A/N: Wow, I'm really happy I got a good response for the first chapter. Thank you to negimarules52, bougainvillea blossom, EpikalStorms, nonononononon, Mangoswirls, Guest, God eye gala, Lenore91, Ennael, NirvanaFrk97, Kaite1211, Allyieh, KoiKyuuiKitai, and myangelicladyofdarkness for all taking the time to review! I really appreciate it(: I'd also like to dedicate this next chapter to EpikalStorms, because if it weren't for her encouragement, I probably wouldn't have posted this on FanFiction in the first place(x It would have just taken up useless space on my Documents.

I'd also like to let you all know something. It seems that most of you seem to think that Allen will immediately start changing the things he hasn't already—like Miranda's situation—but I would also like to remind you that some of the events he knows of aren't suppose to happen for another two years. He could go searching for the Ark himself, but that would just complicate things and change the future he knows of to the point that Allen wouldn't even be able to use his future knowledge as an advantage. I also don't want to do such a large time skip just yet, so for now, I'm going to focus on having him recreate his friendships with members of the Black Order. That is all.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not, or will ever, own the amazing and wonderful anime we know as D. Gray-Man. Unfortunately for me, but probably more fortunate for the rest of you(x

Chapter 2

Time Frame — Morning of February 5th, 1895

—3rd Person POV—

~Allen~

Nothing much had happened in the week he'd been there, but Johnny had made him his old Exorcist coat, just a lot smaller, and he'd been able to reacquaint with everyone when they'd thrown him the traditional welcoming party. As much he wished he could say he enjoyed it, the truth is that being fond over by a bunch of Finder ladies had not been fun. His cheeks still ached somewhat from all the squeezing. And the thought of his Master being proud of him did not make him feel any better.

The only Exorcist that had been there had been Lenalee—she'd been dispatched from the Hospital Wing after a couple of days. The rest had been on some mission or the other and Miranda was still undergoing her training, but Allen didn't mind much, though he did wish Lavi was here. After asking Lenalee about all the Exorcists, she hadn't once mentioned a wild red-head much to his disappointment.

Completing his morning exercises and getting dressed, Allen happily followed his nose—his sense of direction being nonexistent—to the cafeteria, his favorite place in the building. Just thinking about Jerry's food made his mouth water. Speeding up to a quicker pace, Allen finally made it and much to Jerry's excitement, ordered enough to feed everyone already in the cafeteria. All the Finders and scientists who had yet to find out about his appetite stared at him in unconcealed shock as he carried his mountain of food to the nearest table and promptly began to eat, not believing for a second that he'd actually eat it all.

"Allen!" He heard Lenalee call out. Looking up and around the large pile of food that was his breakfast, Allen's greeting died down in his throat when he realized the reluctant person she was dragging along. It was a sixteen-year-old Kanda.

"Allen!" Lenalee repeated when she was nearer as if he hadn't heard her the first time, and continued, "This is the one Exorcist I've been telling you about. Allen, meet Kanda!"

Even though his first instinct was to sneer and insult the much taller Japanese, Allen held back and gave him a perfectly polite smile, though he refrained from holding out his hand, knowing it'd only be ignored. "Nice to meet you."

"Che," Kanda just grumbled, not bothering to say anything else. Then again, if Lenalee hadn't been there, he would have probably said much worse.

Allen noticed Lenalee's eye twitch, and did not envy Kanda at the moment. He'd definitely be getting it later. Before anymore could be said though, Reever called out to them, "Allen! Kanda! Head to the Chief's office after breakfast, you guys have a mission!"

"Déjà vu," Allen muttered under his breath, but quickly finished eating, and with a quick goodbye to Lenalee, went off to review his mission with Komui. Kanda followed soon afterwards.

When they entered his office and waded through the pool of untouched paperwork, they found Komui dead asleep. With a sigh, Allen tried shaking him awake, even though he knew it'd be useless, but he wasn't suppose to know the method of waking him up, and Kanda didn't look like was helping anytime soon. Then again, Kanda had seemed as surprised as him when Reever first told them, so he probably didn't know. Oh well, he could just say that one of the scientist mentioned it to him.

Leaning over, Allen whispered the dreaded words, "Komui, Lenalee's getting married."

