Different Circumstances

“KOMUI! WE'VE GOT HIM!” The red head sprinted down the road, which was deserted except for a single figure, a Chinese man in a long white lab coat with glasses and a white barret over his curled black hair.

Komui turned around to see the read head. “Already? It's only been a month!” Komui exclaimed. He was staring at the redhead in shock, amazed a person with such a background and experience at being hidden could be caught in a month. The redhead seemed less amazed at the time, but rather more disappointed.

“Yeah, it took us forever, even after talking to all those women! What does the guy spend his time doing? He cant be like his teach' canne?” He ran a hand with a black fingerless glove through his hair, which seemed to be ablaze. Readjusting his green fish-scale and cloth headband, he looked at Komui directly through one eye, as his other was covered with an eye patch. “Come on, Kanda's holding him with Lenalee.”

Komui nodded shortly and swiftly followed the younger male. The Bookman's apprentice, Lavi, to be more exact. Lavi led Komui to an alleyway. In the back were three struggling teens. A boy, Japanese, with long flowing hair pulled back into a high, tight pony tail. Another, a girl, with the same black hair as the boy and Komui, but pulled into pigtails which bounced gracefully at the side of her head. The third was the opposite of them all.

He was slightly short and very skinny, so you might think he hadn't eaten in weeks. His hair wasn't exactly long, but it drooped past his chin and onto his shoulders, covering his neck and eyes with a thin spray of white. He covered most of the hair with an off-white cloth which might have once been some sort of fine silk. His coat, unlike the others, which were black, was a dark maroon color, with a high collar and brass large buckles. His boots were scuffed and getting more marks, even as Komui summed him up, by hitting against the stone wall of the alley as he fought to break free of Kanda's grip.

“You certainly don't look like something he would take as a student...” Komui commented absentmindedly. The boy's head flew up, revealing silver-gray eyes and a long, deep scar underneath and possibly above, though the bangs made it impossible to see well, his left eye. He certainly looked nothing like what Komui had imagined him of all people to take along and train for possibly unorthodox reasons.

“Look,” The albino (albino, or suffering from a major shock? No matter, he had white hair) said, much clearer than Komui expected, there was something in his appearance, or perhaps his appearance as a whole, that made it seem like he wouldn't be one for good speech. “Whatever Master did, I'll pay for it, just give me a little time, like a day or so. How much was it, and was it irreplaceable?” Komui and Lavi exchanged looks, both cocking eyebrows.

“I'm sorry, Mr... uh...”

“Allen,” the teen said irritably. Komui nodded.

“Allen, it's not about money in any way, we—“ Allen's face, if it had been annoyed before, now took a dramatic turn and became frightened.

“Hey, first off, I already get that enough, so you don't have to kill me to call it even with Master! He wouldn't care at all, anyway, you'd be wasting your time!” He said loudly and hurriedly. “If it's about this girl—“ He turned his head sharply to look at Lenalee, “—sorry, I cant do anything about that, and I am not gonna repeat any crimes, if that's what you're thinking, I swear! Just let me pay off the goddamn debt and let's call it even, 'kay?” He shot Komui a pleading look. Lavi looked completely bemused and scratched the back of his head absentmindedly, looking at Komui as if to ask if he missed something. Kanda looked absolutely disgusted at the boy he was restraining, and Lenalee stared at him, wide-eyed about that 'repeat any crimes' remark he said in very rapid passing.

“Allen...” Komui said very slowly. “Would you allow me to please finish my statement?” Allen glanced around. One person restraining with an iron grip, another ready to grab him if he were to somehow get away. Two more to block his path even then, and three of them were exorcists.

Yes, Allen knew about the exorcists. That was one of the reasons he was more on edge about them than he usually would be. He was fairly sure exorcists didn't go around killing actual... well, people, but still. When you are Cross Marians apprentice, you learn to have a bit of ill-will towards the Order in general. Especially after four years. And for Allen in particular, he had learned to be wary of the exorcists. However, he wasn't about to escape today, so he nodded once and waited for the inevitable remark that meant certain death.

“We need information. Not money, not... anything else, that you may think of. Simple information and cooperation.” Allen's eyes widened in response. No death threats? No beatings for information? Just... questions? “And no, you don't have a choice. Sorry, Allen.”

He narrowed his eyes right before a hard hand hit him behind his neck on his pressure points. He groaned. Black.

000

“Was it really necessary to knock him out, brother?” Lenalee asked. Lavi nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, Komui, it looked like he might've been willing to talk!” Komui sighed and shook his head.

“You forget, this is Cross Marian's pupil.” He said, he had restated it unimaginable times over the past month. 'Whenever we find them, don't forget who they are' 'If we can only find the apprentice, remember who his teacher is' 'No matter what, remember, they knew the art of deception like they were born with it' ,Lavi, Lenalee, and Kanda all were tired of hearing this over and over. They understood, whichever they catch, General or pupil, they could easily be tricked and end up starting the search all over again.

Kanda snorted and readjusted the limp form on his shoulder, sliding it off as they neared the coach. Lavi climbed in first and helped slide the unmoving boy to the seat on the far end of the coach and slid in beside him. “Yuu, I think you went a bit far, he's not moving at all...” Lavi ignored Kanda's angry reply which mostly consisted on a rant about not using his first name.

Komui sighed. “It's probably all for the better he doesn't wake up too soon...” He reached into one of his oversized pockets and pulled out something small and clanking, like metal.

“Brother, do we really have to handcuff him?” Lenalee asked as Komui slid one end shut around Allen's right arm and the other on a brass candel stick which stuck out of the wall to provide light once night came. It was a few hours away at most.

“Better safe than sorry, I don't want him libel to cause damage.” Komui explained. Kanda slid in grudgingly next to Lavi, and Lenalee and Komui across them. The three exorcists nodded slowly. It still felt like a bad idea to restrain him... there was something about him that said holding him wasn't a good idea.

He awoke barely thirty minutes later. Possibly many less. The first thing Allen did was tug roughly at the handcuff on his right hand. After one hard tug in which Lavi, who was the only one who noticed he was awake, received a soft hit in the jaw. It stung, anyway. Allen's eyes darted around the small carriage room, looking for an escape or some sign to explain it all. Kanda stood up.

“You're awake.” He stated the obvious with a hint of poison. His hand at his waist, he slowly showed part of a blade's cutting edge. “This is Mugen, answer honestly and Mugen wont have to meet your vital organs.” Allen twitched and scowled.

“Would Mugen like to meet Grave, instead?” He asked, matching Kanda's savageness in his eyes, making all other occupants shudder.

“G-guys... no fighting in the very small coach where no one can hide if you go crazy...” Lavi said, holding his hands up between them and speaking in a very small voice. Komui coughed.

“Yes, now Kanda, please put Mugen away so we can begin.” He pushed up his thin-rimmed glasses higher on his nose. Readjusting his barret as well, and holding up a clipboard. Allen sighed quietly, looking like— in Lavi and Lenalee's eyes— a lost puppy who had been kicked too many times. He just had that sad look engraved into him, even in the alley, there had been a distinct air of some sadness coming from around him, and now, it shown strangely clearer.

“I don't know where Master is, I don't know about the movements of the Noahs, and no, I wont go to the Order for actual training when I am perfectly capable on my own,” Allen said calmly. Komui and the others blinked. H-he didn't see the notebook— he's psychic? Could that be his innocence's ability? It took them a moment to realize that if he was psychic, he wouldn't have panicked so badly when he misunderstood Komui in the alleyway. Komui shook himself out of the stupor and cleared his throat once again.

“Allen, you surely must have at least some idea of where General Cross is,” Komui said. Allen shook his head firmly.

“I don't, if you want proof, talk to any of the ladies between here and middle-India,” Allen said. His voice stony and face stoic. All in the carriage could feel the beads of sweat starting to dribble down the sides of their heads, despite it nearing late October.

Komui sighed, “Do you have any way at all of finding Cross, despite not knowing where he is?”

“Why would I tell if I did, anyway?” Allen asked with dead sarcasm lacing the question. Kanda twitched. “I'm not scared of your sword, feminine-face.”

Stunned silence elapsed for several minutes as Lavi, Lenalee and Komui all processed the same thought. D....did he just call.... Kanda Yuu... a feminine-face? Kanda twitched. Many, many times. Very large twitches. Allen stared at him, daring him to move while in the enclosed space.

