DGM: The lesson

It was really too bad that the train was crowed, leaving the group with only two booths to accommodate themselves in. This was a problem; each booth sat two people comfortably. There were six of them, not 4. Normally no one would care, it wasn't as if two of those in the group were small, but that wasn't the problem.

The problem was before they'd all been forced to go on another mission, Eri and Kanda had had another fight, causing them both not to want to be within the others eye sight. However, the situation at hand wouldn't allow for such a drastic measure. And honestly, there was no way to compromise with the two, adding for a strange seating arrangement.

Eri, refusing to sit by anyone but her younger cousin, was forcing Allen to sit by Kanda. And everyone knew that wasn't the brightest idea, but as long as they could keep one of the two calm, it wouldn't matter really. So Lavi took a seat in the middle of the booth, leaving Eri by the window and Bookman near the isle.

"Soo…." Lavi whistled, trying to spark some kind of conversation, not that it was awkward sitting between two currently unspeaking people.

No one answer, for fear of being shot down by either of the angry exorcists. It was funny, Lavi always thought, that a small girl with head covered in long red hair could have such a fiery and defensive attitude, while a man who was tall and muscular, having long blue hair, could have such a cold and offensive attitude.

"Not that I mean to bring this up or anythin', but ain't we suppose' to be going over this missiony thing?" Lavi said, waving a pamphlet in Eri's face. She glared at it with one open eye, her green one that had a black mark running under it.

She wasn't reluctant to get up, showing at how quickly she did, pushing her head away from the window and taking the colored paper. She opened it and quickly scanned it, both eyes open now.

"Sounds like any other mission to me," she huffed, "'losta akuma, go see what's going on,'" Her voice was dull as she tossed the pamphlet back to her red headed cousin.

"But why would they send all four of us?" Allen inquired, flipping through his own pamphlet. "There must be some kind of reason…" the white haired exorcist was their other smaller-than-normal exorcist. Not that he was underdeveloped or anything, just short.

"As Eri has so blatantly said, this is an overpopulation of akuma in one place problem," Lavi grumbled, "but there's been some weird things going around too."

"Like what?" Allen asked, curious as a 15 year old boy could get.

Lavi only shrugged, pointing to Bookman as if to say "he knows but won't tell me."

More silence fell over the group of exorcists. However it was far from quiet, as the entire train was babbling about things that seemed to only distract the exorcists from what they were supposed to be focused on: the akuma and the problem. No one was willing to speak either, leaving it to feel most uncomfortable.

After a few minutes though, they got back to talking, and if nothing else it was about the mission at hand. When in doubt, talk about work, something Eri had always gone by. That kind of conversation was incredibly easy to start up.

"Going back to what Allen said, I'm sure there has to be a reason we were all sent. You think that means there's that many akuma?" Eri asked, leaning forward onto her knees.

"There could be," Lavi shrugged, "or just somethin' so strong Komui doubts us," he laughed. Eri looked up at him and smiled.

One more minute of the so called "twins" babbling and Kanda thought he was going to explode. Eri may be easy to ease into a laughing fight, but he wasn't even one to want to listen to it. Of course, he had to compose himself, using every ounce of discipline still in his body to keep himself from strangling them. He would later, not when there was an entire train of witness.

Eri giggled, "Hey look, Lavi, I think Kanda's still mad," She leaned over to Lavi's shoulder, laughing along with Bookman Jr.

Kanda could only glare at the laughing redheads from the corner of his eye. How much longer did they have until they'd reach their destination? God tell him that it wasn't much longer. Of course, he could only hope. They actually had about an hour left on the train. An hour? Kanda breathed in and out slowly. He could get through that much. Well he thought he could until Lavi and Eri had dragged Toma, the finder, and Allen into their conversation. Of course the only thing these four could talk about was completely unintelligent things.

The hour finally passed, too bad it felt the need to feel like a year. After removing themselves from the train station, they found themselves in a place truly of beauty. However, this is where things took another deep dive for the worse.

"You children can just stand there and continue to gawk," Kanda scoffed as he pushed his way passed them.

"Still as stuck up as ever I see," Eri joked, winking. "I guess I have all my proof to see that male PMS really is worse," she laughed, and so did Lavi.

Kanda growled, leaving them there to laugh.

Bookman sighed, "Perhaps we should get to work instead of standing around." Of course he would agree with the work side of things.

"Cool it, Gramps," Lavi said, "we can hang out for a few minutes, can't we?" He said his eye never leaving the sights before it.