"NOOOOO! MY DEAR SWEET LENALEEEEEEE!" Komui called out desperately with a torrent of tears, causing Kanda to sweardrop, then glare at him in irritation—which went unnoticed—while growling under his breath, "Fucking sister-complex…"

Tugging at his lab coat, Allen hesitantly called out, "Um, Komui? The mission?"

Finally taking note of them, Komui immediately went into business mode and sat down, fixing his glasses, the tears mysteriously gone. Clearing his throat, Komui began, "Right, sorry about that. Anyway, both of you are going to a large city in south Italy. There's been a large Akuma sighting there. For now, we're considering it to be a simple Akuma extermination job, but if there seems to be anything off, I want you two to find out if what's attracting the Akuma is Innocence. Understood?"

Both of them nodded, receiving pamphlets on all the information that had been gathered by the Finders, and after grabbing their belongings, they were on their way. Before they could reach the elevator that would take them down to the canals, they were intercepted by Reever. "You guys, I'm so sorry—"

Suddenly noticing their belongings, Reever blinked in confusion and said, "So the Chief was awake? I could have sworn…"

"Idiot was dead asleep alright," Kanda scoffed.

"But he woke up by himself, right?" Reever asked, suddenly giving them a suspicious look.

"No, I woke him up!" Allen piped up, and then widened his eyes when he realized his mistake. He wasn't supposed to know the special method for waking Komui up!

Suddenly Reever yanked him up, giving him a desperate look that frightened Allen. "What?! How?! We've been trying to figure it out for years, but we still don't know!"

Allen sagged in relief, realizing that nobody even knew the special method, and was about to explain, when he noticed Kanda's quickly retreating form. Swiftly wiggling out of Reever's grip, he ran after him before he could make it to the elevator without him, while calling back, "Sorry, I gotta go Reever, but I'll tell you when I get back!"

He felt guilty when he ignored his desperate shouts, but he didn't want to explain to Komui that he hadn't gone on the mission, just because he'd been too slow to keep up. That would be so embarrassing. Even when he caught up to Kanda, he still had to slightly jog to keep up with Kanda's long strides. Unfortunately, Kanda had already gone through puberty, so the two year difference wasn't much of a change on him except for probably an inch or two. Unlike Allen, who had practically been reverted back from his mid-teens to a child, even if he was already thirteen. In those two years, Allen had gone through a couple growth spurts, so he probably looked like a little kid compared to him at the moment. As much as it annoyed Allen, he couldn't do much about it, though complaining to Kanda to slow down was definitely out of the question.

They made it down to the canals and even to the train—at least this time Allen expected the train jumping—in silence. Even the Finder didn't pay him much mind, though Allen tried not to let it get to him. The only benefit to being treated like a kid was being underestimated, though it irritated him to no end. Even when he'd joined the Order at fifteen he'd still been thought of as child, so it made sense to be treated even more so at this age.

Sitting in their private compartment, Allen swung his legs back and forth and shifted his position every few seconds. Another downside was having extra energy that he didn't even know how to burn off without having to do labor jobs for his Master anymore. He'd tried training more than usual while at the Order, but that had gotten old eventually.

"Will you stop fidgeting you fucking beansprout?" Kanda finally growled out. Well it didn't take him long to snap. Not that it usually does… Allen thought somewhat amused. Unfortunately, Allen was too agitated to argue with Kanda like he normally would.

"Sorry," Allen finally mumbled, which was extremely unlike him, since he never apologized to Kanda. But Allen was starting to get fed up with dealing with all these weird and uncomfortable changes. Really, had his voice always been this high? And why did everything have to look so big? And why was he so freakin' emotional!? Allen knew he was sulking, which was also not like him—unless it involved remembering his time with Master—but he just really wanted his old body back.

Kanda must've thought he hurt his feelings or something, because he just turned away with a small and slightly uncomfortable, "Che."

Now this picked Allen's interest. Kanda never worried for other people's feelings—Lenalee being one of the few exceptions—in fact he outright hurt them, so the fact the he hadn't taken the opportunity to make him feel worse, made him curious. Allen stared at him for a moment, but knew he wouldn't gain anything from that. Looking around, he noticed his reflection on the window, and finally realized how child-like he looked… No way! That couldn't… Could it?

