A/N: This chapter is a good example for why I shouldn't tell you guys my outline… Like I said in last week's update on my profile: this chapter was just supposed to be time passing so that we could get to Allen's eighteenth birthday and my final bit of plot. That didn't happen. -_-

The OC in this chapter was supposed to be a minor character, she was supposed to have one short little crack scene and then disappear forever. She hijacked her quarter of a chapter and turned it into a major story arc. -_-

I have mixed feelings about it, as I don't particularly care for OCs when reading fanfiction, but I think she turned out pretty good.

Anyway, you guys don't care about that, right? You just want to see more of Neko Allen…

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Allen and Kanda's initial week together flew by. There were a few hiccups, Kanda was not understanding when Allen decided he was uncomfortable with having his ears visible in public. He very much disliked the scarf the younger began tying around his head. But in the end he shut up about it; wearing the thing made Allen feel better and he wasn't going to jeopardize their relationship over something as ridiculous as a scarf.

To Allen the scarf was necessary. He couldn't explain it to Kanda, it always came across as embarrassment. But the truth was that he was scared. Terrified even. The scars from his childhood were still fresh. None of his endless optimism could erase the memories of how poorly people had treated him because of his arm. And he knew deep down that they would treat him that same way for being a neko, if not worse. So he hid his ears and tail; if no one saw them then he wouldn't be mistreated.

That wasn't Allen's only frustration either. Komui had decided that with Timcanpy gone, it was time for Allen to start carrying one of the Order's golems. Not only was the thing a constant reminder of Timcanpy's absence, but it got on Allen's nerves. The way it flitted around his head irritated his cat instincts, distracting him and making him swat at it.

Kanda thought it was hilarious watching Allen freak out at a golem. But he knew his lover was getting frustrated, so he took pity on him. After watching the neko swat at his golem for the tenth time in the last half hour, Kanda sighed. "Moyashi. If it bothers you that much, turn it off for a while. Komui will understand."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. It's just so damn obnoxious- oops." Allen smiled sheepishly at the dead golem on the ground. He'd caught it with his last swipe, impaling it on his claws.

Kanda laughed at the look on Allen's face, like he was a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar (which he thought was a rather appropriate analogy given the neko's obsession with food). But Kanda laughing made the expression fade, and Allen launched himself at his lover. Instead of arguing over what had happened, the couple ended up making out in the middle of the street.

When they returned home that first night, Komui was not nearly as amused over the destruction of the golem as they were. But when the second and third golems met the same fate as the first, the Supervisor finally gave up and let Allen proceed without one.

Aside from that, the week was perfect. It was practically a honeymoon for the young lovers. Even if looking for Cross was a major headache.

The redheaded General knew that they were looking for him, and so he made things especially difficult for them. It was his way of checking on Allen. Making the pair jump through hoops was his way of making sure that his idiot apprentice was mentally ok after everything that had happened. And it was just plain fun to mess with the young lovers.

But they didn't mind, much. After all, they were together. And being able to have sex every night made up for anything traumatic Cross put them through.

Their next week wasn't quite so fun. After the high of their one month anniversary wore off, reality started to set in. And all those little things that bothered them from back when they were pretending to hate each other resurfaced.

It was hard, but they were determined to work through it. Neither wanted to see their relationship crumble so quickly after it began. Kanda especially wanted to stick with it; after all of the crap Marie had given him he was not going to give the other man the satisfaction of seeing it fail. Allen had similar motives, but they were aimed at a different person. He knew that he would never hear the end of it from Cross if this relationship died.

They made it through it though. And the love that blossomed from it was stronger than ever before. Like Kanda had tried and failed to convince Allen of a few weeks earlier, their relationship now truly went deeper than sex.

.x.x.

Time passed and the weather got colder. The pair went on more missions, both together and apart, and life went on. Cross was still nowhere to be found. Then the beginning of December came. And Neah was suddenly requesting Allen's assistance.

Central was less than thrilled with the request. Letting Allen and Neah go off together after everything that happened seemed like asking for trouble. But they couldn't deny the request, not without risking pissing off their Noah ally.

So Lavi was sent with the pair. The Bookman in training was more than happy to go with them. He wanted to see them in action.

Neither Neah nor Allen were thrilled to have him tagging along. The Fourteenth Noah even going so far as to only communicate using his telepathic link with his nephew. He didn't object to having an exorcist escorting them, but he was definitely peeved that that exorcist was one of the Bookmen. Allen was never outright rude to Lavi, but the redhead picked up on the neko's displeasure with his presence.

But even if they weren't speaking out loud it was still interesting to watch them together. Especially Allen. The white haired neko had obviously completely forgiven the Noah for possessing him, and Lavi couldn't help wondering if Allen had ever blamed Neah in the first place. They seemed to be the best of friends.

It wasn't that far from the truth. They saw Mana in each other, and at least for Allen it was cathartic. Being around Neah allowed him to let go of the pain he held, and it accelerated the healing process that had begun when he joined the Order.

Like Kanda, Lavi couldn't figure out what Neah needed Allen for. Aside from a lone gambling incident, everything they did was completely menial. Well, there were a lot of akuma to fight, but the Noah could hold his own with them, and that only proved that he needed an exorcist, not that he needed Allen.

So when the call came through for a real mission, Lavi was all too happy to drag Allen away from his uncle.

.x.x.

Lavi and I had been in this town for two days now. The first day had been spent defeating the akuma that had killed all the finders. Unfortunately they died before they located the Innocence, and so we now had to look for it from scratch. Which was made all the more difficult by us not knowing what the mysterious phenomenon was that it was causing. And the Order wasn't going to send us any more finders because of the large number of akuma still in the area. My only consolation in being dragged away from Neah was that it was warm here.

Our second day of wandering around town talking to people finally yielded something. It was a rather pathetic something, but it was a clue nonetheless.

There was a woman in town who was able to grow fruits and vegetables that weren't normally grown in the area, and she did it without the aid of a greenhouse. The woman, Camilla, had always made her living growing things, but about a month ago things changed. There was a rash of mysterious deaths in the town, and the only thing the victims had in common were foods purchased from Camilla. No one blamed her though, as it was a stupid connection: everyone in town purchased her produce. And apparently she was too nice to do anything like that, as she gave away more produce than she sold.

Lavi was really bummed that our only lead on a mysterious happening was something so menial, and I couldn't help laughing at him. "They can't all be vampire hunts."

He snorted. "I guess that's true. But did you have to remind me of man-eating plants right now? We are on our way to interview a gardener..."

We both shuddered as we stopped in front of the house the townspeople had directed us to. It looked normal enough, just like the rest of the houses on the block, but with the memory of nearly being eaten alive now fresh in my mind I was definitely on edge.

Nevertheless, we had to go knock on the door. We were on a mission after all.

Or rather, I had to knock on the door. Lavi was being a wimp about the plant thing, and made me do it. I tried to argue with him, but it was hard when he pointed out that I was less than a month from being promoted. "You're the critical, Allen. It's your job to do stuff like this."

We felt a lot better when the door was answered by a normal looking young woman who wasn't much older than we were. Her skin was tanned from working outside and her rolled up overalls were stained with dirt. Factor in the straw hat and the way her hair was braided, and this was definitely the woman we were looking for. "Hello. Umm, we're-"

She smiled brightly and started babbling before I could really say anything. "Hi! You're new in town, right? I'm Camilla. Mrs. Anderson sent you, didn't she? I'm not sure what she told you I could give you, but I'm sure we can work something out. Well, don't just stand there, come in!"

At her beckoning we stepped into the house and followed her to the back room. She talked the entire time, and I got the impression that she really loved gardening. And as much as she loved that, she loved feeding people even more.

When she wasn't talking, she was sneezing. Aside from telling her our names, Lavi and I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Not that I cared. The room she led us to was filled with fruits and vegetables...

.x.x.

"Allen... Hey, Allen!" Lavi snapped his fingers in front of the neko's face, but got no response. He turned to smile at Camilla. It was funny, normally he was the one freaking out around the pretty girl. "Sorry about him. He thinks with his stomach."

She laughed, but then abruptly sneezed. "Well how about if we go in to the sitting room and get him away from all this, ok?"

"Sounds good." Lavi echoed her laughter as he grabbed Allen by the shoulders and steered him back into the house.

Allen came back to his senses once they were out of the storeroom. He smiled sheepishly at Camilla, but she waved him off before he could apologize. "Don't worry about it. It was really flattering. Now, you said you had *achoo* some questions for me?"

The neko nodded. "Yeah. We're from the Black Order," he paused while the dark haired woman sneezed again, "and we're here investigating the recent string of mysterious-"

Another sneeze cut him off. He smiled gently at her. "Are you ok?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm *achoo* fine. The neighbor's cat must have gotten in the house, that's all. I *achoo* I'm allergic to cats."

Lavi snickered at the deadpan expression on Allen's face. But the look morphed quickly to a deep scowl as the neko turned to the redhead. "Say one word and I'll break your nose again."

Dark side gone, Allen turned to smile at Camilla. "I think I dropped something important outside earlier. I'm going to go look for it. The two of you can talk without me."

Allen escorted himself outside. Turning his frustration into physical energy, he climbed the tree in Camilla's front yard and perched on a branch. Taking advantage of the cover, he removed the scarf from his head and freed his tail from his jacket. It was hard not to pout. He hadn't thought that someone with cat allergies could be allergic to him. And now he was going to miss out on all those delicious looking vegetables. At least with his ears free he could hear what was happening inside.

Camilla gave Lavi a concerned look. "Is he ok?"

"Probably not, but it's nothing you did, so don't worry about it."

"Then what-?"

Lavi held up his hands to stop her. "If it bothers you that much you can ask him later, but right now we have important things to attend to."

Camilla nodded and returned to her seat. She thought it odd that her sneezing stopped when the boy with the bandana left, but she didn't connect the two. "Right. Allen said you're investigating something. How can I help you?"

"We heard from the villagers that there have been a lot of unexplained deaths in the last month or so." It didn't escape Lavi's notice that Camilla began playing nervously with the end of her braid. Maybe there was some connection between her and whatever was going on. "We also heard that the only thing they had in common was that they had recently purchased your produce..."

"It's so awful!" Camilla was barely holding back her tears. "It makes me sick to my stomach to think that people might have died from eating the food I've grown. You're from some government agency, right? Are you here to arrest me?"

Lavi frowned. It was no longer funny that this woman was allergic to cats, Allen was so much better at this than he was. "No. We're looking for something called Innocence, and we think you might have come into contact with it."

It would have been an understatement to say that Camilla was confused. "Innocence? I've never heard of that before. What's it look like? How would I know if I've had contact with it? And why did you ask about the deaths if you're not interested in them?"

"I should have been more specific: we think you, the Innocence, and the deaths are all connected. Innocence causes mysterious things to happen, and it's possible that it could have caused those deaths." Lavi finally had enough. As soon as he was done explaining, he hissed under his breath. "Bean Sprout, I know you can hear me. I don't care if she starts sneezing again, just get your butt back in here."

Camilla didn't catch Lavi's whisper. "I don't understand. If this Innocence made people die, then does that mean it's poisonous?"

"Yes and no." Allen spoke as he appeared inside the doorway, maybe if he kept his distance he wouldn't trigger Camilla's allergies. "It's hard to explain without sounding crazy, but Innocence is perfectly safe for humans. It is, however, incredibly dangerous to akuma, living weapons powered by souls that kill the humans who call them back and then take their forms. If Innocence is what caused those people's deaths, then it's because they weren't human anymore; they had been turned into akuma."

Camilla blinked at him; what he was saying was beyond weird, but if he was right then she wasn't inadvertently responsible for anyone's death. "So this Innocence just goes around killing people that are already dead?"

Allen shook his head. "Normally, no. An Innocence fragment needs an accommodator in order to unleash its true power. Once it bonds with a human host, that human can then become an exorcist and use the Innocence to destroy akuma. That's what Lavi and I are: exorcists."

When Camilla remained silent, Lavi picked up the narrative. "On its own, Innocence can only cause strange phenomenon: freak weather, living dolls, vampires. We've never heard of a case like this one where the Innocence is fighting on its own. And that's where you come in."

Camilla squeaked. "Me? What do I have to do with this?"