They'd found themselves at a beach, almost acting as a sort of an island, though it wasn't to be mistaken for one. The ocean was a cool blue, matching the sky save one shade. The beach was full of people dressed in their bathing suits. And this beach, well that's where the three regarded as "children" wanted to go. However, they weren't that lucky.

Being dragged towards their hotel, pouting was really all they wanted to do. But Bookman and Kanda were right. They needed to get their work done. So all sitting around a round table in a café, they began to talk.

"Well so much for akuma," Eri started. "I haven't seen one! And according to Mr. Innocence," she pointed to her strangely colored hand, "there ain't even one within a mile of this place!"

"Seriously?" Lavi asked. "Don' tell me we came to the wron' place."

"No, we haven't," Bookman informed. "You see, since you refused to stop talking for a minute, I was unable to tell you what's been going on here."

"Sure, blame it on us," Allen said, laying his head down in his arms.

"Anyway, it appears the townspeople are completely oblivious as to what's going on. All they know is that they go to sleep, and in the morning a part of the town has been destroyed. Sometimes people disappear even," Bookman said, ignoring Allen's whiney comment.

"Basically," Kanda said, "the akuma aren't here during the day."

"We got that," Eri rolled her eyes. "But that means they have to hole up somewhere during the day, right?"

"We're not sure," Bookman confessed. "We're not even sure why this is happening. There have been no signs of innocence except the masses of akuma."

"Strange," Lavi mumbled, putting his hand to his chin, "could it not be innocence that's attracting the akuma here?"

"Oh," Toma said, as if he'd suddenly remembered something, "I've just come up with the reason I believe."

"Yeah?" Eri asked.

"When I was last here, I had to say alert to watch, and I took notice of several level 2 akuma. While I watched them, it appeared they happened to be enjoying themselves."

"Really?" Allen sat up straight, "Akuma, plaguing a town just for the fun of it?"

"That does seem a bit odd…" Bookman pondered.

"We should probably…you know…stake out tonight," Eri suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, now can we get some food," Allen said, holding his red hand to his stomach. "I'm starving!"

After they shared a laugh, they being Allen, Lavi, and Eri, they ordered some food. The destination after that was the hotel. However, instead of getting whatever rest they should've been, neither Eri, neither Lavi, nor Allen wanted to sit in the stuffy room for very long. It was hotter in there than it was outside. They all wanted to go to the beach, even if all they could do was sit there, seeing as how no one had actually brought anything to swim in.

No amount of arguing from Kanda or Bookman could keep these three "rebellious children" in the hotel any longer. Without a single mumble or sign of approval, they escaped as fast as they could; leaving their comrades to wonder why they'd even bothered with an argument.

With the sun shining and the wind blowing, it was a rather cool day. Not to mention there was a refreshing mist blowing from the ocean. A rock was decided to be their place of rest. It was a large and the three exorcists could easily sit around it. Neither of the three was still wearing those stuffy uniforms. They'd discarded them before they made their escape. It made things much much easier and a lot less hot.

"I love getting out of work," Eri mused.

Lavi chuckled, "Yeah, it's fun. Though I don' get to do it much."

"I just don't do it," Allen replied.

"Ah whatevs," Eri shrugged before folding her arms behind her head. A contented sigh released itself from her lips, and she knew this mission couldn't be a total bust if things stayed like this.

"Trouble is coming," Allen told his red headed companions, ruining Eri's Zen like state.

"Trouble…?" Eri asked, opening her brown eye.

Kanda, still wearing his exorcist uniform and having Mugen attached to his back, sat down in the sand. He didn't say anything; he just looked forward, almost as if he was watching the people on the beach.

"What do you want?" Lavi asked, leaning back onto the rock.

Kanda said nothing. Lavi couldn't help but be annoyed with Kanda silence. He'd come down there, he must have had some reason for it. However, the growl erupting from Lavi's gut didn't edge Kanda onto an explanation any faster than his own pace permitted. Or perhaps he was just enticed by the almost setting sun, or the playing humans on the beach. Whatever it was, Kanda wasn't answering the question.

After more silence induced annoyance and prodding from his comrades, Kanda finally started to talk. Though it didn't seem in his best interest at the moment, no one really cared.

"You wanted to know why I'm here?" Kanda inquired.

"Yeah," Eri nodded.

"No reason, simple as that. Since all of these people are too stupid to see what's going on, that completely gets rid of the need to ask around, so I've found myself with nothing to do. Figured it wouldn't hurt to come down here."

