Disclaimer:Don't own D-Gray Man. Making no money. Please don't sue. See Author's Notes at the end of the chapter. Current manga spoilers.

-x-

While the fate of the first Finder wasn't clear, the golem caught unobstructed footage of the second one. His eye could always see the separate frames despite the upgrades Komui had done, but in this case the golem was two generations old and the gap between images was even larger. This hadn't been a team that had been sent to investigate.

Rather, this hadn't been a team that had been sent to investigate that particular rumor. They thought they were looking for Innocence.

The grainy footage hid many of the details from him. The weapon was a line of white, that was all he could make out before a spray of blood, and the second Finder tripped over his nonresponsive feet, dead before he hit the ground.

His attacker spared him not a single look, slinging the blood from what was now quite obviously a blade, roughly forty-two inches from hilt to tip, and he glanced up at the golem, which was hovering now that its operators were no longer fleeing. There was a slight twitch of his head, to the left, and with another dark glare, he sheathed the sword and stalked out of the frame, leaving the golem intact and recording the results.

Dark hair, possibly an inch long all around. Striking features, with eyes that gave him away as eastern despite the traditional Victorian oilskin coat and collar beneath. Not as tall as the second Finder, so a hair under six feet. It was impossible to tell his build beneath the large, flowing coat and crappy video quality, but even as the golem swallowed the image and became still and silent on the desk, there was no doubt who he had just seen.

Gigi didn't miss a beat. "His hair is growing back well."

Behind the desk, Komui seemed to wilt, just slightly, but he had known as surely as they had the moment he'd seen the footage, he had to have. Despite the costume, the hair, the weapon . . . the lack of long hair actually made his face look less angular, but it was clear he was thinner than before, which accentuated that very feature and the result was a less feminine but no less Yuu Kanda.

"Is that all the footage?" Lavi asked mildly, eye flicking back to the golem. "There was nothing before or after of note?"

"You would ask such a question after what you had just seen?"

Lavi tilted his head in what the man didn't realize was a mockery, and focused on the panda when Komui shook his head.

"So he never came on frame."

Bookman hmmed, his hands folded into his long, wide sleeves.

"You, too, have been taken in by the supervisor's theory?" The speaker did not move from the corner of Komui's desk, though his voice reflected his disappointment. "We could not have received better confirmation of his defection."

"That was the point, Inspector." Bookman, too, did not move from his place on the sofa. Clearly they were going to be here for a while. "He received a command to leave the golem intact."

"How did you come by that impression?"

"He turned toward the speaker." That twitch of his head was a mannerism Lavi had seen so many times . . . though usually he only gave such an obvious gesture to people like Lenalee, his general, or occasionally supervisor Komui. In itself it was telling; that was a gesture of acknowledgement, and it was reserved for those Kanda respected. "He also readied the sword for an upwards strike." Which meant that unless he'd been stopped, Kanda would have destroyed the golem and they would never have seen the images.

Lavi wasn't quite sure what that meant.

The inspector's lips twisted. "To destroy the evidence."

"And someone wanted it preserved," Komui murmured, folding his hands beneath his chin. "Bookman, did you see anything else?"

Gigi spent little time considering his next words, though he spoke them slowly. Lavi was reasonably sure he knew what that meant, and he gave nothing away.

"Kanda was not pleased with the order. He did not wish to leave the golem intact."

"And what traitor would want such evidence presented to his former masters?"

"It's not betrayal." All eyes moved to him but Gigi's at the statement, and Lavi couldn't help a bitter smile. "Yuu has always had little respect for Finders. They are easy to come by and expendable in his eyes. What commander would not sacrifice a few foot soldiers to continue with a larger operation?"

The inspector grunted.

"Either way it appears he was instructed to kill them, and he was instructed to leave the evidence. Whether he has changed sides or is merely a puppet at this point, I would be surprised if we didn't receive an anonymous tip to his whereabouts within the next few days."