“The moment we are out of here, Moyashi...”

“I'm not a Beansprout, fem-face.”

“You are dead once I get enough room to move...”

“Of course, Missus Kanda, I await when that's possible,” He spat.

“Do you have any wants?” Komui asked loudly, stunning the two momentarily. Kanda snorted and sat back down again, crossing his arms and looking away from the white haired boy. Allen scowled and looked at Komui.

“Any particular reason you're asking this?” He asked quietly. The carriage fell through a pothole in the road and jumped. Allen's facial expression didn't waver at all. Komui sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose once again.

“Allen, if you help us find General Cross, what would you want in return,” He stared stiffly at the boy across from him. Allen's eyebrows went up and were hidden in the curtain of white bangs. A very small, sad smile crept onto his face.

“So the order's sunk to blackmailing apprentices now?” He asked. Komui stared at him, waiting for an answer. Allen sighed finally, almost a minute later.

“It's something no mortal could ever get for another.”

“What if we could though?” Lenalee piped up. Allen turned his head and looked at her skeptically. She flinched. “I mean, what if we somehow did get it? The Order has enough technology and resources, we might be able to get it...” Allen rolled his eye and gave a weak laugh. Lavi, who was unfortunate enough to be right beside him, felt his blood run icy cold. That laugh was completely empty. No humor, no mirth, no emotion in it at all. It was perfectly hollow.

“I'm telling you right now...” Allen smiled sadly again, “It's impossible unless you don't mind your world being completely destroyed.”

000

“Komui, he's made it clear that he's not going to help us, why do we still have him around?” Lavi asked as the finder pulled the carriage to a stop by a small but supposedly good inn. Allen was once again asleep, or seemingly. Lavi got the feeling that he wasn't the type to sleep in front of 'captors', as he was probably already labeling them.

“Lavi, there's still a chance we can get him to consent to tell us, we just have to wait it out.” Lavi nodded and sighed. It made sense, but that didn't mean he felt comfortable enough around this kid to trust him. “Lavi, remember, after a while, even a prisoner could form a bond with their captors.” Komui smiled kindly. Lavi grunted.

“Yeah, yeah, go back to the old wives tales why not?” He mumbled. Kanda, once again, got the job of holding onto Allen, given they still didn't know what his weapon was. Except for the name, which was apparently 'Grave'. They didn't quite want to know how it got that name. Lavi had guessed right that Allen wasn't asleep half the way, given as he didn't even stumble as Kanda  half dragged him out by the back of his trench coat, the handcuff still on his right hand.

“If you weren't so important, Mugen would be in your gut by now,” Kanda hissed. Allen snorted as Kanda jostled him.

“Right, I noticed you make a lot of excuses to not kill me.” Allen said. He stopped talking abruptly when Kanda pushed him again and closed his mouth to avoid biting his tongue.

“Kanda, please, you're not helping at all,” Komui said somewhere between seriously and sarcastically.  Kanda grunted. Allen just glared forward.

Stepping into the small inn, several people turned to look at the strange new arrivals. It after all wasn't often you saw three black-clad teenagers with holy marks on their coats restraining a boy who looked like he belonged on the street. Actually, it wast even normal to see a girl in anything other than a dress. It was considered naughty to show so much as an ankle in most places, however, this girl was showing her full legs until the miniskirt came at the near top of her hips. To be quite frank, some of the men were having naughtier visions than showing some ankle.

Two men slid their chairs back with soft but sharp scraping sounds and made their way over to the group. One was bald though still young, suggesting he had shaved his head. The other had dreadlocks for some obscure reason that could only be guessed at. Both were rather large and muscular, at the prime of their life. Allen groaned softly at seeing them approach and struggled a bit against Kanda's grip.

When the weak attempt at escape failed, he took a deep breath as the shadows of the two men leered over them.

“Um... Kurtus and Greg, right?” He asked. The two men nodded.

“You got a good memory, kid,” The bald man, Kurtus, cracked his knuckles menacingly.

“If memory serves, you were the ones who tried to sell my internal organs for payment, correct?” Allen said carefully. The exorcists all raised eyebrows. The men nodded. “Erm...”

“Last requests?”

“That you don't kill me.”

“Smart mouth.”

“I'm being serious here.”