Allen had to keep himself from laughing when he finally realized why Kanda mostly ignored him instead of giving him crap on how he was going to die by the end of the month. He looked like a kid! Kanda probably thought he'd start crying or clinging to him at any moment now. And maybe even start saying some nonsense about wanting to go home. Kanda didn't know how to deal with children, and probably didn't want to learn anytime soon. Just the thought of Kanda trying to attempt to babysit had Allen forcing down another round of laughter. Oh the hilarity of it all! He could probably use this to his advantage!

"What's with the stupid ass grin?" Kanda sneered, then seemed to think better about it and looked away. This was way too priceless.

"Just thought of something funny," Allen snickered, trying to get some of the laughter out of his system. Kanda scoffed but said no more. Well this wouldn't do. If they didn't talk, then there wasn't a chance of Kanda saying something stupid, which meant he couldn't act on his "child-like tendencies". And Allen planned on having Kanda wrapped around his little finger by the time this mission ended, since it'd probably be his only chance. Too bad, he'd be the only one to the see the irony of it.

"So, what's your Innocence?" Allen decided to go for a simple question, making sure to work well with his childish voice. Kanda just nodded towards his sword and said no more. No matter, he'd break him down eventually.

"Really? Cool! I have a sword too!" Allen exclaimed with childish wonder.

Kanda raised his eyebrows in question and pointedly looked around the otherwise empty compartment.

"I'm a parasitic type, silly!" Allen laughed, and loved the way Kanda's eye twitched in annoynce at being called silly. He continued, "My weapon is my arm, so I pretty much just pull the sword out of my socket!"

Kanda seemed a bit disturbed at the way he described it, but just nodded and said no more. This only made Allen more determined.

"So what special things can your sword do?" Allen eagerly asked.

"Create illusions," was Kanda's short reply, though he seeped a good amount of annoyance into it, as if trying to let Allen know that his prying was not welcomed. Of course, Allen already knew this, so it didn't affect him a single bit.

"That's awesome! Mine can't actually do anything but exorcise Akuma," Allen added some sadness and a small quiver to his voice while looking at his lap, as if he might start crying at any given moment if Kanda didn't say the right words. Peeking up from under his lashes, Allen was satisfied to see a horrified look on his face, as he scrambled to find a safe response.

Clearing his throat, Kanda muttered just loud for him to hear, "I'm sure it's fine."

"You really think so, Kanda?" Allen gave him a hopeful look. Allen wished so bad that Lavi from his time were here to see how uncomfortable Kanda looked. Kanda gave him a small nod, and then continued to ignore him.

"But I don't really know how to use it. Do you think you could teach me?" Allen gave him a wide-eyed gaze.

Kanda look conflicted and Allen could guess easily why. Kanda did not want to waste his time with him, but he was afraid of the consequences if he outright said no. He finally found a roundabout way when he finally replied, "I'm busy."

Allen couldn't argue with that one. Kanda rarely spent time at the Order, taking on missions so constantly, he sometimes didn't come back for weeks. Allen thought about taking out his crying card, but that seemed like a waste, especially considering he didn't even want lessons from BaKanda, he'd just been trying to make him uncomfortable, so he let out a small, "Oh."

Allen wondered what to say next and decided a little more prying couldn't hurt, so after an awkward silence, Allen finally asked, "How old are you?"

"Sixteen," was Kanda's short reply.

"Wow! You're almost a grownup!" Allen exclaimed, pretending to be in awe. He was originally going to tell him of his own age, but letting him assume seemed like a better approach, since he looked younger than his real age. Plus Kanda would never ask. Allen began to pry more, asking random questions that seemed to annoy Kanda to no end, which he'd either answer shortly or just shrug off. When he wouldn't answer, Allen would just happily give the answer about himself and move onto the next question undeterred. Allen wondered how long it would take to get him to snap this time.

"Would you just shut the hell up already, you dumbass beansprout!?" Kanda finally snarled. The fact that Kanda had begun to call him the dreaded nickname annoyed him to no end, but he didn't show this. He had an act to keep up.

Widening his now tear-filled silver eyes, Allen shrunk back and purposely stammered in a low whisper, "M-my name's Allen."

Kanda's eyes widened in fear, seeing the waterworks coming, but fortunately for him, their Finder suddenly opened the door. "Master Exorcists, we have arrived."

Kanda saw the opportunity for what it was, and grabbing his suitcase, quickly began to make his exit. Snatching his backpack, Allen ran after him and yelled out, "Wait up Kanda!"

