Ethereal

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or D. Gray Man

AN: I AM ALIVE. Sort of. School is sucking out my soul. Along with a bunch of other stuff. Ugh.

Warnings: Switching between the names Alma and Harriet, Kanda's cursing, death threats, sassiness, the usual fun stuff. Also long explanations ahead. OH AND BEWARE OF PERSONAL NEVER BEFORE SEEN HEADCANNONS AND OCS I MADE ON THE SPOT.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tewaku was… uncertain.

Well, not only that, but conflicted and more than a little afraid as well.

The confidential mission assignment folder that had been dispassionately given to her by her superiors had already been burned beyond recognition once she had memorized all the information relevant to her new assignment.

But that wasn't what set her mind spinning in circles as her world shifted on its axis.

No, what had her reeling was the hastily written request asked of her and Madarao by Tokusa, whom had snuck in a small slip of paper into the folder with all the skill of someone who had passed their stealth and infiltration training sessions flawlessly, even managing to beat Link and Kiredori by a landslide.

'Please help me protect Alma Karma'

000

With a final fluid sweep of her paintbrush, Tewaku finished outlining the last character for her latest set of Flame Wing Spell Tags. Making Tags had always helped her steady her equilibrium whenever she felt out of sorts. It was probably because out of everyone in her former street rat family, she had always been the most artistically inclined. Enough so that she had sometimes wondered wistfully if they had never been picked up off the streets like stray dogs and forced into the rigid role of bloodhounds loyal to only their owners, she could have perhaps become a painter, or a sculptor. Become someone who could financially support her precious people through art and creation instead of surviving through deception and destruction.

She sighed, discarding the thought as soon as it was formed. It never bode well to dwell on flimsy fantasies, lest she be susceptible to drown in them. And in the beginning of her CROW training days, back when she was still a naive little girl with hopes and dreams that were far too comforting to let go of, that was exactly what she did. It had been a way to dissociate from the reality of just what kind of war her and her friends had been dragged into. It had been a way to distract her from the brutal training, the brainwashing attempts and the fact that their lives no longer belonged to them.

It had been a way to avoid acknowledging how their deaths could creep up on any given day, either brought on by the Millennium Earl's meticulous malicious plans for humanity's extinction or… or by Central, the ones whom held them on such short choke chains that tightened at any perceived 'inconvenience.'

Tewaku fought down a grimace as she gathered up her finished tags and stored them into her weapon's pouch. Central held no tolerance for any perceived slackers so they had beat her daydreaming habit out of her pretty damn quickly. And they beat down her Brother too when he had tried to defend her, while he was still a stick thin prepubescent boy, bristling with protective rage and boiling hot fury fuming behind his icy eyes.

Central tolerated bonds even less than they did slackers, because they thought that CROWs should only live and die for their masters. No one else should matter.

Despite everything, it didn't work out that way for Tewaku and her found family.

They stayed together through it all and, if anything, their bonds had only strengthened.

And, eventually, Central saw that as an 'inconvenience,' something that could very easily become a threat.

Tewaku was hardly a fool. She knew damn well that it was too much of a coincidence for her Superiors to specifically hand pick all of them for the Third Exorcist Project. They were the best of the best in their organization, they held more worth in CROW rather than outside it. They were in their prime when it came to skills, talent, and sheer experience. And yet Central had still lined them up like lab rats and infused them with the very same power that they were supposed to be fighting tooth and nail against. Power that would kill them in the end as, even with Renee Epstein's expertise, nothing could stop the dark matter from slowly deteriorating their cells, turning them into mummified husks – turning them into glorified experimental material, into wombs for the next generation of Third Exorcists to base their powers off of.

It was painfully obvious Central wanted to dispose of them because of their loyalty to each other, and they choose to do so in the most beneficial, profitable way possible for their cause.

In the privacy of her quarters, stood before her desk where a certain slip of paper rested within her view, the young woman allowed her fists to clench and her placid expression to crack and give way to bitter animosity.

Damn it all, their positions in the Black Order were more precarious than ever and all of a sudden Tokusa asks her and Madarao to help him protect someone who wasn't even apart of their family? What is that Green-haired Cheshire look alike even thinking?

Then again, Tewaku ruminated as she forced herself to push down her more erratic emotions so she could consider this more rationally; Tokusa wasn't someone who generally tolerated people outside their group, especially not Exorcists. He had always been more envious of them for their capabilities to take down Akuma and stand a slight chance against the Earl and his Noah Family than anything else. So to find out that he had become so protective of their former womb, whom was an Exorcist herself… it was fairly shocking. This woman, this Alma Karma, must have earned his respect, gratitude and platonic affection in equal measures. How this came to be was a mystery to her.

