have some fun with this. I grab the costume and slip behind the shelf to another aisle. There were more accessories and I looked them over, finding nothing that went with the costume.

I first pull the tail thread through the back belt loop in my jeans. The ebony extension hung well past my jacket and had a little golden bell at the end along with a pink bow the size of an apple. I shake my hips and a tinkling sound escapes the bell. Next, I arrange the ear headband in my white hair. I see a mirror on the shelf next to the extra ears, and carefully arrange my black ears, prominent against my ashen hair. I tie the collar around my neck, the bell hanging from the leather and jingling.

After sliding the dark, oversized paws, I step out into the aisle Kanda was searching for Innocence in. "Hey Kandy?"

Not looking at me, he growls, "What?"

I put my furry hands on my hips, and bop to the side, my bell tinkling. "Do you like this on me?"

He turns his head, eyes bulging when he saw me in the costume. I twirl around, giving him a look at my tail in the process. His eyes are still doing laps around the different pieces of the costume.

I giggle, "I can try on the bunny one, too, if you like that better."

He shakes his head quickly, "Take that off! Someone will see you!" I can tell from the look in his eyes that he doesn't mean it. I prance over to his side, my collar ringing as I did so, "Are you sure? You seem to be enjoying the view."

I loudly purr into his neck, and hear his heartbeat race. Making Kanda go crazy was officially my new past time. I whisper, "You know what would really complete this outfit? A lollipop."

He replies coolly, "No, take it off."

I roll my eyes, bringing a fuzzy mitten down his chest, "Maybe I want to keep it. I'm sure someone will appreciate it. I could always ask Lavi if he li-"

"No you won't!"

"Right, I should do the bunny for him!" I smile. Kanda's fighting a losing battle here, and he knows it just as much as I do. He sighs, "Please, Allen, take it off."

"Okay," I say, sadly. I pull off the costume in front of the samurai. I know he's acting like he's not paying attention, but I can feel his eyes boring into me. I replace the black costume to the shelf, but as I go into the next aisle, I snag another collar. It was exact to the other one, except it had two bells instead of one.

I help search through the costumes and such with Kanda as long as I can until we've gone through them twice. "Can we go somewhere else? We've gone through the same stuff a zillion times!"

"Well, so have we. Nothing."

I turn to see the finders walking over to us. They said that we should eat and return later. I realize how hungry I was, and the clock says it's two o'clock. We leave the store soon after. As they walked out, I stopped at the register to buy the collar and ran to catch up, slipping the neck piece into my pocket.

Kanda eyes me, "What took you so long?"

"I was looking at something," I answer. He doesn't seem convinced, but pushes it no further. The finders converse as we have lunch while Kanda and I are silent. The four of us decide to stay at the hotel a little while before heading back out.

After getting to the hotel, Kanda slips into the bathroom. I use the moment to pull out the jingling collar. I smile devilishly and tie the leather around my neck, lying back on the pillows. I close my eyes, awaiting Kanda's return. I suddenly wonder if he might get angry with me for buying it. I mean, he at least pretended to be mad when I had the costume on.

My thoughts stopped as he walked back into the room, sitting on the bed and lying next to me. I know he saw the bells when he says, "Great. If you wear that near Lavi, he'll change 'Allen and Kanda sitting in a tree' to 'Kitten and Kandy'."

I laugh, "I like it. I could always get the whole co-"

"No," he said quickly. He rises up enough to position his arms on either side of me, "So you're officially Kitten."

I smile at the name and say, "It's much better than Moyashi."

He presses our lips together. I move mine against his as he swats my bells back and forth. He pulls away too soon and lies down again. As he does this, a question pops into my head. I didn't want to seem like I cared about the answer, but I was too curious to not ask, "Kanda?"

He makes a sound, telling me he heard. I swallow, "Are you a virgin?"

I just barely hear his breathing catch as he processes the inquiry. I sit up and move so I'm cross-legged at his side, watching his reaction. I really did want to know since the thing with my virginity. He sighs, "Sort of…."

With as much as he knew, I can't say I was surprised, but it still made me feel like our first time would be insignificant to him. I caught myself. We never would be able to do more than we do as much as I want to. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He rolls over so he didn't have to look at my heartbreaking expression. It takes him a moment, but he finally answers, "I've never been with another guy, but I've…."

"Alma," I say, finishing his cliff hanger. He nods, but still doesn't look at me. I can tell from his guarded expression that the question had upset him. Did he think that it mattered to me? I rotate him back toward me. Kanda still refused to meet my gaze. I whisper, "Please, look at me."

He doesn't respond, ignoring my request. "I'm sorry. Please, don't be mad," I apologize. I didn't mean to anger him. I just was curious, but I wouldn't have brought it up if I had known he wouldn't talk to me. I get the urge to dig my nails into my neck and letting the numbness overtake my broken body. "Don't be sorry. I'm not mad, just…."

He finally lets our gazes meet, and I see his dark orbs flooded with shame and guilt. "I just wish I could say I still had my virginity, so our first time would be special."

I shake my head and lie next to him, my head resting on his upper arm. I never break the eye contact and say, "I was just wondering. I didn't mean to upset you." I purposely say nothing about the "our first time" notion, and feel the void inside me grow.

"I can't make up for it though," he closes his eyes. I remember something I read about Japanese culture then. What was it? The guy was supposed to kiss the girl someway, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't the hand or face….