"Wow," Eri scoffed, "would've never guessed that the notorious Yu Kanda would want to hang out with us . I would've never guessed."

Kanda shot her a glare.

"Oh sorry," she threw her hands up in sarcastic defense. She obviously was still upset from their argument back at the Order. And Kanda obviously didn't care as he turned back to watch the sun.

"Why do I feel like this is straight out of a movie," Lavi sighed, nibbling on his own lip.

Allen shrugged.

"You're just stupid," Kanda huffed angrily, though the anger was probably habit, he didn't appear to hate this.

"Well whatever it's from," Eri said, leaning forward onto her folded legs. She grabbed her feet and rocked a bit like a child, "It's not too bad." She broke off into strangely placed laughter, causing her three male companions to look at her.

"Just thinking, we're never like this, always at each other's throats!" she said, quickly grabbing Lavi's. Lavi fought back, pushing her off him and into the sand.

"I think it might be time for us to head back to the hotel," Allen threw in with his polite voice.

Eri rolled backwards; lifting her legs off the ground, then jumped forward onto her feet, "Then let's go you little boogers! First one back gets first dibs on a bed," She jumped up and started running.

"No fair!" Lavi said, scrambling to run after her, Allen followed, clearly enjoying this too. Kanda however, simply stood and began to walk up the small hill to the road; he was in no hurry to get back.

Early in the morning, or late at night? Which was it, Kanda didn't care. Being the last one to get to the hotel, he'd been blessed with the couch for a bed. This didn't bother him, as he wasn't getting any sleep as it was, a bed probably would've have helped.

With no clock to ease his mind, Kanda sat there, legs crossed, Mugen laid across his lap, with nothing to do but think. The darkness was really all there was to think about, and how he could apologize to Eri without actually apologizing to her. It served her right to get yelled at; she was 18 and acted as if she were a mere child.

"Just like her annoying cousin," Kanda thought blandly. Not caring to have either of the red heads enter his thoughts. It was strange as he couldn't help himself but turn to look at the two beds behind him. There were three beds in the room, the couch bed acting as a 4th. Bookman had gotten his own bed leaving only two left, but that was all Kanda knew since he didn't care to hear more than that. He was blatantly shocked to see that Lavi was also sprawled out in a bed alone.

His head jerked back to facing the wall, he didn't need to look to see where Eri was. For all he knew, she was curled up on one side of the bed, as far away from Allen as she could get. But Eri didn't hate Allen, they were best friends. It wouldn't be weird for them if they'd simply cuddled together to sleep. Anyone would've, there was an unwelcoming cold air hanging around. And now he was beside himself with curiosity, something strange for the samurai. He turned around just enough to see the remaining bed out of the corner of his eye. He jerked back immediately.

Eri and Allen were indeed not sleeping as far away as possible from each other, but more like together. In fact too together. For some reason beyond his own comprehension, Kanda was unnerved by the sight of Eri sleeping contently on Allen's chest, Allen's own red arm laying limp beside her while the other one rest behind his head. Kanda shut it out of his head and closed his eyes, attempting to sleep or at least meditate in the upright position.

BOOM </i>

Everyone was immediately woken up. And much to Kanda's subconscious dismay, Allen and Eri looked shocked the explosion, not the fact that she was still leaning on him, his arm now on her back.

"This is not the time for this," Eri grumbled, jumping out of bed. Of course, she was clad in her normal jeans and t-shirt, but she looked tired. As did everyone, but that didn't stop coats from being pulled on and weapons being grabbed.

"We don't know where the akuma are at this point," Allen pointed out, allowing his coat to hang open.

Eri nodded, "We'll go in groups then. Lavi you and bookman search the west side, we'll get the east."

Lavi nodded leaving with the old man.

Kanda muttered something unintelligible under his breath about the chosen group, but nonetheless, after a comment from Eri he didn't care to listen to, he, her, and Allen were off.

Funnily enough, they never really separated, as their twin akuma were standing on the beach, cackling about how they should blow the cliff side off. The exorcists were quick to respond, it being just the four of them now. Where did Bookman go? Well no one was awake enough to care.

Eri, with the companionship of Lavi and his giant hammer, was the first to attack. She spun her scythe rapidly, slamming it into the ground to force the blade out. She stopped short of the run while Lavi headed forward, making his hammer grow in size.

"Rei Houka!" She shouted, slicing through the air. Lavi was quick to get out of the way as the fire wave came crashing over the akuma, catching their attention.

"Oh ho ho," the one on the left said, scratching its head with a long claw, "look what we have."