Regardless, it was impressive, quite so, but Tewaku would not be swayed so easily. She would meet this woman and decide for herself if she was indeed worth the risk. If she was worth so much as to allow her loved ones to aid her should she need it. In the meantime, she had other, more important priorities. Like making sure her Brother was all right after his last arm check-up with the local Science Division.

Her family would always come first, after all.

000

Back at Headquarters, a certain Swordsman had his own set of recent problems to deal with. And he wasn't nearly as lucky as a certain Third Exorcist in finding an immediate reprieve to soothe his nerves.

Kanda may have been able to sooth a good chunk of his ire pertaining to the entire fucked-up situation his life had become by talking things over with Marie, but that didn't mean life would stop throwing curve balls straight at his face, likely in the hopes of breaking his jaw on impact.

Oh, no. In fact, the Swordsman was entirely certain either God had it out for him, or Satan was just messing with him for shits and giggles, the bastard.

Regardless of which damned deity had caused the most recent development in the whole 'Alma Situation', it didn't change what had just been spoken over moments before. The conversation he just had with Komui echoed mercilessly in his head, the older man's apologetic and disgustingly sympathetic voice still ringing in his ears as he stormed out of the Chief Officer's quarters, grip painfully tight on Mugen's hilt, seething in irritable resignation.

"Tewaku and her Brother Madarao will be arriving tomorrow at noon to pick up Alma for her first Mission. Central has decided to put her on a… test trial. So to speak."

"Where? And for how long?"

"North eastern India. The Kingdom of Manipur to be precise. There have been news of executions and a war has been sparked – I believe it started back in March – "

"How. Long. Will. It. Take."

"Ah – yes – since its only routine clearing out of the Akuma and not a sighting of Innocence, it should only take a week should there be no serious setbacks."

"And the reason why she's been dumped with two extra Central Dogs is because…?"

"They want to assess how much value she has as a frontal assault attacker."

"Bullshit. They don't trust her, not on her own and not even with any fucking leads on the Innocence. "

And wasn't that just fucking fantastic? Central was regarding Alma as a top class threat to humanity when they should be looking at their asshole selves in the mirror and realize just who the real monsters were.

Too bad they had their heads shoved so far up their asses that they developed shit for brains. They probably thought themselves as Crusaders of God despite never even lifting a pinky finger against the enemy in battle, they probably thought themselves as Saints.

A vicious snarl escaped his throat in a sudden flash of white-hot fury, scaring a pair of nearby finders into scurrying away like frightened mice as he slammed his fist into the wall.

Disregarding the small crater his punch had left behind, Kanda changed course, heading towards the dormitories with a determined fire blazing in his dark eyes.

It was time to have a talk, one that's been far too many years overdue.

000

For Harriet, the last handful of days had passed by in a blessed blur.

She had settled into a casual routine to distract herself from her reoccurring nightmares, and preventing any possible emotional breakdowns that could trigger That Thing into awakening inside her. In the mornings she had gladly taken up Jerry's offer. Starting bright and early to work in the Kitchens, setting up utensils, preparing ingredients and such – all this had made a convenient excuse for her to use should anyone ask why she was getting less hours of sleep than she should. On another note, witnessing Yuu's indignation at being forced into an apron and at being coerced into washing the breakfast dishes was gloriously entertaining (and probably the best part of her mornings to be honest).

After she was done helping as much as she could, Harriet would usually end up assisting Yuu with washing the dishes at times because damn did Allen inhale enough food to put most black holes to shame – and leave behind just enough dishes to build a bloody Mountain. She had lost track at how many times she had questioned where the hell that boy even puts it. Yuu had just snorted and splashed soapy water at her when she directed the question at him the first time, leaving soapy suds in her hair and her apron soaked in splotches of water. Harriet had, of course, kindly returned the favour and laughed wickedly when Yuu started swearing at her for getting his hair wet enough to end up annoyingly plastered to his face. The Epic Slash Fight was unfortunately halted by a cooingly amused Jerry, but not before they were both soaked like drowned rats and more carefree than they had been in years – with Harriet giggling with breathless abandon and Yuu grinning with feral amusement.