Kanda may have known without being told that this was merely the next step in the process to lure his general out into the open, or he may simply have wanted to spare his general from having to witness something that would upset the man. Alternately, he hated the new weapon, the stunningly accurate opposite of his Innocence, or was ashamed at his technique, which told he was still recovering from some type of injury.

What worried Lavi the most was how little of Kanda was staring out of those eyes, but how much of him had stalked away from the dead Finders. Was he truly being controlled, as other human slaves of the Earl? Or was it possible he was breaking? To take a Finder's life, inconsequential to him. His puppetmaster might not have realized that, but if they had . . .

To break a habit, you went cold turkey. To break an ideal, you eased into it one action at a time.

"We know he hasn't betrayed his Innocence," Komui interjected, once again brandishing the only real defense he had. "Hevlaska confirmed as of this morning Mugen was still synchronized to Kanda. It has not chosen a new accommodator."

"Hevlaska can't tell us the synch rate, it could be as little as two percent at this point." As if the words were brushing a fly off one of his pies. "He's holding a weapon. Are you saying Innocence would ignore a bonding by the Earl of Millennium?"

"We know that individual Noah were assigned generals to kill, prior to the taking of the Ark by Allen Walker.. We know that Kanda was responsible for the death of the Noah that had been trying to kill Tiedoll. So-"

Leverrier snorted impatiently. "Yes, we've heard your theory before, Komui, that he was specifically targeted. The fact remains that if his Innocence is still synchronized to him, he has not been bonded to the Earl. He is holding a weapon and you would have me believe a Noah is just outside the frames, yet a loyal Exorcist is turning that weapon upon colleagues?"

Bookman scowled openly at the inspector. "Only a fool would give the boy a weapon he could turn on his master. A simple katana is no match for dark matter."

"If that's what it is." The inspector's voice was silky. "A simple katana would be worthless against Innocence as well, yet this boy seems every inch their steadfast terrier. Perhaps it is only a test of his new 'loyalties,' but we can ill afford to be wrong." He turned to Komui dismissively. "Dispatch a pair of Exorcists. He is to be arrested on sight. Should he refuse or resist in any way, they are to execute him."

Lee didn't bother to hide his outrage. "Inspector-!"

"Perhaps his weapon is not powerful enough to buy his freedom from a Noah, but Innocence is. Two Exorcists should be more than enough to fend off any threat, particularly if Kanda Yuu is collecting intel as you have so strongly argued. He should be able to give those Exorcists his captor's every weakness, and eager for the opportunity to return home and escape the tortures we can so clearly see have crippled him."

Komui ignored the sarcasm. "Leverrier, he may be working towards a larger goal. There could be other factors-"

"How long has Kanda Yuu been with the Order, Komui? A decade?" Leverrier gave Komui ample time to respond, but the supervisor had no way of heading him off and the inspector knew it. "He knows far too much about the inner workings of this organization. Should he be turned, he represents a serious breach of security, and I as an Inspector have the authority to act without prior approval in these matters. He will be extracted from the Noah you claim is holding him hostage one way or another."

"So you already received the new tip." Bookman managed to make it very mild, and Lavi tucked it away as another example of how far he needed to go to become a fully fledged Bookman.

Leverrier looked annoyed. Komui looked tired. "Yes, yesterday. Belgrade."

"Beograd, the White City." An awfully ironic place for a Noah to settle, certainly. "It will be difficult keeping the details from General Tiedoll if you fully brief the Exorcists you send."

"Not terribly. They need merely to be sworn to secrecy." Leverrier stood. "I don't believe I need to do the same with you, Bookman? I'd sooner you or your apprentice had been captured than any other Exorcist. At least I could trust not a single word could be pried out of your lips."

Bookman ignored the threat entirely, and addressed his next words to Komui. "I would like to accompany the team you send."

While Order law did dictate than an inspector had the authority he was claiming, ultimately Komui was still in charge of his own Exorcists, and that was something Leverrier could not effect without much higher authorization. The Chinaman gave them a ghost of a smile.

"Of course you would." The inspector moved away from the desk, following the thin trail of visible tiles beneath mountains of paperwork. There was silence as Leverrier took his leave, and even long after he was gone, with both of them watching Komui tap the golem gently and then pocket it.