Unfortunately, Kanda didn't slow his pace down, so Allen jogged the whole way until they finally exited the train station. They made their way to the inn they were going to stay at, and after dropping their stuff off, began their patrol around the large city. Unfortunately, Kanda kept going at his speedy pace and if he didn't slow down, Allen would soon be lost in the large and rough crowds. Allen knew it was a big risk, and he might even get his hand cut off, but he had to before he lost sight of him. Running a little faster, he was finally beside Kanda, and with a deep breath, took a hold of his sleeve.

This brought Kanda to an abrupt stop, and Allen just barely managed to keep from slamming into him. Glaring down at him, Kanda snarled, "What the fuck do you think you're doing beansprout?"

"I…" Allen trailed off, and then mentally shook his head furiously. This was Kanda! He wasn't scared of him! Giving him a determined stare, Allen explained, "The crowds are too rough, and if you keep this pace up I'm going to get lost."

"Che," Kanda sneered, but let him hold on without protest. Allen almost sighed in relief. Thankfully, Kanda finally realized that practically running through the city wouldn't get the Akuma to notice him, so he slowed down somewhat, making sure to stay in the middle of the large crowds, where the Rose Cross on his coat could easily be recognized. Allen didn't let go though. He knew if Kanda saw something suspicious, he'd brake off into a run and leave him in the dust. Allen had never wished more for longer legs.

Finally taking a breather, Allen began to take a better look at the crowds, searching for any Akuma with his left eye. So far, they seemed to be in the clear. Rounding the corner, Allen's eye went unnoticed as it silently activated, detecting seven Level 1s and one Level 2 up ahead. Unfortunately, Allen was short, so he could barely see above the crowd and couldn't tell which specific people were being detected. It would be better if he told Kanda sooner rather than later, but Kanda only ignored him when he tugged at his sleeve and even after he called his name out a couple of times.

"What the hell is it, beansprout?" Kanda finally growled, not even bothering to look at him. Allen didn't even bother with the nickname, knowing this wasn't the time for that.

"There are eight Akuma up ahead. Seven Level 1s and one Level 2," Allen informed him.

"How the hell—" Kanda was about to demand, but stopped short when he noticed his activated, left eye, swirling in circles of red and black.

"My eye is cursed to see the tortured souls of the Akuma," Allen simply shrugged, going with the straightforward answer. Kanda seemed a bit disturbed, but swiftly shook it off.

"Who are they?" He immediately asked, taking it in a stride.

Giving him a sheepish smile, Allen admitted, "I can't actually see them because I'm not tall enough, but they're down the street." Allen then began to tug Kanda down the left side of the road. "Come on. My eye will lead us to them." Grudgingly, Kanda allowed Allen pull him along.

Finally being able to escape the crowd, Allen pointed a couple of people out to Kanda. Before they attacked or attracted their attention though, they first had the Finder with them evacuate the crowds so that the civilians wouldn't get in the way. When they saw that he had it under control, Kanda and Allen stepped up to them. Noticing their coats, they immediately burst from their human skin.

"You take care of the Level 1s. I'll deal with the Level 2," Kanda ordered, and Allen knew better than to argue at a time like this. With all the explosions and Akuma, they soon lost sight of each other, and Allen immediately activated Crown Clown in its claw form and began to tear down all the Akuma. He thought about destroying them all at once with Cross Grave, but maybe being underestimated wouldn't be such a bad thing—especially considering it might destroy the Level 2 as well—so he did it the old fashion way, plus the exercise Crown Clown was getting felt amazing.

In a couple of minutes, Allen had already destroyed six of the seven, and from the corner of his eye, he could tell that Kanda had just defeated the Level 2. Just as he went for the last kill, he noticed that one of the bullets that he'd deflected was headed Kanda's way and with a quick shout managed to make in time to get hit in his right arm himself. He blearily noticed Kanda making quick work of the last one. Allen shut his eyes in pain. It wasn't the Akuma Virus he was worried about, since he could easily purify it. Just because it was the virus that killed you instantly, didn't mean that getting hit with a bullet didn't freakin' hurt. At least it hadn't hit anything vital.

Opening his eyes, he saw an angry Kanda storming his way. "What the fuck was that, you stupid ass beansprout?!" Kanda snarled. Feeling weakened by the virus, Allen collapsed to his knees, causing Kanda to widen his eyes as the Akuma Virus took hold and finally turned his skin a complete, ashen gray. Closing his eyes in concentration, Allen willed his Innocence to cleanse himself of the poison, and sighed in relief as it was sucked out, leaving his skin a paler white than usual. Looks like the blood loss was finally starting to take effect.