After the usual debacle with the dishes, she would eat her breakfast in the company of Yuu and Tokusa, and, on most occasions with the other Exorcists as well, who were becoming surprisingly supportive of her. Though the Bookman's subtle probing questions she could have done without. Once he had oh so casually asked her about her odd eating habits of curling her arm around her food and hunching over her plate, wording the question in a way that somehow didn't scream invasive. Harriet suspected part of the reason he pulled that off so easily was because his Apprentice made the question more lighthearted by making a teasing remark about how 'The Beansprout isn't gonna snatch your food Alma-chan, he may eat a lot but he's too much of a gentleman to steal off of people's plates. Especially not with Link to Mother Hen him!'

The entire table had guffawed in gales of laughter at that, sufficiently placated from considering how Bookman's prying could sound in any way rude – and even Yuu was somehow mollified without even realizing it while Allen just rolled his eyes and Link went bright pink in mortification.

It had been astounding to witness in hindsight, how those two were able to steer the situation so efficiently. The Bookmen made quite a frightening team, truly talented in casual interrogation and information gathering. Luckily she had been able to get away with a vague answer that in no way referenced her original childhood with the Dursley's treatment of her, how they had starved her. That was a can of worms she wanted to keep firmly closed in the presence of her overprotective Swordsman, thank you very much.

After shoveling in her breakfast, she would spend the day helping with the reconstruction of the cafeteria all the way up till lunch. Then she would head out to the training grounds to spar with either Yuu or one of his comrades. And when there wasn't a fight to be had, she would sit on the sidelines and listen to stories of all the years she had missed by Yuu's side. Marie had been very forthcoming in enlightening her of all the adventures they had been on with Miranda sitting on his other side smiling in fond contentment as she worked on one of her little knitting projects. (Honestly if they weren't a budding romance in the making, Harriet would chug down all of the Science Division's so called 'Health Drinks' in one go. No questions asked.)

Ending her day with another chatter filled dinner was honestly the best way she could possibly conceive wrapping things up before hitting the hay. She had, more than once, taken off to her room with a pleasantly full stomach and a wonderfully clear mind that didn't impede her attempts at getting to sleep. It was only after she started sleeping that she would suffer through her nightmares.

It was nice, the somewhat stable routine she had scrounged up for herself. So of course it got derailed after the first week. Fuck Murphy's Law in the eye.

000

"You know as well as I do that information like this would be disastrous in the wrong hands," she warned him right off the bat. Honestly it was shockingly kind of Chief Officer Komui to debrief at least one of them of her departure time well in advance. It was certainly more considerate than what the Chief Officer back in the day would do. That man, Claude Leverrier she recalled his name was, had only barked at them to hurry the hell up just minutes before their set travel time, that walrus faced asshole.

Still, despite the pleasant change in treatment, it had unintentionally moved up 'having an in depth talk' to the top of Yuu's list of priorities, to the point where he had snuck out under the cover of night to knock on her bedroom door and demand some answers. Harriet was unprepared both emotionally and mentally for this confrontation. And far too suspicious of the walls possibly having some unwelcome ears, Tokusa's promise of confidentiality be damned.

Kanda shrugged uncaringly, giving her a look. He stood at the threshold of her quarters in the sleeveless, high necked black shirt he had worn for training today, only he had traded in the white linen pants he had on earlier for a pair that could've past for a dark forest green, if it wasn't so close to being as black as his shirt. He had obviously dressed for camouflage before venturing out. He brought along Mugen as well. The Swordsman was taking zero chances with their privacy being invaded by any uninvited guests and that meant anyone – from Scientists working overtime to a CROW officer sneaking in after him. "Doesn't matter. It's none of their fucking business anyways."

An aggravated sigh escaped her lips before Harriet pinched the bridge of her nose, sitting down on her bed in exhausted exasperation, the hem of her nightdress bunching up to her knees in her haste. "Honestly, haven't you ever heard of curiosity killing the cat?"

"I'm a dog person."

"What do preferences have to do with it?"

"Everything."

The Witch face palmed and groaned. The Swordsman smirked, brimming in victory.

"Fine, Yuu, please just sit."

Once he stepped through the open doorway, he did as requested, but not before placing his katana down, leaning it up against the wall beside him, the blade sheathed along with its dormant powers. Settling on the bed beside her, he took a moment to curl his fingers around her hand as he had taken to doing a lot lately, as if reassuring himself that she wasn't going to disappear again. It was sweet enough to ease at least some of her ire and worry.

And when he was regarding her so expectantly, she couldn't find any more reason to refuse.

The question was where to start…?

She was almost afraid to ask, but… "Do you happen to remember anything at all that I could start with and expand on?"

Midnight eyes grew frigidly cold, a bitter snowstorm swirling in their dark depths, and Kanda had to take a moment to center himself before answering, "No. Twi and the others ruined any chances of that." He paused, glancing at her, and Harriet had to fight to keep her expression soft with the unbridled understanding she felt for his predicament, strangling and snuffing out the flare of fiery fury that fought for dominance. Now wasn't the time to rage over the injustices made by people long since passed on from the world of the living.

Still though, she had a pretty good idea of just what he was referring to.

"The electrical current they used to euthanize me may have been specifically made for short circuiting my regenerative Core and killing me off at the same time, but that didn't mean it didn't have side effects," the Swordsman reluctantly confessed, confirming her suspicions, voice deceptively calm even as old resentment simmered in his gut. This had always been a rough topic for him to even think about without trying to slash anything apart, but this was Alma. He knew he could trust her not to bring it up again, after all, it was a lost cause at this point, "It fried my brain circuit, or gave me some kind of head trauma in the part of my head that deals with memories. Not sure exactly. All I know is that it was something that, when my regenerative core was reactivated, it wasn't able to heal. At all. So while I was able to keep some memories of you because they had already resurfaced, anything else was permanently damaged beyond repair."

God-Bloody-Dammit, she hated when she was right about these things. Absolutely loathed it.

Did this mean that he didn't remember anything about their travels? How they met? How she had trusted him with her origins? How he came to possess Mugen? Not even about his childhood?

Well shit. It looked like she would have a lot of explaining to do at this point.

The silence lingered until she decided on what to begin with.

"You told me about your family, back when we were still trainees," Harriet confessed softly, considering him carefully. She would've had to have been brain dead to miss the way his shoulders suddenly wound up tighter than a metal spring and how his sharp eyes went impossibly wide, "would you like me to start with that?"

A stiff nod was her response, a firm confirmation and a breath away from being desperate.

"Alright," she took a fortifying breath, casting her mind back to those quiet moments when they first opened up to each other, "You were born… in the Russian Far East, in the village of Okhotsk, to a Russian fisherman and a Japanese woman who had washed up on his shore unexpectedly on a cold windy day in the autumn months, tangled up in his fishnets and barely breathing. Your father was a simple man whom preferred to live his life in solitude and peace so when he stumbled upon this mysterious woman, he quickly freed her and rushed her to the village doctor, thinking he could just go back to his normal routine once he confirmed that there wouldn't be a death on his hands."

Grinning in belated amusement, she divulged further, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice, as this had always been the favourite part of the stories the past Yuu had once told her, "He couldn't have been more wrong. Your mum stormed out of the harried doctor's house as soon as she was on steady legs. She had also forced out the location and name of her saviour from the poor guy, language barriers be damned. Then she marched right back up to your Dad, scaring the shit out of him in the process, and demanded he let her repay her debt in butchered Russian. And when he tried to convince her otherwise she had apparently wacked him upside the head and snatched up his fishing supplies and walked briskly into his cottage as if it was her home, like a regal queen who knew exactly who was in charge, leaving your dad gaping like the fish in his nets, absolutely befuddled in the wake of," she snorted, "well… her. His name was Dmitry Ivanov by the way, your dad I mean. And his quiet life was turned upside down by your dear old mum – "

Harriet paused, blinking in bewilderment.

An almost foreign sound filled the still air. Foreign and familiar. Nostalgic even.

Low and sharp, somewhere on the spectrum of being a cackle or a full out guffaw –

It took her a moment to figure out what was happening.

Yuu was laughing. He was actually laughing and the sound of it nearly took her breath away.

'Just how long has it been since Yuu expressed his enjoyment so openly?' Harriet questioned herself somberly as, eventually, Yuu was able to stifle his amusement and allow the conversation to progress.

"You said she washed up on his shore?" Kanda questioned, expression now more neutral than anything.

Nodding in affirmation, Harriet continued, "Your mother was a refugee who escaped from a raid on her home village – she was born somewhere in Etorofu I believe – anyways she had escaped into Russia with only the bloodied clothes on her back and a gleaming sword in her hands, not even a penny to her name yet as fierce as the rising tide she traveled across to evade her broken home. Her name… her name was Yuriko. Takahashi Yuriko."

She had to force herself to stay focused on remembering the brief snippets of conversation from long ago, discussed over campfires and long hikes through the wilderness as they had continuously hunted for Akuma and Innocence alike. Anything instead of the way Yuu's grip on her hand had tightened, how he had started to mouth the names of his long dead parents like a sacred prayer with a cracked expression very heartbreakingly close to wonder – and aching grief. It made her regret that the laughter had passed and dissipated like a fading mist.

It hurt because she understood.

"Sword?"

She had to take a second or two to internally shake off the memories of a kind half-giant exuberantly expounding about Lily and James Potter to a young slip of a girl who was so desperate for any scrap of truth about the people who brought her into the world. After clearing her mind and processing the question, Harriet hummed, casting Yuu an unfathomable sidelong glance. She had never known a one-word question could hold so much potential weight. At least, not until now. But how to explain…?

Letting out a long tired sigh as the fingers of her free hand surreptitiously started tapping rhythmically on the bedcovers beside her in a beat uncannily similar to the last song she overheard Marie play on his strings, the witch explained, "That's where this gets complicated, Yuu. You'll just have to wait until I've finished explaining Yuriko's background."

Kanda huffed, and in Harriet's expert opinion, if he were any less of a man, he would have pouted like a child, "Fine."

Harriet didn't bother to hide the exasperated roll of her eyes, still she continued, "Your Mother had been mainly reared in a motherless household due to your grandmother passing away from illness a few months after she was born. I remember you had mentioned she had been raised with an older brother – Akio I think his name was – who had trained in the ways of the sword by your grandfather. Yuriko was expected to become a wholesome young flower, but apparently she didn't grow up the way your grandfather wanted."

She smirked, "She ended up being a spitfire, unwilling to be swayed by society's standards. You've always made snarky remarks about you got your attitude from her back when we would be confronted by offended rich snobs who demanded respect they never even earned."

Kanda snorted, damn proud of this Yuriko woman who had once been his mother, then paused, a thought occurring to him. "…What did I look like back then? What resemblance did I have to… to my parents?"

"You had showed me an old photo once," Harriet said wistfully, casting a glance over her swordsman's face, seeing a shadow of the man she once knew behind that beautiful visage. The comparison between then and now was… bittersweet but thankfully getting more bearable with each passing day, "You resembled your father, mostly, scruffy blond hair, average height, somewhat stocky build, you had Yuriko's eyes though and most of her facial features, though your face had been sharper in comparison," she explained. "You've still got those eyes, I think when they made these new bodies for us they must have used genetic material from our original ones – probably so our brains would be more combatable with them during the transfer process – hence why you surprisingly still have them."

Kanda grunted in morbid amusement. Well. That was stupidly convenient.

"So she trained herself then?" he guessed, still unable to let go of the fact that the way of the sword was apparently something he shared with his mother.

Harriet shook her head and clarified, "Akio apparently trained her in secret, at least until your grandfather found out and took away the sword she had been using for practice. You always thought that Akio must've approved of her proud spirit."

Another pause, one filled with consideration. "Yuu, just to warn you, this is where – "

"Alma," Kanda gave her a severely unimpressed look, "We are soldiers in a fucking Biblical War. I can handle it."

"Right. That was pretty stupid of me. Moving on," Harriet cleared her throat, "Anyways around the time Akio had established himself as a skilled samurai – a part of the final generation of true Samurai – he had apparently met another samurai whom he fell in love with. Your grandfather was against it, as he had already arranged a marriage for his only son so he could continue their family line. There were many arguments. Your mother took your Uncle's side and that simply pissed off the old man even more. "

"The night Akio was planning to elope with his lover, the poor man had collapsed from an unknown ailment bleeding from the mouth. He… he didn't survive through the night. And Akio fled the house in heartbroken devastation, leaving his younger sister behind to bury the body in his stead."

"It was never proven but you mentioned that your Mother had suspected foul play on her father's part. Likely some kind of poison," she admitted, a darker tone simmering underneath her words. The look on her face said she would love nothing more than to sock his mother's father in the teeth.

Kanda shared her sentiment, in all honesty if he had met his grandfather right here, right now? The guy wouldn't last two seconds.

"Sometime later, your Uncle returned, but he was not the same man he once was."

That got his attention. Kanda narrowed his eyes at her, a niggling suspicion building up in the back of his mind. "Go on."

