Chapter 15

"Come on, it's been at least fifteen minutes," I groaned out as I sat with a maid who tore through a whole wardrobe claiming she's still trying to find my color. I rolled my eyes, tempted to break something and storm out but I knew it would look bad in front of the whole town. I suddenly heard light and flowing music come from below me. Probably the ball, which means it had started. Without me.

"Aha! I finally found it!" The maid yelped as I glanced up. She dashed towards me before I could say anything and tugged the dress over my nearly bare body. I muffled out an unladylike word before she stepped away and held up a mirror. I fixed the hem of the dress and stared into the mirror. The maid picked out a simple silver dress with thick shoulder straps and it had dark grey swirling designs towards the bottom of the dress. I nodded towards the maid and started towards the door but not before snatching up a pair of long black gloves.

I walked through the dusty mansion until I made it to the shallow staircase. People were dancing and strangely focused on it too. I hiked up the long hem of the dress and wove through the crowd for Kanda and the others. A young couple bumped into me and I whipped around to apologize but when I turned around, it made me want to swear as loud as I could. There was Richard, tall and crisp in a brown suit, a love sick smile stuck on his face. He grasped my hand and I had to stop myself from gagging.

"We meet again, Lady Exorcist," He purred out as he slowly pulled me closer to him.

"More like you sought me out," I replied in a dry tone as I tried to shift away from him.

"Awe don't be like that. Your radiant beauty drew me to you." He said as he touched my chin. In about five seconds Blonde boy's radiant black and blue face is going to draw in everyone here. I glared at Richard and saw something dull, something flicker out in his eyes but it quickly morphed back into its strange twinkle. I was about to mention it but I felt a strong tug on my free arm and then on my waist. I gasped and turned over my shoulder, it was Kanda. If looks could kill, Richard would be nothing but ashes that would be swept away by everyone's dancing figures. He then pulled me off a ways away from Richard's blue, and suddenly icy, stare.

"I don't like that guy." He whispered in anger to himself as I followed behind him. I nodded and glanced over my shoulder but Richard was gone, disappeared from the spot he was just in. My eyes widened when I bumped into something thick. I faced forward to meet Kanda's cold stare and I slightly quivered at it.

"Is there a problem?" He asked in a dry tone and I shook my head.

"No, you're right. There was something visibly wrong with that guy. But let's not worry about it." I reassured him as I grabbed his rough hands and pulled him into a shallow crowd of dancers. He tightly grabbed my waist, it was probably because he was so tense.

"Don't like dancing?"

"Che," He puffed out as we started taking baby steps.

"Okay, we'll just talk. So where's Toku and Vincent?" I asked and his faced switched from slight embarrassment to thoughtful.

"Toku needed a little more medical care than we thought. He is with Vincent in a room somewhere in this manor."

"Hmm, I see." I said nodding my head. I smirked and Kanda gave me a soft, yet confused glare. "What do you think of Toku? He's like a friendlier and smaller version of you." I chuckled as I flashed a playful grin.

"Che, I assume he's an accommodator of Innocence?"

"You bet,"

"He's a child."

"I know, it's pretty bad when his father passed away, but now for the rest of his life he'll be surrounded by death. I wish I could rip that Innocence from him."

"Now you're just sounding crazy,"

"Now you're just sounding like a jerk," I retorted as he lead me into a little twirl.

"So," I began again, "How was your mission? I take it that you were as efficient as ever."

"I'm never inefficient, unlike you. I had to fight alone because the Finder was stupid enough to think that a homeless man really was an accommodator. Turned out he was obviously an Akuma. After getting the Innocence I rondevued with another Finder when I got the call that there was trouble in this Hell of a town."

"Hey, I had that under control!"

"Yeah, from falling head first from the sky at high speeds, you totally had that under control." Kanda gave me a 'I told you so' smirk and continued to loosen up a bit as we danced.

"He took me by surprise! I don't have stick up the butt reflexes like you." I stuck out my tongue as an anger mark appeared on Kanda's temple. We take a break from talking and I really take a look at Kanda's outfit. He wore a white dress shirt adorned with silver buttons and dark trousers, pretty damn crisp if I do say so myself. The two dark tassels on either side of his face rested on his collarbone while his ponytail swung with our movements. He even had Mugen strapped to his side. We slowed down again and Kanda started to speak.