Allen noticed Kanda giving him an unidentifiable look, which he thought might've been concerned, which seemed silly, because Kanda was never concerned for him. Feeling dizzy, Allen attributed his silly delusions to the blood loss. He heard the sound of tearing fabric, and then felt a tight pressure around his arm. Trying to keep conscious, because he just knew Kanda would kill him if he were forced to carry him, Allen was quickly dragged along back to the inn. Thankfully the motherly innkeeper immediately took care of him and he soon found himself in bed, the world around him turning into a meaningless dark.

Time Frame — Morning of February 6th, 1895

Allen blearily woke up to the bright rays of the morning sun. Blinking the sleepiness out of his eye, he looked around and assessed that he was alone in the room. Kanda must've gone back to patrolling. Getting up with a wince, Allen quickly got dressed, and after being fed by the worried innkeeper, left to patrol his own side of town, knowing Kanda would be more pissed at him if he lazed around. By the time nightfall came around, Allen had barely patrolled half the sprawling city. Thankfully, he only ran into a couple Level 1s and no civilians were killed or hurt. Feeling the uncomfortable emptiness of his stomach, Allen decided to return to the inn for a quick meal.

After nonstop walking for about ten minutes—he didn't actually try looking for the inn, knowing that his aimless wondering would eventually get him there—Allen finally made it to the inn. Entering, he realized with a worried frown that Kanda was arguing with the innkeeper. Moving forward and tugging at Kanda's coat to get his attention, Allen asked, "Kanda, what's wrong?"

Glancing down at him in surprise, Kanda demanded, "Beansprout! Where in the fucking hell have you been?"

"Um, doing my job," Allen answered wearily. He hadn't actually accounted for Kanda being pissed at him because he hadn't notified him of what he was doing. Then again, Timcanpy had been taking nap inside his coat, so Allen hadn't given it much thought.

"How about I get you lads something to eat?" The innkeeper nervously interrupted them. Allen nodded happily, much to her relief. Kanda just scoffed, but sat down at one of the tables nonetheless.

Sitting and swinging his legs back and forth, Allen wondered what had Kanda in such a tizzy. It's not like he cared or anything… Right?

A bit surprised, Allen realized that Kanda had definitely been asking about where he'd been—whether he was actually worried or not was another matter entirely, but you never really knew with Kanda. Either way, Allen knew he should have laughed. Should've enjoyed the fact that he was being successful in his little plan of having Kanda wrapped around his little finger. Why shouldn't he? Kanda had given him enough crap in the past before, so why shouldn't he get a little revenge? Even if this wasn't the same Kanda, it was still him. Antisocial, rude, and plain cruel. But for some stupid reason, the uncomfortable feeling of guilt was swelling up in his chest like a heavy rock, and Allen couldn't seemed to get rid of it, no matter how many different reasons he came up with for justifying his actions. In other words, Allen felt miserable.

"I'm sorry Kanda!" Allen finally blurted out, not being able to take the tense silence any longer. Kanda just grunted something inaudible in response, not even bothering to glance in his direction. This only caused Allen to feel even more dejected, not even perking up when the innkeeper placed a pile of food in front of him. Instead of happily digging into his food like usual, Allen ate his food slowly, trying not to annoy Kanda anymore than he already had. Guilt was such a nasty thing.

Suddenly, Allen felt a hand patting his head, and glancing up, Allen realized that it was Kanda, who was looking awkwardly away. It was such a funny sight, that it caused Allen to grin. Noticing, Kanda quickly withdrew his hand away with a glare, and continued to ignore him. Happy that Kanda wasn't mad anymore, Allen enthusiastically dug into his food, though a small part of Allen still churned with guilt at the way he had used Kanda in the first place. As much as he hated it, Allen knew he couldn't tell Kanda the real reason he'd apologized. The only thing he could do was stop the stupid charade.

After another day of scouting for Akuma, Allen came to the conclusion that there must be something—probably Innocence—in the city's center tower. Or at least somewhere around there. For some reason, any Akuma they fought always seemed to be gathered around the center of the city, as if attracted by something there. Allen shared his suspicions with Kanda, and after getting permission to enter the tower, they found an Innocence fragment stuck in the center. Getting rid of any lasting Akuma, they finally completed their mission and were able to leave for Headquarters that night.