"When Yuriko arrived in Russia, she had apparently claimed that her family had been slaughtered by a Youkai and that Japan was being infested with all kinds of demons masked with human faces," the witch admitted. "No one believed her and even Dmitry had been skeptical when he first he first heard Yuriko's story, at least until those very same Youkai she described literally flew up to his shoreline and tried to blast him with poisonous bullets."

"Anyways, Yuu, when Akio returned, he transformed into something inhuman and started to slaughter everyone in sight, storming through the village until he finally found the target he'd been allegedly looking for, an old man who stood outside the threshold of his home armed with the very same sword he took from Yuriko. Your Grandfather had tried to fight against the monster but the sword was shattered by a barrage of bullets and he ended up being beheaded on the spot."

"Yuriko had witnessed this happen, and was forced to back peddle into her home when the creature began to pursue her as well. She also told you that when the demon had turned to her with eyes full of malice and hunger, dragging your grandfather's severed head across the tatami floor by his hair – like some kind of spiteful prize – she had grabbed the only thing within reach, an old heirloom, your grandmother's favourite jade kanzashi. Then she viciously stabbed the creature in the eye socket, unwilling to die without avenging her father's murder and releasing Akio's walking corpse from possession, even if it meant she would have to drag the monster into the grave alongside her."

"That was when the so called Youkai disintegrated, leaving behind ashes and dust and what should've been a mere hair ornament. Instead there was a sword in place of the accessory. Your Mother felt a kinship with this sword, enough so that when more of those monsters came after her, demanding she give it to them or face death, she choose to wield it against the dark creatures, slaughtering them in mass numbers and refusing to die by their hands. Even on the run, Yuriko still kept it with her. And when she met Dmitry and eventually had you, she continued to fight, perhaps even more passionately considering that she had a new family to protect."

"She passed away from a weakened immune system when you were about… seventeen or eighteen. Your father had been killed just weeks before by a man who had wanted to blackmail her into giving up the sword so he could collect a substantial reward from an unknown benefactor. Losing Dmitry had taken its toll on her and when she was gone, you found that you were able to wield her sword just as she did. Later on, the Black Order finally caught up to you after hearing tales about a mystic samurai who had been slaughtering Akuma for years on end."

"Yuu… when you first joined up with the Order, you pieced together the puzzle that Yuriko was never able to figure out. When your Uncle had been grieving over the young man he had fancied so soon after he passed away, he was most certainly visited by the Millennium Earl while he was on the run and full of devastation. And after making that damned deal, Akio had been reborn as an Akuma. The very same Akuma that attacked the village and killed your grandfather. And that jeweled kanzashi? It wasn't ornamented with jade. It was Innocence. Innocence that your mother invoked with her resolve and forged it into a sword through sheer force of stubborn will. A sword she had used to wield against countless Akuma whom she had thought was simply Youkai. A sword she had named Mugen," Kanda was staring at his blade in jarring realization that he didn't even bother to suppress, and Harriet smiled grimly, "you understand what this means now?"

"Your mother, Yuriko, was your predecessor. She was Mugen's first wielder," she squeezed his hand in assurance as he turned to look back at her, with those dark eyes inherited from a remarkable woman long gone from this world, "And that sword, to you, was her legacy."

000

Kanzashi – a Japanese hair ornament.

AN: Okay I'm cutting it off here, because I can't write anymore without risking my finals. I need to pass my classes. I had something else planned for this chapter but of fucking course Kanda went and hijacked the whole thing. Why must that character be so uncooperative even in my own head? Anyways, yeah I made a family for our favourite Swordsman, tragic backstory and all. Please ASK FIRST if you want to use them for your own fics. And credit me too.

….Also what did you guys think of it? This is my first time using OCs so I'm pretty sure I messed up somewhere. If anyone is curious, Yuriko's description goes a little like this: short, buff, beautiful, with a sharp Midnight gaze and an even sharper tongue. She also has long ass hair that she adamantly refuses to cut, no matter how many times it gets caked with blood and gore. Poor Dmitry, he never stood a chance. LOL. Other facts I wasn't able to put include: Dmitry has a scruffy beard and a rugged weatherbeaten face. The guy that killed Dmitry was a Broker. And yes, Past!Yuu was raised witnessing many Akuma try to attack his family, only he had originally assumed that they were Youkai as well.

Also imagine a tiny Past!Yuu-chan strapped to his Father's chest, watching avidly as his Mother takes down a bunch of level twos and threes, like a goddamn boss. Do it. Because the image is already stuck in my head and it's surprisingly sickeningly adorable.