Lavi sighed and stretched, rubbing the back of his head when his bandana shifted. "We originally assumed Kanda's hair had been sent here because it was the main headquarters." Making clear the fact that the Noah knew exactly where they had moved, even if it was difficult to enter. "And that it was lucky the package was intercepted and given to you before it was delivered, since Tiedoll was actually here at the time. What if that assumption was incorrect?"

It wasn't hope behind his glasses, and Lavi almost regretted saying anything before mentioning it to the panda. But if it was true, it was something Komui needed to take into consideration before he formed his team of two Exorcists.

"What did you see, Lavi?"

"It's what I didn't see. His left wrist." Bookman reviewed his memories, inferring his meaning instantly, but Komui obviously could not. "Kanda wore a prayer bracelet on his left wrist. It's not there anymore."

". . . that's true, but neither is his Exorcist's uniform. I think-" But then he stopped, and some of the color in Komui's face drained away. "You think the Noah knew Tiedoll was here, or at least where he's been, and has been sending pieces of the uniform all this time."

Lavi shrugged. "It's been six weeks, and you've received four anonymous leads. Tiedoll hasn't shown for any of them. If I was a Noah trying to lure him out, I'd assume that his mail must not be forwarding, and I'd try to messenger it to him personally."

It was a fact that Tiedoll was in Europe with Marie and Chaoji. That the inspector had forbidden any word of Kanda's status to reach him, fearing that Tiedoll among all the generals would be the most likely to willingly walk into a trap to save one of his apprentices. Lavi was certain if Tiedoll had opened that package to see Kanda's hair – complete with large patches of moist scalp still attached, showing that it had been literally ripped off his head – he would have disobeyed the Pope himself to find his student.

But knowing that the last tip would lead to Belgrade, in close proximity to where the general was known to be-

A Noah that knew when Tiedoll was at headquarters would be able to find him, particularly when the man wasn't hiding.

Bookman sighed heavily. "Lavi and I will be leaving for Belgrade this afternoon. I do not believe Leverrier will begrudge your adding a third Exorcist to the mission."

-x-

Four Weeks Ago

He almost rolled his eyes as the large, mahogany double doors were pulled apart, their grandeur diminished by the fact that they were replicas of doors three times their size in a mansion five times that of the one he was a guest in. There had been little point of replicating them on this scale, though he supposed to a peasant they would be imposing.

There weren't likely to be too many of those lying around.

She scampered across the threshold, glancing back and forth before giving a squeak of sheer, unadulterated happiness and launching herself at the nearest figure, arms held wide to catch her.

Though he never seemed to treat or touch her inappropriately, and he knew firsthand that Rhode would never tolerate it, there was still something vaguely unsettling about her unreserved fondness for one member of the family he could do without.

Tyki Mikk followed after, far less exuberantly, and admitted to himself, as he cast his gaze across the room, that he could do without most of the members of his family. Outside of Rhode and Lulubell, the majority of them were whiny, needy, or creepy.

Much like the one enfolding Tyki's favorite person into his arms.

"Oohf, I think you've grown a bit, dear one!"

She giggled, wrapping her arms tightly around the neck of Sheryl Camelot. "You think so? The Earl thought I was getting bigger too!" Then she seemed to think better of it, and slid down from his arms until her bare feet touched the highly polished floors. "Maybe I need to buy some new dresses . . ."

"At least you have that right. Fathers are a source of free money," Tyki observed, glancing at the only other non-machine in the room.

An Akuma, level three by the looks of it, followed his gaze to its charge, and with its wide metal jaw stretching wider in pleasure, it released a thread of dark matter from the tip of one armored finger. Within seconds the dark matter coalesced into the thinnest of filaments, and this was flicked expertly around the human's shins. With the smallest gesture it tightened, yanking the human's legs together and back, taking his feet right out from under him. With a grunt of pain he landed on his knees, and Tyki watched curiously as dark red blood blossomed through the off-white fabric covering his legs.