Back on a train, sitting in a private compartment, Allen was—for once—not kicking his legs back and forth, or fidgeting in any sort of way. For some odd reason, he was utterly exhausted. It was weird, Kanda seemed perfectly fine and Allen usually was as well. Was this another side affect from having such a young body? His head kept bobbing up and down, his blinking seemed to be prolonged, and as much as Allen tried, his body kept swaying from side to side.

"Just sleep you stubborn ass beansprout," Kanda grunted, giving him an annoyed glance.

Allen finally gave up, and curling up on his side, he gave in to sleep at last.

Blinking his heavy eyes open, Allen realized with a slight shock that somebody was giving a piggy back ride through the Order's dark halls. Whoever was carrying him was probably taking him back to his room. Allen was about to assume that it was probably one of the Finders, but with wide eyes, noticed the sturdy, black and silver coat that did not belong to a Finder, and felt long strands of hair tickling his neck. Allen almost fainted, realizing that Kanda of all people was carrying him. This was so wrong and weird, Allen didn't know what to think. He decided that speaking up would only make the situation more awkward, and pretended to be asleep. If Kanda noticed anything, he certainly didn't say anything.

When they finally made to Allen's room—though he had no idea how Kanda had found out where it was—he unceremoniously dumped him on his bed and quickly left. Allen just shook his head, deciding to pretend that had never happened, and went back to sleep.

Time Frame — Morning of February 8th, 1895

Satisfied with the completion of his 'first' mission, Allen was happily making his way to the cafeteria, eager to have some of Jerry's food, when unexpectedly, he was grabbed, blinded, and tied down. After what seemed like forever, with Allen uselessly struggling, the blindfold was removed and he came face-to-face with the Science Division.

"Um… Can I help you?" Allen nervously asked.

That hadn't been the right thing to say. Suddenly, everything erupted into chaos when everyone began to argue amongst each other so loudly, Allen couldn't make anything out. He'd never been so frighten.

"EVERYBODY!" Reever yelled out, successfully gaining all their attention. "Alright, everyone who doesn't believe me, raise your hand." After half the room raised their hands grudgingly, Reever pointed to one of them and commanded, "You then! Explain what's not to believe."

"He can't just waltz in here and suddenly know! We've been trying to figure this out for years!" Though the scientist replying tried sounding reasonable, it came out more as a whine.

"So just because someone was smart enough to figure it out faster than you, they're automatically wrong?" Reever questioned him, giving a pointed look to everyone who'd raised their hand as well. Everyone looked too ashamed to speak up.

"Uh, Reever? What is this about?" Allen asked.

With a sigh, Reever turned to him and reminded him, "Remember that thing you promised me before you left on your mission?"

Furrowing his brows, Allen thought back to Reever's desperate cries and recalling what he hadn't been able to tell him, Allen let out a small, "Ah."

"Unfortunately, I was dumb enough to tell everyone, and half of them didn't believe me," Reever sighed.

"Well if he's asleep now, I'm sure we could easily prove it," Allen smiled, trying to reassure him.

"And exactly how did you figure it out so quickly?" An unnamed scientist gave him a suspicious look.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Allen asked tauntingly, sticking his tongue out at him. Realizing what he'd done a moment later, Allen widened his eyes in surprise and then blushed, mortified. What was wrong with him?! Why was it so hard to control these silly and childish urges?

But the scientists just laughed at his actions, and quickly untying him, they all led him towards Komui's office, and pushed him inside. Peeking through the door, the numerous scientists waited impatiently, wondering if Allen could really do it. Allen just walked casually towards Komui and after saying the dreaded words, had him desperately yelling out, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The scientists' mouths practically dropped to the ground. Allen quickly calmed Komui down, and after Reever shouted at him to get to work, they swiftly exited his office. Closing the door behind him, Allen turned to find all the scientists bowing down at him, some were even on their knees, apologizing profusely.

Frantically waving his hands in front of him, Allen said, "It's fine. If you all stop doing that, I'll tell you the key words!"

That had their attention. Suddenly they were all standing and leaning eagerly towards him, but just as Allen was about to say the special phrase, they all heard yelling down the corridor. Specifically Kanda, which only served to confuse Allen. If Lavi wasn't here, who else would be around to taunt him? The answer came in the form of a wild brown-haired boy, with odd purple streaks that extended from his eyes down to his cheeks, and wore a ragged Exorcist-type cloak with a large hood and bell attached to it.