Hair! That's it! While he still had his eyes closed, I pulled out his hair tie, unleashing the blue waves. His eyes opened at that and I quickly sat up, taking some of the ribbon into my hand. The midnight pools widened as I brought the strands to my lips.

I release the hair and see that he's frozen. I smile as I notice the blush creeping into his face. Kanda just continued to stare at me, and I wonder if I did the gesture wrong. I push the thought away. The expression across his face was easily readable. He was shocked and embarrassed.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, astonishment evident in his tone. I answer, "I know it's something they do in Japan to show love."

He nods and finally looks away, probably trying to hide his flush. I smile and lean closer to him, nuzzling his cheek and giving it a lick. I purr, "Meow."

"Does the Kitten want some Kandy?" he asks seductively. I nod, the bells on my neck ringing. He turns his head so he can meet my gaze, "What if the finders come back?"

I whisper in his ear, "Let them. I just hope they don't get a nose bleed."

After another make out session and ten minutes extra, Dime, Kyle, Kanda and I are trekking to "Kandy Land" again. We walk into the store and begin to search once again. I knew that it wasn't in the clothes, but Kanda wouldn't let me anywhere else, so I looked through the accessories. I wanted to get something else other than the collar, but nothing seemed right. I didn't want paws, a tail, or ears. That didn't leave much more to choose from.

"Do you need help with something?"

I turn to find a woman in a Playboy bunny outfit standing in front of me. She had a short, black bob cut and a menacing whip in one hand. I say, "No, I'm good."

She tilts her head, "You sure? I saw you here earlier with Bad Temper over there and you got a collar."

I nod, "He's my boyfriend. We're just looking around."

"Well, I have something that would look good with the collar if you want it," she said. I wasn't sure if I should accept the offer or not. I was talking to either a prostitute or stripper in a bunny costume for crying out loud. I smile, "Sure, what is it?"

"A belt. Follow me," she starts walking to the cash register, and I pursue her. She ducks under the counter and starts rummaging around, "By the way, my name is Foxy."

"It's nice to meet you. My name's Allen," I reply, shifting my weight. Foxy pops back up from the other side, something shiny and black in hand. Handing it to me, she says, "Well Allen, this is the belt."

I take the piece of material from her and begin to examine it. It had a seatbelt like buckle and was leather. The middle had a tail extending with a bell connected to the end, and there was a whip loop, a circular pocket that I assumed was for handcuffs, and more bells. I grin, "I love it! It matches, too!"

She nods, "After you bought that collar, I was wondering if you would come back so I could show it to you."

I hand it back to her, "Can I pay for it before I leave? I don't want him to see." I jerk my head towards Kanda and she nods, setting the belt aside. I quickly amble back to where Kanda, but was cut short by a scream.

I meet Kanda's gaze just before most of the people in the room turn into akumas. I activate my arm, slicing through akuma in the building and hopping across the room, trying to protect as many people as possible. They know the Innocence is here, I think. Kanda takes out the last of the trapped souls with Mugen, and I look around. The store was a wreck, but I didn't see anyone who was injured.

"What the heck do you think you're doing to my store?!" I hear Foxy's voice sound behind me. I turn just in time to make out an akuma before her, and see the explosion.

I run to her, thinking that I needed to kill the akuma and I would find her body covered in black stars. No, I couldn't be more wrong. The akuma is gone and she stands there, whip in hand as she cracks it. She killed an akuma! She was an Accommodator. I deactivate my arm and look her over. Certain she had no wounds, I say, "Foxy, you're an exorcist!"

She shakes her head, "No, I just hit it with the whip and it exploded. I'm no exorcist."

Dime and Kyle run over to the two of us, starting to congratulate and explain everything. I leave them to it, walking over to Kanda who was looking like he hated the world. I put a hand on his shoulder. He's stiff as a board with what I have to assume is anger. I ask, "Are you okay, Kanda?"

He nods, "Why did we have to get a stripper as our new exorcist?"

I rest my chin on his shoulder, "I don't know, but she could help me in several ways…."

He cursed and growled under his breath, stalking toward the door.

The next day, the five of us were on a train back to the Order. Foxy didn't like the idea of leaving her store, but I personally thought that having an Innocence whip was pretty cool.

By the day after that, I was lying in a meadow of grass below Headquarters. It was unusually warm tonight, and the fireflies glowed and flew around me. I felt at home. A lightning bug landed on my hands overlapping each other on my stomach. I whisper, "I wish I could make myself believe, that planet Earth turns, slowly. It's hard to say I'd rather stay awake when I am asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems…."

I exhale and the small insect joins his companions in the sky. The lights dance hypnotically in the air, their backdrop darkening. I wish I could join them. They were so beautiful and free, yet they live for so little time. After the last firefly's glow dissipates, I walk back to my room.

The light in Kanda and I's room were off and I see the slow rise and fall of my boyfriend's chest. I slide in beside him and even though I'm nearly certain he's in a deep slumber, his arms coil around my waist and pull my back to his chest. I smile and drift to sleep, safe in his arms and dreaming of dancing with fireflies.

Author Note: I should have the next chapter posted by Sunday, Monday at the latest. I promise that Chapter 8 will be much more exciting! Please, Please, PLEASE R/R!