"So do you know what happened when you fought that Level 2?"

"Huh? What do you mean? We kicked its ass!"

"No, with your anti-Akuma weapon. It… mutated." Kanda rolled his eyes as he subconsciously dipped me.

"Hmm, I'd call it an upgrade from my Steel Daggers. My arms started to tingle and drip black droplets and my weapons started to flake away. But then the color melted off my arms and blobbed around the weapons that used to be there. It crystallized then shattered, leaving what I have now in its place." I finished as Kanda pondered the possibilities.

"The syncro rate must of increased drastically then. What do the new weapons look like again?"

"My left arm has a large circle plate opposite of my forearm and the right enveloped my whole arm up to my elbow to a pointed tip. Kinda like a sword and shield."

"Which means you're rubbish when it comes to using it," Kanda deadpanned as I glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said a little too loud and some on goers glanced in our direction but most of them ignored us. Weird.

"It means that you don't know how to use it. Which also means-"

"That you want to teach me?" I smirked playful as he blushed ever so slightly.

"Che… fine." He mused out as he brought me a little closer to him. I leaned in to give him a tiny kiss as he gave in and started to lean too. But at the last second he turned his head and I kissed his slightly stubbled cheek.

"Hey, what's wro-" Kanda cut me off as he smushed my body with his, my face landing on his shoulder. He must of grown a couple of centimeters.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" Kanda spat out as I realized what he was doing. Richard was behind me right when we were about to kiss, this guy will have an early grave.

"May I cut in?" Richard asked smoothly as I squirmed to face him in Kanda's protective grasp.

"No."

"But-"

"Get the Hell away from her!" Kanda growled out as he pulled me out of Richard's reach. He bowed his head, the blonde hair covered his eyes as he tilted his head back up, a fresh new smile plastered his face.

"Don't hog all the beauty for yourself."

"Get. Lost. Now." Kanda said out of gritted teeth as his hand went for his sword. Richard held up his hands in a defeated manor and there it was again, the dulling of his eyes. He quickly yanked me out of Kanda's grasp and I immediately threw a punch at Richard's face but he caught it without any effort. Kanda unsheathed his sword and the neither the dancing or the music stopped.

"Hey, its just once dance." Richard stated even though he twisted my arm behind my back and had a strong grip across on my opposite shoulder.

"Gah! I… I can't activate my weapon!" I gasp as I tried to jerk out of his grasp. Kanda's eyes turned so dark that I could see my reflection in them as his knuckles turned white. Richard gave Kanda an ungodly sneer as he started to shudder. His grip on me got stronger but something was happening with his skin. His tan skin melted off him like hot butter and what was underneath burned my skin. I craned my head to look at what he'd become and my suspicions were proven right.

He was a Level 3 Akuma.

Richard's skull was partially showing after some of the leftover skin hardened like wax and his eyes glowed like I'd just seen when I first saw him tonight. His clothes burned off of him and all that was left was a skeleton that felt like steel and pieces of flesh that decided to cling onto the bones. After some ear clawing cracking, Richard grew at least five feet and stood with a hunchback. I tried to pry his modified hands off of me but his strength was unbelievable and besides, I was a ways away from the ground.

"I will become beautiful again… I'll preserve your beauty… I'll wear your skin as my own!" The level 3 screeched as his enlarged hand reached all the way around my torso and was slowly crushing my bones.

"G-Gahhhhhhh! K-Kandaaa! Ahhhhhhh!" I couldn't help but scream at the pain that could kill me at any minute. My anti-Akuma weapon was failing me and I didn't even know why. Kanda's eyes widened with fear and pure anger as he lunged with Mugen in hand, the people not even phased as they danced like puppets. I'm going to die tonight, the pain is excruciating. Some of my ribs are broke, I've lost too much air, I just might have passed out.

"GAHHHHHHAAAA AHHHHHH!"

"SASHAAA!"

Hey, sorry for the huuuuugge delay with this chapter. Just didn't feel motivated. And I also fixed my tenses. I wonder if people still read this...

-AnonymousVulture