"Allen. Look, a kid."

The first thing Agito saw once he opened his heavy eyelids was a figure with ponytails, bent down gazing at him. His hazed over brain mistook the figure as the irritating glasses girl who was infatuation with Crow—Ringo, was it? Suddenly Agito registered a throbbing pain akin to a piston hammering away at the inside of his skull. Massive head pains aside, his joints felt bruised and battered as well, even though he hadn't been in any parts wars recently. Maybe the achy feeling was because he hadn't been in any parts wars recently. A groan slipped past his chapped lips and he attempted to sit up. His arms wobbled, refusing to hold up his meager body weight.

Another figure appeared in his vision, and Agito squinted his eyes, trying to make out the new figure against the light shining behind them. The figure turned to the girl, gestured to Agito, and asked, "Lenalee, I think we should move them out of the sun?"

The girl nodded. Both figures grabbed ahold of Agito and helped him to get under a shady tree in an upright position with his back leaning against the rough bark. This position let the blood flow better through his body. Everything still ached but at least he wasn't embarrassing himself trying to sit up anymore.

"Who are you?" His own voice sounded foreign to his ears, weak and gravelly. The question got the attention of the duo in front of him. With the shade of the tree aiding him, Agito attempted to make out the strangers' appearances better. Immediately he realized that there weren't just two strangers, but four who were all positioned around him. They all wore matching colored clothes on with weird cross patches on them—possibly their team symbol?

A sudden he noticed an empty feeling on hid back and he bolted upright. Where was his bag? The last thing he remembered was walking back from another boring day at school with his bag holding the Fang Regalia. Agito didn't trust leaving the Regalia out of his sight, or away from his presence, so he had brought them to school. He wasn't going to have another repeat of the thievery of the Flame Regalia, not with his prized Fang Regalia.

"My name is Allen. This is Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda," answered the white haired boy as he gestured to each of the other strangers in turn. Even though he had asked the question, right now Agito couldn't care any less about putting names to faces, he just wanted to find his backpack.

"Where the fuck is my backpack?" His eyes darted around wildly, searching for his bag. It wasn't in a place where he could see from this angle. Agito glared at the group of people, silently threatening them to speak up or die by his hand. The redhead with a pirate eyepatch over his right eye, recently identified as Lavi, leaned over Agito and grinned.

"Oh you mean this?" Lavi waving the backpack in Agito's face like shark bait. He snarled and bared his fangs at the redhead. If his body was too sore to bite at least he could bark and look angry.

"Give it to me, you fucking pirate."

The redhead scrunched up his nose in distaste at being called a pirate, then shifted to put his weight on the other foot and tap his lip with his free hand. Shaking his head Lavi replied, "No. Sorry, kiddo. Not until you ask nicely. And who are you calling a pirate? You have an eyepatch too!"

"Give it to me," Agito repeated in a stern and commanding tone, getting more and more agitated by the moment. If he was pushed far enough he might just take it by force, despite his bodily aches of protest. Agito hadn't already used his favored 'by force' method because he wasn't sure if there were more of these people. Under normal circumstances he could handle a large group, but right now they held his Air Trek and his body was not in optimal condition.

"Ah, well I guess you'll never get it then." The pirate redhead, as Agito so kindly decided to named him, tauntingly held the bag high in the air. Having his bag held at a height he couldn't normally reach while standing just proved to further infuriate him.

"Give it the fuck back to me or you'll regret it. I'll-" Agito paused mid-threat. His older personality, Akito, had decided to poke his nose into Agito's harsh retrieval methods. Agito! Be nice. That's all you need to do to get back the Regalia. If you don't I'll intervene. It was a logical argument and Agito didn't want Akito's interference, so he relented and sighed. Glancing back up he noticed a hand waving back and forth in front of his face.

"Hey Kiddo are ya okay?"

He flinched away from Lavi's hand and retorted, "I'm fucking fine, and don't call me a kid!"

Lavi rolled his eyes, and shook the bag in front of Agito again. He could hear the Regalia clink from inside. "Anyway, do ya still want this bag? Or can I keep it?"

