The next day, Kenna and Tiaoshi were woken up by the blaring of a trombone. Casting their sheets aside, the two girls put on their coats, and after taking a few minutes to fix their tangled hair, they walked to the mess hall. There, they saw all the other exorcists, most of them half-asleep, some of them wide awake, thanks to Komui blowing the trombone. When he saw Kenna and Tiaoshi come in, joining the others.. he stopped using the huge instrument-which he has been blowing for about 30 minutes-and put it down.
"What is the meaning of this,Komui?" A guy with short brown spiky hair and bags under his eyes, complained. "Are you trying to make us deaf?!"
Looking at the man, the head officer laughed. "Oh no no no,not at all. I just have a special announcement to make."
"What kind of announcement?" one of the exorcists asked, covering their mouth to stifle a yawn.
"...Well, we have found some more Innocence."
The sleepy exorcists were wide awake now. "Really?"
The head officer nodded. "Yes. After a few weeks of having trouble of detecting them, we've finally succeeded. This Innocence is located deep in the heart of Italy...which is Venice. The finders there have been trying their best to protect it, but the akuma that our nemesis, Millennium Earl, sent, has been taking the finder's lives one-by-one. And because of that problem, we need three exorcists for the job."
Looking around at the huge row of exorcists, Komui did his version of eenie-meanie-miny-mo, and ceased his index finger at Allen, Kanda, and Kenna.
"You three. Come to my office."
The three exorcists looked at each other; they had a bad feeling about this.
As the three sat down on the couch in Komui Lee's not-so-clean and paper scattered office, Kenna was getting nervous, her face red like a tomato. Kanda was sitting next to her on the right, with Allen a few feet away from them on the left. When she glanced over at Kanda, he glared at her,"What are you looking at?"
The hairs on Kenna's back rose,and she looked down at the floor,"Nothing, nothing."
After Kanda looked at the map in front of them, he then looked over at Komui, who was sorting through books, and spoke up. "Komui, why did you choose us?"
The officer looked up at him, and laughed. "Well, that's simple to answer. I choose you guys because you are suited for this mission, and since Kenna here is new to the Black Order, I want you two wonderful gentlemen to show her how the missions are done."
The two male exorcists went to object on what Komui said of him and Kanda being suited for the mission, but Komui stopped them from doing so when he handed them two booklets: one to Allen, one to Kenna and Kanda. Realizing this, the two glared at each other, a spark igniting between them. "Komui,isn't there any other books over there?" Kanda asked the head officer, breaking the squabble. "I don't want to share a booklet with an idiot of a girl."
Kenna felt anger grow inside her, "Excuse me?"
Kanda just looked at her and stuck out his tongue, as if to say, You heard what I said,newbie.
Ignoring this, Komui went on to search for more copies of the booklet, and having no luck, he shrugged. "Sorry. Those are the only ones."
But as Komui stepped out of the way, the two exorcists could see that there were more copies, stacked up and not used. They both looked over at Komui, unimpressed.
He saw that they knew he did that on purpose,and he laughed nervously. "...Well,as they say,sharing is caring...right?"
The excuse wasn't working,so to change the subject,Komui cleared his throat,and pointed over to the map.
"So,as I was saying earlier,the Innocence is located in Venice,Italy. We have sent the finders there to help protect it,but the Millennium Earl has found about the Innocence,and has sent his akuma to kill them. Only one of the finders survived,and has taken the Innocence somewhere else of where the akuma don't know of. So your mission is to go to Venice,Italy,and retrieve the Innocence."
The three let that sink into their heads,then nodded,letting Komui know that they understood. "Okay then!" Komui said,smiling. He led the three to a canoe outside of the tower,and as they sat down in the canoe, Komui ordered one of the guards to untie the rope. The three said their goodbyes as Komui yelled to them,"We're counting you!" and watched as the canoe disappeared from his sight.
"Does anyone sense a hint of deja vu here?" Allen yelled to Kanda,the wind hitting the trio in the face,their hair moving rapidly in the wind as they jumped from one bridge to another.
"There's no time to talk right now,beansprout!" Kanda yelled back,keeping his eyes focused on the moving train in front of them. "We need to get to that train before it's too late!"
"How are we going to that?!" Kenna asked,trying her best not to freak out due to her acrophobia.
Her question was answered as the two male exorcists waited for the right moment,then digging their shoes into the pavement,they flew into the air,with the scared brunette following behind them. There was a hard thud as the three landed on the roof of the train,regaining their balance. Kanda bent down on one knee,and wrapped his fingers around a latch connected to a small door. After the latch is unlocked, Kanda flung his arm forward to open it,and the trio descended within. Another three thuds were heard as they landed one by one,right outside the engine room door.
Hearing the noises,the conductor looks out of the corner of his eye,and sees the three exorcists from the window.
"Hey!" he said,barging in. "No free rides! I don't suppose you guys have tickets."
"We don't,sir," Allen spoke up. "We're part of the Black Order."
"The Black...?" The startled conductor went to say,but when his eyes fell upon the rose-shaped cross on the exorcists' coats, he apologized and went to reserve seats for them.
There was an awkward moment of silence as Kenna looked over at the white-haired man,confused of what just happened. "...What was that for?"
"...It's a long story." Allen said,letting out a long sigh. "It's how we usually get access to a train when doing missions like this."
"Oh,okay." Kenna said and the trio then heard the conductor call them from outside the engine room.
The conductor then leads them to a room farther away from the other rooms. As Kenna,Kanda,and Allen plop down onto the seats,they thank the conductor as he leaves the room.
"So...first class,eh?" Allen said,looking around at the place. Kanda shrugged,not caring about that.
The thought of the mission suddenly started to nag at Kenna's mind,and noticing that they still had their booklets,she grabbed hold of one and started to scan through it.
She didn't recognize she was reading it out loud until she looked over at Kanda.
"Are you seriously trying to spoil the mission by doing that?" Kanda scowled.
"No." Kenna could feel herself getting a little irritated. "I was just curious about the mission,that's all."
"Just curious?!" Kanda said. "Make that nosy, you 16-year old brat!"
"...Um, you do know that I'm the same age as you."
Stunned at her answer,Kanda just stared at her for a few seconds,then as he turned his back towards her,he snatched the book from her hands.
"...So the akuma assume that the people of Venice have been using the Innocence to keep their 1,300 year old city running?" Allen asked.
"It seems like it." Kenna said. "As it said in the book,Venice has been starting to crumble for some odd reason." She rested her cheek on her hand,and looked out the window. "I wonder what's causing it."
Allen lifted up the book,looking at a page that resembled a modern version of the city. "...Venice was such a beautiful city back then." He then casted his eyes upon the window. It looked like he was counting the trees as they whipped by,but what he was really thinking about was the city. A mixture of despair and sadness came across his face as he thought about it.
"Are you okay,Allen?"
Kenna's question made Allen's train of thoughts disappear,and he looked at her. "Oh,uh...I'm fine. Why?"
"You looked melancholy. Is something on your mind?"
"Something on my mind? Oh,no,not at all." He faced the window. "I'm just a little tired."
Concerned for her friend,Kenna put her hand on Allen's shoulder,squeezed it,then whispered,"Are you sure?"
Allen nodded,and then laid back,closing his eyes. Kenna then decided to follow suit and relax.
"Aaaw,how sweet." Kanda smirked.
"Kenna flinched,and returned his smirk. "It wouldn't hurt for you to show some emotion sometime."
"Emotions are irrelevant. They only get in the way. They can weaken you."
"Oh,is that right?" Kenna replied.
A familiar spark between Allen and Kanda back then ignited between Kanda and Kenna,but stood still as the two shared twin glares.
Hearing them start to argue, Allen opened one of his eyes,his voice almost sounding like Kanda's as he spoke, "Just kiss and get it over with."
Kenna and Kanda both gave him the death stare, but Allen shrugged it off, and turned his back to them, wanting to get some rest so he can ease his mind.
But just as he was starting to get comfortable, the three of them felt a bump, which sent them flying forward, sending Allen into the empty seat before him and Kenna, right into Kanda's lap.
Allen then started laughing for the first time since the train ride.
"What are you laughing at, beansprout?" Kanda shouted, but then noticed that Kenna hasn't moved.
Kenna's body froze. Her muscles tensed up, and she felt paralyzed, as if she was unable to move. She felt her face grow hotter as she looked at Kanda; the situation being all too awkward.
Looking down at her, Kanda did a sarcastic smirk, "Enjoying yourself?"
"No, no, no! I am not..." Kenna said,her voice sounding weak,as if it was cracking up as she spoke. She then looked down, and realized she was sitting in Kanda's lap.
Freaking out, she pushed away from him, and sat back down in her seat.
As she looked away and crossed her arms, she could hear Kanda snickering, "Aaaw. The little brat has a crush on me."
Kenna gave him her own personal death glare,"You wish,Kanda!" But in her mind, she wondered if Kanda really had a heart under all that anger, and what caused his foul mood. Feeling her face turn red again, she decided not to think about that, and look at the booklet again.
As the conductor ordered the people to get off the train, Kenna, Allen, and Kanda realized that they've finally reached Venice. They set foot outside the train, and looked around,seeing that Venice was indeed starting to fall to pieces.
Kenna couldn't help but marvel at it, but a loud, blood-curdling scream got her and the other exorcists' attention. Allen's left arm started to mutate. You could literally hear the bones cracking, then reconstructing into something more weapon-like, no longer resembling a normal arm.
Kanda, on the other hand, reached for his sword behind his back, and slowly took it from it's hilt. As he held out his sword, he put his fingertips on the cold steel of the weapon,and muttered some words under his breath. When he was done, he swung the sword, releasing white wisps of smoke with blazing red eyes. They appeared to be some form of demonic soul.
Kenna was so shocked about this that she forgot to activate her powers.
Kanda watched as the creatures went in the direction of the scream, and then disappeared.
A few second later, they heard another scream, but one that was more close by. Hoping that the creatures didn't hurt any innocent people, the three exorcists ran over to a huge rubble of a building that fell off, noticing that Kanda just hit an akuma. The pieces of the wall started to slide off as the weird-looking creature started to get up, and suddenly lifted into the air, glowing a radiant white.
"Wha...What is it doing? Kenna asked, watching as the akuma morphed into different shapes.
"It's evolving." Kanda said,muttering a word that Allen and Kenna didn't hear. "I was afraid about this."
A sudden blow sent Kenna, Allen,and Kanda flying back, hitting into a building and landing hard on their backs. As the three regained their balance, they heard an insane laugh from the akuma.
Looking up at it, they could see that the akuma wasn't a huge ball with cannons sticking out of it anymore. It was more in the shape of an insane clown, its eyes dark and small, its smile creepy and wide. It was gray all over, except for the black and white striped pants,and the Roman numeral II engraved on the left side of its chest, along with a face engraved in the opposite side.
"Nice try, exorcists," the akuma said, it's voice sounding like a crazy goblin. "But you're too late! Venice here is starting to lose its life because of the Innocence. And speaking of it, I've already found where the Innocence is!" He then lunged down, and unfolding his bat wings,he shot up into the sky. "So you will have to come and catch me!"
They watched as the akuma flew off. Kanda growled in frustration as he and the others ran in the direction of where the akuma was going, but screeched to a halt when they saw the akuma was no longer in sight.
"Well, this is just great!" the young,blue-haired man shouted. "Thanks to the akuma, we're lost and don't know where it went off to."
"...I think I know where it went." Kenna's sudden statement made Allen and Kanda look at her in shock.
"H-How?" Allen stammered.
"Just wait." she said, and as she turned away from the two exorcists, her eyes turned a hazy blue.
She remained standing, but as she heard each random noise appear, she quickly turned her head in that direction. But a sudden loud and eerie sound made her lose her concentration, and she dug her fingers into her hair.
Stunned,the two male exorcists ran over to her.
"What?" Allen said. "What is it?"
Kenna didn't respond right away due to her throbbing headache. "It's a.. s-side effect.. that occurs when I use my tracking abilities. It seems the akuma is in another building somewhere far off from here. It's hazy but I can sense it."
Not wanting to ask how she did that, the two exorcists followed what the brunette said,and the three set off to the building.
"Please...please don't kill me!" a woman said, backing away from the akuma in fear.
"Oh, I'm not going to do that." the clown-looking akuma grinned. "I just want to know where the Innocence is here."
"...T-The Innocence?" The woman gave the akuma a confused look.
"Yes, the Innocence!" the akuma growled. "Where is it?!"
"I...I don't know!" the woman shouted. As the exorcists ran into the building,they heard the women repeat her sentence one last time, before she screamed, blood flying everywhere as it was expelled from her body.
"...That's what you get for not answering my question, human." the akuma said,adding a maniac laugh to the end of his sentence.
"Hey!" Kanda's voice boomed through the building, making the clown akuma jump and turn towards them.
"How did you exorcists find me?" The akuma hissed.
"We tracked you by finding out about the location, which is the San Beneto church." Kenna spoke up. "Now step away from that woman now!"
The three exorcists waited for the akuma to start backing away, but instead of doing so, it busted out laughing.
"What makes you think I'm going to do that?" the akuma said, pointing its finger at the trio. "I have many more humans to find and kill if they don't confess to where the Innocence is!"
"Not on our watch!" Allen yelled,and then lunged forward at the akuma, slashing the akuma's chest with his anti-akuma weapon.
The akuma screamed in pain, and almost lost its balance. Putting its hand over the wound, which was partially bleeding, he lunged at the white-haired man, and before Allen even had a chance to attack, the akuma smashed Allen into the wall, taking a blow to his torso.
"Allen!" Kenna's anger rose, and she went to attack the akuma, but Kanda stepped in front of her, and unsheathed his sword. He then ran towards the monster, and got ready to stab the akuma in the chest, but the akuma prevented him from doing so. Getting a grip on Kanda's sword, the akuma swung him around like one of the carnival rides does at Six Flags. Then releasing the hold, the akuma sent Kanda flying into the air, then hit the ground hard, making several floors give way.
Kenna watched in horror as Kanda fell,and heard his unconscious body hit the ground. Seeing tears form in her eyes, the akuma convulsed.
"Aaaw, is the female exorcist mad?"
Hearing it say that, Kenna clenched her fists, her anger increasing rapidly. She didn't like one bit of what the akuma was doing. The insane clown just caused a ruckus in the church,hurting her friends in the process. And she wasn't having any of that.
"Oh,I'm more than mad." she said, glaring at the akuma, her eyes turning red as she activated her powers, a red aura appearing in her hands,"I'm infuriated!"
She ran towards the akuma, and started sending orbs at the akuma, making the wound on its chest gape open wider and much deeper, causing blood to shoot out. The akuma howled in pain, and went to block Kenna's next attack, but it was too late. A huge, red bolt struck it right in the stomach, causing half of its body to fall off, descending to the ground beneath their feet.
Kenna then returned to her normal standing position, and deactivated her powers. As she walked towards Allen, who was, to her surprise, still conscious, she heard the akuma cursing and yelling, "Stupid exorcist!"
Seeing Kenna, Allen went to stand up, but doubled over in pain due to his injuries. Kenna caught him before he face-planted the ground.
"Allen, are you okay?" Kenna asked.
"...I..I think so." Allen said, taking a deep breath. He then looked at Kenna. "What just happened? What were those things that came out of your hands?"
At the sound of Allen mentioning her powers, a few beads of sweat ran down Kenna's face. "Oh...um...that was just an aura that randomly appeared, happens when I am mad.. heh, that's all."
"An aura?" Allen tilted his head,confused. "Are you sure?"
Kenna nervously laughed. "Yeah, I'm positive. Why?"
"Well, it looks like it was more than an aura. It looked like you were throwing lightening bolts at the akuma."
Kenna felt herself getting more nervous,and she looked away from Allen.
After a few seconds of tension passed by, Allen slightly smiled, hoping to cheer Kenna up. "Come on, Kenna. You don't have to get nervous about it. There's no problem of revealing what your anti-akuma weapon is."
Anti-akuma weapon? That word nagged at Kenna's brain, since she didn't think of her powers being something that could destroy akuma. She looked at the white-haired man.
Taking a deep breath to calm down her nerves, she decided that she had to spill out the beans anyways.
"Okay. If you really want to know,Allen, then I should tell you it. I have powers. That is what my anti-akuma weapon is. I have the ability to create energy based orbs and bolts in my hands. They birth from my emotions, When I get extremely angry, like you saw just now, the color of the aura changes from blue to red."
Letting that sink into his head for a moment, Allen nodded,and to the brunette's surprise, smiled. "Well, that's interesting. Having the ability to create shapes like that isn't something I could do. I could only use this arm to destroy the akuma, while Kanda could only summon those weird-looking things with his mugen, or should I say, his sword." He then stood up straight as his eyes met Kenna's. "That makes you unique,Kenna. You know that?"
Kenna felt her cheeks turn a light pink,surprised that Allen said this. All this time of having her powers, thanks to Tiaoshi, she didn't recognize how that made her unique. She knew other entities who had the same powers as her, including Aerial, Wind,and more that she couldn't count.
Overwhelmed, she thought it over,and then realized what Allen meant...she was different from the other exorcists.
Looking up at Allen, she shook her head,and thanked him for the compliment. But then Allen noticed the huge hole in the center of the church.
"Whoa!" Allen said,shocked at the impact. "How did that happen?!"
Kenna smiled sheepishly. "Uh, I'll explain that later.. for now we must find Kanda and make sure he's alright. He took a pretty hard blow from the akuma's attack."
Kenna and Allen then descended down into the crater,in hopes of finding Kanda. Luckily,when they landed,he was right in front of them,thanks to a ray of light coming from outside. But as they walked towards him,they saw that he wasn't alright. He had huge wounds on his chest,blood oozing out from them. His exorcist suit was ripped up,showing his chest,with a strange-looking tattoo on it. His muscular arms were showing too.
Kenna covered her mouth,tears forming in her eyes. "Oh my god...I didn't know that attack hurt him so bad."
"I didn't either." Allen agreed. After a few moments of silence passed by,the two looked each other.
"So how are we going to take care of those wounds?"
Kenna thought of that for a minute,then got an idea. Getting down on one knee, she looked at the wounds on Kanda's body,then created a blue aura in her hands. As she touched his shoulder,the blue aura descended inside,causing blue rifts to spread out in different directions.
Allen watched in awe as the aura started to slowly close up the wounds. After Kenna was done,she disbanded her powers. A loud cough was heard as Kanda slowly stood up, holding his chest.
It took a few minutes for him to open his eyes. "Man,that akuma was stronger than the last one." he said,his voice a little weak. He then looked around,and saw that he wasn't on the first floor anymore.
"...How in the heck did I get here?" he wondered,but then he looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Kenna and Allen.
The two exorcists looked at each other. "Well, it's a long story,Kanda." Allen said, rubbing the back of his neck with his right arm.
Kanda went to ask Kenna of what he meant by that,but then saw her face. She looked like an arrow just shoot through her head. Her face was red,and she was blushing big time. She just realized that Kanda's hair was down.
"Kenna." Kanda said her name, hoping to make the brunette snap out of it,but it didn't work.
After a few moments passed by, Kenna closed her eyes and passed out.
Kanda then looked at Allen,confused. Kanda didn't have to say a word; Allen took the words right out of his mouth.
"I'll explain it later," Allen said,laughing,"Just as soon as Kenna regains her consciousness."