"Give Mugen the hell back you fucking jackass!" Kanda snarled, almost catching up to the older boy.

"Aww, but I was having such fun pretending to be a samurai!" The older boy taunted with a laugh. Allen would've snickered along with him, but remembering what Kanda had done last night for him, he thought he owed him. So as the older boy ran past him, Allen 'accidentally' stuck his foot out, causing him to tumble and crash on the floor with a painful thud.

Gasping, Allen crouched down next to him. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"

The only response he got was a pained groan. Kanda, having caught up to them, snatched Mugen out of the other boy's grasp with a heated glare. "Oh, hi Kanda! Fancy meeting you here," Allen greeted, giving him an innocent smile, though Kanda might've seen through this one, because he gave him a silent thanks by patting him on the head and swiftly walked away, but not before giving the brown-haired boy a swift kick to the head, causing the older boy to whimper.

Feeling slightly guilty now, though not that much since the older boy had brought it upon himself, Allen attempted to shake him from his dazed state. After a couple of minutes, he was finally able to get up, though not without stumbling slightly. "You alright?" Allen asked.

"Huh?" He looked down at Allen as if finally noticing him for the first time and then leaned down to look at him in the eye, asking with a frown, "Aren't you a little runty to be an Exorcist?"

At this, he received a harsh kick to the shins. Allen almost smacked himself, realizing that he still didn't have a very good control on his maturity.

"Actually," one of the scientists piped up in a matter-of-fact voice, "Allen Walker was reported to have a 127 percent synchro rate with his Innocence."

"No way," he said surprised while rubbing his aching shins, and gave him an appraising look, causing Allen to fidget. He'd never met this Exorcist, so he wasn't sure what to expect, though if the scene he'd just watch was anything to go by…

"I'm Daisya Barry," Daisya finally introduced himself and then asked, "Say Allen, you wouldn't happen to know how to play soccer?"

"What's soccer?" Allen asked curiously.

"Seriously?! It's the best sport in the world! Come on, I gotta teach you!" Daisya grabbed his arm and was about to drag him along, but suddenly the Science Division grabbed onto him and pulled him back.

"No way are you taking our hero just yet! He hasn't even told us the secret!" One of the scientists declared, causing Allen to sweatdrop at his newly given title.

"Hero? And what secret?" Daisya asked curiously.

"The boy figured out how to wake up Komui!" Another one exclaimed.

"Really! You actually figured it out, kid? So, come out with it, what's the secret?" Daisya asked excitedly, surprising Allen. Apparently it wasn't only the scientists that had taken on the challenge of trying to wake Komui up.

Before Allen could answer, another one of the scientist butted in. "No, Allen! Don't tell him. He'll just use it to his advantage and exploit it!" Despite this, Daisy didn't look a bit deterred.

"I have a feeling he'd find out either way," Allen commented dryly.

"Got that right, kid!" Daisya confirmed with a mischievous smirk.

"Well it's simple really. You just need to whisper three simple words in his ear," Allen began causing everyone to lean forward in anticipation. "Lenalee's getting married."

Everyone blinked in surprise and then groaned while muttering things like "I should've known" and "I'm so stupid", causing Allen to grin.

"So how'd you figure it out?" Daisya asked as he began to lead him away from the dispersing scientists.

"It's a secret~!" Allen purposefully laughed childishly. Allen was getting sick of the lies, so for once decided to go with the truth. Thankfully, Daisya just shook his head and laughed.

"So, you wanna go play soccer with me?" Daisya asked eagerly.

"Sure!" Allen replied, but then feeling the emptiness in his stomach, he added, "Mind if I go eat something first?"

"Sure, kid. I'll meet you in the cafeteria. I'll just go back to my room and grab my soccer ball," he agreed. Parting ways, Allen quickly followed his nose, and hurriedly ordered a meal. Being a kid again, and never actually getting the chance to play any sort of games, it made sense that Allen was undoubtedly excited. By the time Daisya made it to the cafeteria, Allen had already finished and put his dishes away. Noticing this, Daisya quickly led the way.

"So how do you play soccer? And where can we play it?" Allen eagerly asked.

"Well, there's this clearing in the forest where I spray painted the field lines. It'll be easier to explain once we get there, so I can show you," Daisya explained.