"Your produce is the only link between the victims. That makes us think that the Innocence is somewhere in your garden. Its power is infecting your produce, and then when akuma come in contact with those fruits and vegetables, the power of the Innocence kills them. It may even be that you're the accommodator of this Innocence fragment."

Allen's words put Camilla on edge. "What exactly is it that you want from me? If what you suspect is true, what happens next?"

"If the Innocence really is in your garden, we'll have to find it and take it back to the Order with us." Allen frowned. It was impossible to tell how people would take this next part. "And if you're the Innocence's accommodator, we'll have to bring you with us as well."

"I thought you said you weren't here to arrest me!" Camilla stood from her seat and shouted at Lavi.

Allen sighed and stepped into the room just long enough to guide Camilla back to her seat. "We're not. It's more like a recruitment. If you're the accommodator, then you have the power to become an exorcist. In that case, we'd bring you back to headquarters so that you can learn to fight akuma."

"And if I don't want to go?" Camilla had gathered from Allen's tone that she wouldn't have a choice, and that scared her. But she wasn't scared of either of the young men in her sitting room, there was just something about them, Allen especially, that said she could trust them. So she asked the question to see if they'd outright lie to her.

"If you are an accommodator, then you won't have a choice. It's too dangerous for you to stay here."

"'Dangerous'?" Camilla laughed in disbelief. "What kind of danger could I possibly be in here? *Achoo* You did say that the Innocence is safe, right?"

Allen sighed and scratched his ear through his bandana. "Yes and no. It in and of itself is safe, but by having it you're attracting the attention of some very bad people. The Millennium Earl and the Noah family control the akuma, and they're seeking to destroy the Innocence, and will harm anyone in their way. By being the accommodator of an Innocence fragment, you'd become a target."

Camilla just gaped at Allen. But as she processed what he had said she got mad. "So you're asking me to pack up and move from the only home I've ever known, because someone out there is trying to kill me?!"

Lavi held his hands up. "Hold on a minute there, Cami-chan. We're all getting a little ahead of ourselves. We don't know if the Innocence is even here, much less if you're its accommodator."

She sighed and sank back into her chair. "How will you figure that out?" She suddenly got fierce again. "You're not planning on digging up my garden are you?!"

"If we have no other choice, then we'll have to, but neither of us want that." Allen smiled brightly at her. "All we really need is for you to answer some questions. If the Innocence is truly here, then you've probably seen it."

"Ask your questions then." Camilla was worried as to what those questions would be, but so long as it meant keeping her garden intact she would do her best to answer them.

"What happened a month ago? Before the deaths started, did something strange happen?" Allen frowned and then clarified. "Did anything, anything at all, happen that was out of the ordinary?"

"I really don't know... That's such a vague question..." Camilla scowled at her lap as she thought. "Oh wait! There was that thing with the rock!"

"What happened?" Lavi was alert, ready to record every detail of her story.

Camilla bent down and started untying her right boot. "About a month ago, I stepped on a rock while I was out working in my garden and it got stuck in my foot. The doctor tried to remove it, but he couldn't get it out. He ended up just leaving it there, thinking it would work its way out on its own."

She sighed as she pulled off her sock. "It doesn't hurt, so I don't really mind, but I wish the rash would go away. I hate wearing shoes."

Camilla's entire right foot was mottled with red, it looked just like a rash. But the rock embedded in the bottom of her foot... Even from across the room, Allen recognized it as an Innocence fragment. The boys shared a look, and Allen sighed before he spoke. "Earlier you asked what Innocence looks like. That's your answer. The green rock embedded in your heel is an Innocence fragment."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

A/N #2: So yeah, Camilla was just supposed to be a random girl on a random mission who happened to be allergic to cats, and therefore Allen. Then this happened. But don't worry, I have big plans for her... ;)

A/N #3: Chapter 18 is written, but I'm going to stick with my current update schedule. You'll see it in two weeks.

A/N #4: Speaking of Chapter 18... If you have thoughts or opinions regarding what Camilla's activated Innocence should look like, I would love to hear them. I have something written, but in my opinion it's lame. Maybe you guys can come up with something cooler. (The same goes for Lavi's nickname for her too...)