It was linen, so it hadn't cushioned that fall at all. "His knees will be ruined if you keep this up, Sheryl." Then he cocked his head. "His hair seems to be growing back well, though."

Sheryl Camelot wound an arm around Rhode's shoulder, coming to stand far too close beside him, and Tyki would have stepped away had he not been so fascinated by the human. Head bowed, with his open-mouthed panting the only sign of his pain, even when the Akuma withdrew the filament from beneath his skin he did nothing else.

But even more remarkably, he said nothing else.

"He's turned out to be surprisingly resilient," Sheryl murmured, eyes only for his adopted daughter. Almost as if she was a prize. "The Skulls determined the reason for it. He's cursed."

"How interesting. And no death threats?" Tyki smiled when the human didn't even try to raise his head at the taunt.

"He's far too exhausted for such things." It was almost fond. "This Akuma has been assigned as his butler, and they spend every waking moment together. Which is every moment he's not unconscious, and you can see he fights that with all of his strength. I don't think he trusts me yet."

"How wise," Tyki murmured, and Sheryl chuckled amiably.

"Cursed?" Curiousness overcame her, and Rhode stepped forward and bent at the waist, as if to smell the struggling young man. It took everything in him to suppress the urge to tear her away, even knowing that he was harmless, that he could no more hurt her than a toy.

"On his chest, not his face. It might have been done by Marian, the Skulls have never seen the like." His voice turned slightly more serious. "We can only hope he's the test, or it was unrelated. If the Order has begun cursing their Exorcists like this one, they would actually become something of a threat."

"Cross Marian is hardly in a position to be cursing Exorcists these days."

Sheryl hmphed. "Just the same, it enables him to withstand quite a bit of damage. You needn't worry about his knees, little brother."

In a burst of childlike reluctance, Rhode refused to touch him, inspecting him from every angle imaginable. "Wasn't he an equip type? Why do you need a level three to watch him?"

It was certainly a valid question, and the level three didn't offer the answer. "The level one kept forgetting I wanted him alive, and the level two wasn't imaginative enough for my tastes. This Akuma is capable of thinking of new ways to educate him, but never pushes him too far. He's improving with each passing day. I should think he'd be ready for supper in a few weeks."

Tyki curled an eyebrow. "You intend to keep him that long?"

Sheryl used the opportunity to clap him on the shoulder in a not quite companionable way. "Patience. Think of him like a fine wine. Besides, I can hardly act as impetuously and carelessly as you, little brother. I have appearances to keep up."

Rhode was almost purring. "You mean keep hidden, don't you, father?"

He smiled, tousling her hair. "This exile has hurt me terribly, not being able to wake every morning to my darling daughter and humble wife . . . how is she faring of late? Pining away of loneliness, like her poor banished husband?"

Tyki ignored the family update, using the broken Exorcist as an excuse to move out from beneath Sheryl's too-clingy touch. His brother had been successfully 'assassinated' by Minister Leslie's replacement, which meant he needed to return in a few months as a lower-placed politician in another part of the world. Until then, with limited puppets and scheming options, most of his attention was focused on his current assignment, which was one the generals they had failed to kill on the last go-round.

And Tyki suspected that assignment was only really to keep Sheryl out of the Earl's hair. They had targeted the Generals only to force the discovery of the 'Heart,' and while they might not have succeeded yet, the seed was planted. Killing a general now was worth the Innocence he or she would likely be carrying, but annihilating the entire Order was out of the question, at least until the true 'Heart' was identified.

Which left Sheryl little to do but groom his new project and wait for the general to arrive.

Despite the loss of his hair, he knew the Exorcist before him. Seeing him on his knees granted a rush, true, but it was his scalp that attracted Tyki's attention. Unabashed, he passed his hand over the soft fuzz growing where there should have only been shining white scar tissue, and he released a surprised breath as velvet softness brushed against his fingertips.

"It's like down."

The Exorcist, or what was left of him, responded to the caress by closing his mouth, bottling his pain. Tyki passed his fingers through that shortest of hair over and over again, marveling at the silken quality. Almost like an infant's, but far thicker.