"So, how come you offered to teach me?" Allen asked curiously. He would've thought that the older teenager would've just looked down on him and treated him like a nuisance.

Shrugging, Daisya simply answered, "I haven't played soccer with anyone for years. Most of the Exorcists are grownups and are way too uptight, Kanda is Kanda, and anytime I get so much as near Lenalee, Komui starts going ape-shit crazy on me."

Allen nodded in understanding. Soon after that, they exited the tower and after trekking through the forest for a couple of minutes, they made it into a clearing. Looking around, Allen noticed weird, white markings littering the grass as well as a couple of trees. Leading Allen towards the center of the rectangle, Daisya explained the basics of the game. "Okay, so we don't actually have nets for the goals, or goals for that matter, so we'll just make do with what we have. Alright, you see those two trees behind me that are marked in white?" At Allen's nod, he continued, "You're job is to kick the ball in between them; no hands of course. You can use any body part but your arms and hands. Now, at the same time, you also have to protect your own goal." At this he indicated the marked trees behind Allen.

"Normally the game is played in teams. You know, the goalie, offense and defense," Daisya explained.

Catching on, Allen finished for him, "So we have to play all three at once?"

"Well yeah, but technically, we can't officially play goalie, them being the only players that can actually touched the ball with their hands, so you'll have to make do with just playing defense and offense," Daisya explained.

Allen nodded; it seemed simple enough. "Wait, what are all the markings for?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry about those. If we did have full teams, there would be certain positions that certain players wouldn't be able to leave. For example, the defensive players would have to stay strictly on the side they're defending," he replied.

"Oh okay," Allen nodded, and then exclaimed, "Come on, let's start!"

So they did. For the rest of the rest of the day, they played and played, eventually losing count of all the times Allen had lost, which made Allen all the more determined to make a goal against the expert soccer player that Daisya was. By the time Allen did make his first goal—which he only managed because he got frustrated enough to kick Daisya in the shins again—it was already nightfall, and Allen was so exhausted that he collapsed on the grass. He'd long ago gotten rid of his Exorcist coat and had shoved his long sleeves above his elbows.

"That was totally cheating you twerp!" Daisya whined, rubbing his aching shins. Those boots had been sturdier than they looked.

"It's… Allen," Allen gasped, though he wasn't all that angry. That had been the most fun he'd had since never. "That was fun!" He told Daisya after he regained his breath.

"I'm glad you enjoyed getting your ass kicked," Daisya smirked, sitting down next to him while bouncing the old soccer ball up and down. Allen just stuck his tongue out in response.

After resting for a bit, they got up and begin heading in for dinner. By the time they made it to the cafeteria, it was already full. Just as they entered, they noticed Lenalee heading their way.

"Allen, where have you been?" Lenalee asked.

"I was playing soccer with Daisya," Allen was all too happy to reply.

With a wrinkle of her nose, she responded, "That would explain the stink and your state of clothes. You're not actually thinking of having dinner like that?!"

"Um, yeah I'm starving," Allen said.

"No way mister! You are going to the baths and taking a shower first!" Lenalee ordered, using that no-nonsense voice that he knew he wouldn't be able to argue with. Grumbling something inaudible, Allen turned and passing a snickering Daisya, heard him mutter the word, "Whipped!"

Before Allen could kick him in the shins again, Lenalee demanded, "You too Daisya! You are not coming into the dining hall smelling and looking like that! Now go with Allen!"

All too willing, Daisya was soon following Allen.

"What was that about being whipped?" Allen asked with a smirk.

"OW!"

"Serves you right, you brat!"

"It's Allen!"

A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter. Like I mentioned before, I want Allen to recreate his friendships—whether they be new or old. I guess this might not be very interesting for some of you, since some might want immediate action. I don't know, why don't you tell me what you think? Also, I've never played soccer before, so sorry for any mistakes!

And feel free to give me any ideas you'd like. Whether I'll include them or not is another matter entirely, but I wouldn't mind listening to your thoughts(: I don't think there'll be any pairings in this story, since I'd probably be no good at romance either way. I'm not really sure though, I've never really tried my hand at writing a romance story, or will anytime soon(x

Haha, anyway, I'd appreciate if you'd review please.

P.S. If anyone would be willing to give me some constructive criticism, it'd be greatly appreciated!(: