A/N #1: Over 50 followers?! Wow! Thanks you guys!

A/N #2: This is sort of a spoiler for this chapter, but I feel like I need to clarify some formatting: words in bold italics are the characters talking telepathically.

A/N #3: Also a bit of a spoiler. The first half of the flashback is a little odd, in my opinion. I was trying to explain how this universe differs from the manga, but it basically ended up being a summary of chapters 207-217; there weren't as many differences as I expected there to be (the only important one is that Link isn't stalking them). But Kanda's narrating, so it should still be fun to read.

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A dark haired young man stepped confidently out of the ark gate and into the entry hall of the Black Order's headquarters. The men stationed there gave him a wide berth. He was allowed to come and go as he pleased, but that didn't mean they accepted his presence.

He made his way to the doors, but never reached them. A white blur came out of nowhere and tackled him. The young man struggled to keep his balance as what he now realized was a person wrapped him in a tight hug. "NEAH!"

"Allen?" Neah blinked in confusion. Allen had never shown any signs of affection for him before. He didn't mind, the teen liked him incredibly well considering all that time Neah had possessed him. Becoming friends with his former host hadn't been part of his plan, but it made things so much easier. And the kid was basically his nephew, they were family. But even with all that, Allen still kept his distance. A hug was out of the ordinary. This over-excited flying leap thing blew Neah's mind.

Neah stared critically at the white haired teen as he moved to stand on his own two feet. The hug was never broken, and Allen buried his face in the young man's chest. The cat ears on the teen's head were not missed, but like everyone else who didn't know, he assumed that they were a weird fashion choice. "It's good to see you, Neah."

"Allen? Allen! He's in here guys!" Lenalee's voice echoed into the room, then Allen's friends all traipsed inside, but Allen didn't react. His hold on Neah stayed firm.

The appearance of the Fourteenth Noah was unexpected, but the man was considered an ally of the Order, so the exorcists didn't object to his presence. His only greeting was a nod of acknowledgement from Kanda.

Lavi and Lenalee were inwardly grinning at how adorable Allen was being. Neah and Kanda shared the same confused expression as they watched the neko. "Oi! Moyashi! What do you think you're doing?"

Allen immediately returned to his senses. He backed away from Neah slowly. The expression on his face said that he was ready to bolt. "Ah, sorry. What are you doing here, Neah?"

The dark haired man narrowed his eyes at the neko. "Looking for you. I came to see what was wrong."

"What makes you think something's wrong?" The innocence Allen feigned didn't fool anyone.

"You've been ignoring my messages for two weeks. Usually when you don't want to talk you tell me to fuck off. This silent treatment thing isn't your style." Neah raised an eyebrow at him. "And then I get here and you greet me with a flying hug. Something is definitely wrong."

Lavi laughed, but the sound was garbled by the bandages on his broken nose. "I don't think 'wrong' is the right word; 'adorably different' is probably better."

Allen growled at the redhead. "Do you want me to hit you again?"

Lavi gulped and covered his face. Neah didn't know what to make of what he just saw. He did, however, catch the exchange between Allen and Kanda that followed it. He was watching for it after all. The way Allen's eyes sparkled for the brief second when they met Kanda's was all the Noah needed for him to know that the pair had finally gotten together.

So if the samurai wasn't Allen's problem, what else could possibly be wrong?

As far as Neah could see, the only difference in the teen was the white cat ears on his head. They must be connected to whatever was bothering the kid.

The bickering between the male exorcists was cut off when Allen felt a tug on his ear. He gave a very unmanly shriek and swatted at the hand yanking his ear. OW!

Neah recoiled, clutching his arm as a few drops of blood began to well out of the scratches the neko left. The burning sting he felt could have been caused by only one thing: the teen's Innocence. He looked from his arm to Allen. What the hell was that for?

Allen's pain and anger faded to concern. He reached for Neah's arm. "Oh god, I'm so sor-"

He froze halfway when he caught sight of the short black claws extending from the tips of his fingers. He had thought they were part of the activation of his Innocence, seeing them now sent him into a panic.

Neah saw the claws too. The bloody scratches were forgotten. He carefully took Allen's right hand, which was still reaching out, and moved it so he could get a better look at the sharp claws. "What's going on?"

Allen bit his lip. He shook his head as tears began to prick at the corners of his eyes. Neah snorted at the embarrassed reaction. "Just tell me. Don't make me read your memories."

Kanda scoffed and rolled his eyes at how Allen was acting; unlike the others, he was internalizing his surprise and concern. "The brat's half cat. Those ears on his head are real. And so is the tail sticking out of his ass."

"Oh really?" Neah narrowed his eyes at Allen and used the hand he was holding as leverage to turn the neko around. The tail in question curled as Allen yelled in protest at being manhandled.

The Noah gaped at the furry appendage for a moment before turning Allen back around. He returned his focus to the claws. There were lots of questions running through his head, but only one was important. "How are you using your Innocence without activating it?"

Allen blinked at Neah. The Noah's words confirmed his earlier suspicion that the claws were composed of his Innocence. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and retracted the claws. "I don't know. This is the first time it's happened."

Lavi spoke from behind Lenalee, the appearance of the claws had scared him into hiding. "Well, your Innocence is what made you a neko, if you think about it, it makes sense that you'd be able to channel its power like that."

Neah snapped his attention back to Allen. He pulled the teen closer and all but growled at him. "Your Innocence did this to you?!"

There was enough of a mental link left between the pair for the neko to pick up the Noah's thoughts; Neah was currently cursing out the Innocence. Allen rolled his eyes as he pulled himself away. There's no need for that kind of language, Neah. "Technically, my Innocence saved me. A witch tried to turn me into a cat. If it hadn't intervened things might have turned out worse."

The anger that Neah felt switched targets. A witch?! Explain! Now!

Fine. Allen sighed. The neko didn't really want to tell the story again, but it was Neah... The Noah really would read his mind if he tried to hold things back. So Allen started at the beginning, replaying his memories of the incident for Neah.

Kanda figured out quickly that the two were speaking telepathically. They did it all the time when they were together. He found it incredibly annoying, but at the same time, Allen was incredibly hot when he was concentrating like that.

The other two exorcists weren't quite so quick, being unfamiliar with the bond Allen and Neah shared. It had been four and half months, but they still didn't know what all had transpired between Allen and the Fourteenth. They tried to start a conversation when things fell silent, but it fell apart when Allen didn't respond to them. Kanda snickered. "It's no use. He's gone. It could be hours before they're done talking."

Lenalee blinked at the samurai. "What are you talking about, Kanda?"

"Of course the Moyashi didn't tell you. That would be too easy." He cursed under his breath. "It's a long story, but as I understand it: the brat isn't the Fourteenth's host anymore, but they're still connected. They can talk with their thoughts."

Lavi's eye sparked with the millions of questions he had. He was practically jumping up and down. Kanda scoffed. "Che. Don't ask. I don't know. And don't ask him. He won't tell you."

Lenalee cocked her head to the side and gave Kanda the look she'd perfected when they were children. He was powerless against it. "What exactly happened during those three weeks you were with Allen? It's been four and a half months and we still haven't been told anything. All we know is that at the end of it you'd been promoted and Allen was free."

.x.x.

~May~

It had been a crazy month so far, and it was barely a week over. I'd returned to the Order, something I probably would have been better off not doing, but I needed to retrieve Mugen and have a talk with that annoying bean sprout. It was Alma's idea, not mine; I had no intention of ever confessing to that brat, but she somehow gave me no choice.

But life hadn't made things easy: Allen was gone, two of the Noah had broken him out of prison and he'd run away; and Mugen wanted to test my loyalty. At least I'd been prepared for that second one, and so I had willingly let my Innocence crystallize.

Tracking Allen down had been the biggest pain of all. It started out well, beating up two members of Crow in order to rescue Johnny had been quite fun. Following the scientist through the red light districts of various towns had not. Or rather, now that my body had stopped healing hangovers, that was not as enjoyable as it should have been.

But it worked. We found the Moyashi. Dressed like a clown and entertaining people for money. Our attempt to capture him was interrupted by an akuma attack and he got away. But at least Johnny wasn't totally useless and had managed to place a tracker on him.

We finally dragged Allen's sorry ass to an inn, unconscious and fighting with the Noah inside him. I couldn't help being worried about the brat. I was resolved to kill him if he lost the fight, but I wanted more than anything for him to win, I couldn't lose him.

Eventually I had to leave the room. The Moyashi's unconscious form was causing my body to react in ways that were very inappropriate for the situation. If I went for a short walk in the cool night air it would calm me down. Nothing bad was going to happen in the ten minutes I'd be gone.

But of course that was exactly what happened. The Noah woke up while I was out. I had my sword at his throat the second I walked in the room, but then the bastard disappeared and Allen was back. Which led to chaos over Johnny having gotten hurt, which led to us having to physically restrain the Moyashi when he tried to run away.

Why did I have to fall in love with such a troublesome brat? If it were anyone else I could have just dumped them back at the Order and been done with the hassle.

But there I was, sitting with him and Johnny on the side of the road. Johnny was trying to repair people's junk to earn money. And Allen was trying to break free of his handcuffs. It was annoying, but at least he couldn't run away anymore.

And that's when things got worse. I didn't think it was possible, but apparently it was.

Because that's when that sentient Innocence showed up. Even with my second illusion invoked I was useless against the guy. He pinned me down and wiped my memories.

Teidoll showed up while I was dazed and confused, which made everything more annoying. But then my seal healed my fractured memories. There was a moment of marveling over Timcanpy's death. It was a begrudging bit of gratitude that made me care; if the golden thing hadn't turned on my golem and attracted the Order things would have turned out much worse.

That's when the finders announced that they were on Allen's trail. And apparently Teidoll thought that that was the perfect time to launch into a trip down memory lane. That old man had seriously awful timing.

He said he wanted to help though, and that he'd let me go on one condition: that I prove my loyalty to the Order by taking a position as general. When had that frizzy haired moron figured out that I had broken critical? I'd been keeping it a secret specifically so that I wouldn't have to become a general. But like with the crystallization of my Innocence, I was resolved to accept whatever hardships came my way.

The second that was done, I took off towards the Moyashi. Teidoll followed, laughing at me the entire time.

I fortunately found Allen before the Order did anything stupid, like try to restrain him. He was a mess, completely oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded. He ran right up to me with tears in his eyes. "Kanda? Have you seen Tim anywhere? I can't find him."

"He's dead." Teidoll would later call me cruel for saying it like that, but the direct approach was the only way I knew how to give news like that.

Allen collapsed into my chest and sobbed. And I ... let him. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't, especially not in front of Teidoll and the finders. But I couldn't push him away either. So I just let him lean against me and cry. "We were attacked by a ... sentient Innocence. He incapacitated me, and killed Timcanpy while I was out."

Allen's tears turned to anger. But to my surprise, it wasn't at me. "Damn Apocryphos."

I grabbed the Moyashi by the collar when he tried to run off. He clearly knew what was going on, and I was not going to let him get away until he explained. "What exactly have you gotten yourself into, Moyashi? Something like that thing shouldn't exist."

"My name is Allen, Bakanda!" The outburst was unexpected, but I managed to keep my grip on the brat. He sighed and collapsed to a sitting position. "I don't really know what's going on. That thing attacked me when the Order had me locked up. It wanted to assimilate me or something. It said that that was the only way to stop the Fourteenth from awakening. When Road and Tyki showed up they called it Apocryphos. They said it was a clue to the location of the Heart."

"What exactly happened when you left the Order, Allen? We were told that the Noah broke you out, but it sounds like that wasn't the case." Teidoll spoke from over my shoulder.

Allen sighed. "When I was attacked by Apocryphos, they showed up to fight with it. I got caught in the middle, because it was still trying to absorb me. It was chaos. Road took a fatal blow meant for me. Link removed Tim's bonds so that we could get away. When we got out to the forest, Tyki told me that if I returned to the Order that Innocence thing would just attack me again. So I left."

"And you've just been running ever since?"

"Of course." Allen rolled his eyes at Teidoll's stupid question. "It was the only way to survive. If I stayed in one place too long either the Noah would find me and awaken the Fourteenth, or Apocryphos would find me and absorb me, or the Order would find me and lock me up again."

There was silence. It was a logic that I couldn't argue with, and it seemed like Teidoll couldn't either. "What's your plan now?"

"I-" Allen suddenly curled in on himself and groaned in pain. I expected his skin to darken like it had the day before. But instead his left arm started feathering. "Damn it."

My attention was completely focused on the Moyashi, so I didn't see that someone was approaching until Teidoll spoke. "Oh, hello, Cardinal. What brings you here?"

I looked up and had Mugen drawn and activated in a heartbeat. To say that I was pissed off was an understatement. "You bastard."

"Yuu! What are you doing?" Teidoll placed a restraining hand on my shoulder, but that didn't stop me from activating my second illusion.

I leveled both of my swords at the 'Cardinal'. "What the fuck are you doing here? Didn't you promise Timcanpy that you'd leave Allen alone today?"

The 'Cardinal' gave me an odd look. "How do you remember that? Didn't I wipe your memory?"

My only response was to snarl at him. Teidoll removed his hand from my shoulder, at least the old man wasn't completely stupid.

"Oh right, you're the Second Exorcist. Are-"

"What the hell did you do to Timcanpy?!" Allen struggled to his feet. He looked more livid than I felt, which was impressive because I was more ticked off than I'd been in a long time.

"It was in the way. It still held loyalties to its original master, so I got rid of it."

Allen started crying once again, but began yelling obscenities through the tears. I couldn't help backing away a little. The last time I saw Allen that angry he had ended up morphing his Innocence.

The 'Cardinal' merely started laughing. He calmly began walking closer. "That bravado would be impressive if you could back it up. But you can't run away, the Order has you surrounded. And you can't fight me with your Innocence. So you can do nothing but stand there and take this."

I wanted to do something, but couldn't. I was well aware that I was powerless against this guy. So I could do nothing but watch.

When the 'Cardinal' was about three feet in front of Allen, the boy suddenly burst out laughing. But it wasn't his usual laugh. It was too dark to even be from his black side. "Innocence may not work on you, but there's something else that does..."

The ominous statement scared me. That voice wasn't Allen's, but I recognized it. This was horrible, horrible timing.

The Moyashi's posture switched from cringing in pain to self-assured and smirking. His skin turned dark, and even though I was behind him I knew that his silver eyes had turned gold.

The Fourteenth had woken up.

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A/N #4: If I stay on target with my outline, there will be ten more chapters of this story. Chapter 15 will be the rest of this flashback. Chapter 16 will be the end of Allen's recovery period. And from Chapter 17 on it will be missions as a neko, stuff with Cross, and other things I won't say because of spoilers.

A/N #5: To ryuakilover and jy24: I did that on purpose, thank you for falling for it. :) But don't worry, it will happen eventually. Just not until the sequel.