Sucking up his pride Agito groaned and visibly cringed as he begrudgingly spoke in a more kind tone. "Please give me my bag."

"Sure thing." The easygoing answer managed to pissed off Agito more than having to say please did. The way his words had been treated like nothing made him furious; it was practically against his very being to be nice, and to a stranger no less. With a smile Lavi returned the bag and asked, in a mocking tone, "Now that wasn't too hard was it?"

Snatching the bag from the redhead, Agito held it to his chest and refused to give Lavi the satisfaction of a reaction. Now that he wasn't preoccupied with getting his Air Trek, Agito remembered the severe pounding in his skull. It really hurt. Actually it was getting worse as time stretched on. The longer he tried to think clearly, the more prominent the throbbing became. Suddenly his vision blurred and his mind swam as he blacked out.

Warm sunlight bathed his face and Agito's golden eye shot open. He blinked a couple times to get used to the harsh light, and noticed he was no longer outside under a tree surrounded by strangers. Soaking in the new scenery Agito sat up and pushed off a red blanket that had been laid across his body.

The first thing he noticed was that the tiny room he was in reeked mold and dirt. All of the furniture, which included a dresser missing two of its drawers, a wardrobe with no doors, and the creaky bed he currently sat on, was covered in dust and cobwebs. The floorboards were splintered, the door was so cracked that it didn't even fit into its frame properly and its hinges were rusted red. The window, or what was left of it, was grimy and foggy, letting in dusty rays of light.

Once again Agito found himself in a very familiar search for the backpack holding his A-T—Air Trek—finding them at the foot of the bed. He quickly grabbed his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder as he got to his feet. Bare skin met slivered wood and he winced before shoving his feet into grey sneakers and crossing the room to the thin slab of wood called a door. With a little more force than intended, Agito opened the door and hushed the whining hinges.

The short hallway was empty except for a rickety old staircase leading to the place's downstairs. As quietly as he could he made his way to the next floor down, every footfall followed by light thuds. At the base of the staircase Agito paused, hearing voices talking in the room over.

"So do you think the kid's an Akuma? Ya know one of the new ones Komui mentioned."

He recognized the voice of that annoying redhead pirate. Peering around the wall he saw a male with white hair—Allen—standing next to a petite girl with pigtails—Lenalee. Agito scooted farther out from his hiding spot to see who else was in the room. Across a small marble counter stranded in the middle of what smelled like a kitchen stood that redhead pirate and a long haired man—Kanda.

"And how would I know Lavi? Remember that my eye didn't activate last time or the two other times before. What makes you think I would know? Or did that photographic memory of yours finally give out and leave you normal like the rest of us?"

Lavi made a face of mock hurt and clutched his chest, pretending to be stabbed in the heart. The other three sighed, obviously all too familiar with the redhead pirate's dramatic shenanigans. Lenalee turned, probably to find a seat and spotted Agito, who felt and probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"How are you feeling?" The small girl took a couple steps closer to Agito. He thought that was a particularly dumb question to ask, after all how else would he feel after waking up in a decrepit building with strange people.

"Where the fuck am I? And why are you trying to keep me here?" He wasn't a fan of being locked up, caged in or anything that restricted his freedom to do what he wanted when he wanted to. As soon as he had been spotted the two tallest, Lavi and Kanda, moved to guard the door. As if in his current state Agito could do much more than stub his toe and complain.

"We're in a cottage west of a small town," answered Lenalee kindly, trying to calm his obvious rage. Her hands were held out in front of her as if to prob the tense space before Agito.

He glared at her with his slit shape pupil, and pushed past her, heading for the door behind Kanda and Lavi. He wouldn't let two people stop him. The last time someone stood in his way it had been the some of the Wingstorm G-men force including his brother, and he had gotten past all fifteen of them. He stared up at Kanda and Lavi, determined to leave.

"Move." When the pair didn't abide by his order he tried to force his way past, which wasn't successful at all. Agito growled and tried again and again. By the sixth time the small pigtailed girl intervened, grabbing Agito's wrist and having him sit down in a kitchen chair.

"What do you want from me?!" If they wouldn't let him leave then he was going to get answers. Agito slouched in the chair and gave it his all not to make another vain run to the door. Being caged up always served to put his mind in a frenzy, while practically shutting down Akito, and in the end those were not good combinations for them to have. "What are these 'Akuma' you all were yapping about earlier?"

Allen, Lenalee and Lavi exchanged looks with silent messages attached. The group had probably assumed that he hadn't heard the conversation he just referenced. Agito hoped that this wasn't one of those moments that pass before a movie-esque 'now that you know we have to kill you' thing happened because right now he felt a little ill equipped to handle such a situation.

Minutes passed till Allen spoke up. "Akuma are human souls brought back to life by the Millennium Earl. The souls he brings back is forced to wear the skin of the loved one who requested the Earl's services. The Earl uses the Akuma to kill more people so the cycle can continue."

The aura of the room became grim and full of despair after Allen finished explaining. Agito wasn't sure if this was all some big joke or an occultist idea. After all, the explanation had been a little bit too other worldly for his tastes. He frowned and pushed for more information. "And what does that have to do with me?"

Again Allen, Lenalee and Lavi shared a look and Agito was beginning to think that they really were making this all up. He didn't have time for jokes, well rehearsed or not. He had to meet up with the rest of Kogarasumaru for their first Parts War after beating Sora Takeuchi. They had barely met up after the fight because Crow and Beanpole had wanted alone time to hangout with their new found girlfriends—Ringo and Emily, respectively.

This time Lenalee hesitantly answered Agito's question. "N-Nothing. We're just concerned about your health. After all you did pass out on us."

"Well I'm better now so I'll be going," he replied quickly and stood up. Immediately his path to freedom was barred. He clicked his tongue and ran back up the old stairs. If the door wasn't an option, then he would take a window. As he neared the top step Agito could hear footfalls right behind him. He bolted into the room he had woken up in and glanced back to see Lavi and Allen in the doorway as if they had always been there.

Suddenly Allen's left eye changed into a gear, whirling and clicking. Expressions changed and then the roof of the building was caving in. Agito's arm got caught under a wooden support beam, but besides that he was mostly unscathed. While he tried to get free from the corner of his eye he picked up flashes of purple in the sky, and turned to see what was going on. Large bulb like creatures floated in the air, shooting purple bullets at those four people.

"Agito I think those things are those Akuma they mentioned before." Akito's intuition was usually spot on, and Agito had no way of refuting the idea, so he accepted the assumption.

Agito watched the fight from where he was trapped. A giant hammer crashed down onto one of the balloon creatures and at the other end was Lavi. Then Lenalee flew into the air and slammed her foot through the next grey balloon. To the left of them were Kanda and Allen. A long katana was used by Kanda to cut through the creatures, while Allen used a large flat sword. Agito noticed that Allen's left arm was missing, a stump with a cross on it was all that was left of the appendage.

The balloon creatures were on the ropes and seemed to be almost completely gone. Done with watching the fight, Agito returned to focusing on freeing his arm. He pulled as hard as he could, and eventually tugged his arm free. Quickly standing, he gripped the strap of his backpack tight and jumped from the rubble that was now the second floor of the building.

The ground rushed to greet him and he made a wobbly but solid landing. From behind him he heard someone yell, but ignored it. Suddenly he was pushed to the ground; turning around he saw Kanda standing over him. Faint black stars appeared on the taller man's arm, and Agito frowned, not exactly sure what was going on or why he had been pushed to the ground. Then behind Kanda he saw Lavi's giant hammer destroy the last floating balloon.

His eyes trailed back to Kanda's arm; the stars were quickly fading into nonexistence. Kanda then picked him up by his collar. Agito was not going to be obedient and let himself get dragged away. Sinking his fangs into the pale arm, he bit hard, which in turn made Kanda drop him for a moment. Even before his feet hit the ground he was running. The faster he got away the better chance he had of slipping on his A-T and getting the hell away from these weirdos.

Thuds behind him made it clear that the foursome were following him.