"Enjoying him, little brother?" Sheryl laughed at his own joke, though it wasn't irritating enough to make Tyki stop. "It made an excellent handle, but once he became dehydrated . . . well, you saw. I daresay had I cut it, it wouldn't be nearly so fine."

And despite the curse, it didn't appear to be growing back any faster than normal. That could have to do with his general health, Tyki allowed; it seemed Sheryl was being as generous with food as he was sleep.

"Starving him into submission, are we?"

His 'elder' brother merely flicked his eyes from Rhode to the Exorcist. "He chooses not to eat. A rather silly suicide considering his curse, if you ask me, but there you have it. I haven't figured out if he thinks I've poisoned his breakfasts or he simply doesn't like oatmeal and eggs."

"Why not ask him?"

"Oh, I have." Sheryl ruffled Rhode's hair as she became bored with their talk and wandered over to Sheryl's desk, where several plans were being painstaking sketched out, if the architect's triangle and multiple leads were to be believed.

"He is forbidden from lying to me, but he has the option to remain silent. On this issue, he is."

He hadn't been exactly chatty in Edo, either, but the silence, replacing what Tyki recalled only two weeks ago had been chilling and inventive threats on their lives, was a bit disheartening. Perhaps with sleep and food he would regain his spirit. It would be a pity if Sheryl's distraction was so easily broken.

Then again, it was his specialty.

"How deeply did you place those Tease, by the way?"

Tyki smiled when the body beneath his fingers tensed, just a little. Still in there, are you, Mr. Kitchen Knife? "Deeply enough that he will not locate them simply by starving himself." He refocused on the Exorcist. "If that is your intent, boy, you weaken yourself for no reason. Come, why will you not eat? The food is not tainted. We Noah, even Sheryl, do not lie."

"Such resounding confidence," Sheryl griped, but Tyki ignored him, crouching down in front of the human. He may not have had the strength of body or will, his head remained bowed, he did not look up.

Heat beside his cheek made Tyki glance over to see Rhode, who had wandered back over and mimicked his position. She hooked a finger beneath the Exorcist's chin. "Eh? Aren't you supposed to look at us when we're talkin' to you?"

She forced his head up, just enough to see his eyes, smoldering through his eyebrows. The fierce hatred in that stare was familiar enough, and Rhode drew back in surprise.

The next moment Sheryl was standing between them, and the kick he dealt the Exorcist was vicious. The human had only begun to flinch, and Sheryl's polished boot caught him just beneath the jaw. He was raised completely off his knees, landing in a tangled heap several yards away.

"Don't ever look at her in that manner!" There was more Noah in that voice than Sheryl, and Tyki stood, straightening his coat with a light frown.

"I don't believe he can hear you, brother Sheryl." Nor was it likely he had survived that blow. The Exorcist remained crumpled where he'd landed, and there was no sound, neither protest nor breath. The Akuma strode to the body at a dismissive gesture from Sheryl and grabbed the Exorcist by an ankle. Without another word it began dragging the human from the room.

"Then I will repeat it when he wakes." As if the lapse of control had not occurred, Sheryl clasped his hands behind his back and beamed. "We were lucky he was cursed, I would have sworn the level one killed him at least four times before I assigned a level two."

Rhode cocked her head to the side, watching the Akuma removing Sheryl's toy from the room. "Father, I don't think he'll be ready for supper in a few weeks. He still looks like he hates me very much."

"Hush, dear one. He'll come around. How could anyone hate someone as cute as you?"

-x-

Author's Notes: As mentioned in PAA, I got infected with D-Gray Man. This was crawling around my brain so I decided to let it out. Rated R for violence, torture, and possible semi-explicit sex in later chapters. I'm really not sure I've convinced myself of how it's going to end, either, so I may end up diverging at that point and having a choose-your-own-ending. It's an experiment, like everything else. In my case, this is an experiment in telling a simple story as concisely as possible.

Stop laughing. I'm serious here!! ; )

And btw, Fulgor? Shall be getting an update soon. I miss Vash, I does.