"Some exorcists," the other finished with a cackle.

"What do you say we have some fun with them?" the other replied, reaching out to grab Lavi. It's large hand wrapped around Lavi's waist without hurting him. In the shock of being grabbed, Lavi dropped his hammer, making him curse as he tried to get free.

"I'd say that'd be fun," the other akuma moved swiftly as though it were roller blading. Instead of picking anyone up, as it "roller bladed" towards them it simply hit each of them onto the beach with its flailing arms.

Feeling stupid that they let themselves be thrown into the sand, Kanda, Eri, and Allen stood up, thankful not to be hurt. The roller blading akuma then came back to its twin. Lavi was promptly dropped on his rear. The two akuma joined hands and turned to the exorcists, each ready to fight.

However, that chance never came, as the next thing the exorcists knew, they were forcing themselves to sit up in the bright light of the next afternoon. They people at the beach seemed to pay no attention to them.

Kanda stood up, still half dazed from the bright light that had shut them all out. He brushed the sand off his uniform, to be very surprised that it felt a bit baggy…too baggy for his liking. He really hadn't had the observation prowess needed to understand why, so he just stood there, not bothering to wake up his fellow exorcists, who he wasn't even looking at.

One by one, they all woke up, not paying attention to the other. All seemed to be in their own little world with the way they were feeling. Being too wrapped up in what seemed to be awkwardness, there was no need to care. However, that changed when Eri finally got over her weird feeling to look up at her standing companions.

She looked up at the three males, only to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing. They looked at her, not noticing anything that could've been different about her. However, since they were all standing up, Eri noticed everything that was different on them. Each male exorcist, instead of looking like themselves, was "equipped" with more "girlish" features.

Eri then suddenly couldn't hold herself any longer and burst into laughter, however she was immediately horrified by the sound of her own voice. Instead of medium pitched and flowery, it seemed to be several octaves lower and have more of a mannish flare to it. She immediately knew what was wrong.

"What's so funny?" Allen asked, not sounding different enough for him to notice it.

"L-look down," Eri whispered, trying to not let them notice her voice. And so one by one, her male companions looked down, Lavi and Kanda dismayed to see that they could no longer see their feet. Allen however, was lucky enough to be relatively small.

"What the fuck is this!?" Kanda shouted, immediately covering his mouth. His voice had once been deep and menacing, now it was high pitched, sounding a lot like Lenalee's.

Eri pushed herself off the ground. Her face suddenly had a very…uncomfortable look on it. She could only mutter one sentence, "This is awkward," She said, looking down.

"There you four are…" Bookman said, coming up upon the group; however his voice trailed off when he looked at the four he saw. He didn't see a strong and angry Kanda. He saw a concerned prideful female who happened to LOOK like Kanda with her long blue hair and blue eyes to match. He looked to where his goofy but smart apprentice would've been standing, but instead he saw a prankster female who did look like Lavi, a little too much. And in Allen's wake was an even smaller female, hands behind her back as she looked curious. And in Eri's stead, there was a full blown man. Bookman couldn't compose himself enough to not look totally shocked at what he saw.

"Wh-what happened?" he asked, stuttering even though he never did.

"I dunno," Eri said, her mannish voice still scaring her a bit. "We were almost fighting these two akuma, but next thing we know, we're waking up on the beach… AND I'M A GUY!!" She then began to babble about how uncomfortable she felt as a guy and how hot she was getting since her hair was no longer in it's nice pony-tail and how weird it was going to be to go to the bathroom and do all that normal stuff she always did. After she dropped down into the sand and stopped talking, the others followed her lead and dropped down too. What else were they supposed to do?

"I like girls," Lavi said, "I didn't want to be one!" he was partly referencing that he had been cursed with slightly larger breasts than he would've EVER been comfortable with.

"You think this could be the fault of the akuma?" Allen asked, tilting his head to the right. He seemed the least affected by the gender-swap on an emotional level. But it was still obvious he felt a little top heavy.

"No duh, Beansprout!" Kanda snapped, not sounding nearly as threatening as he would've liked. Actually he sounded more like a bitchy teenager than anything.

"Well what are we supposed to do about this!?!" Lavi whined, sounding more like a girl than he did the minute before.

Bookman, sadly, didn't give Lavi an answer, only stood there in wonder himself.

Eri sighed, "God I feel awkward," she shifted her legs around, trying to find a position that she wouldn't die in.

"Well…I'm not sure how this even happened," Bookman admitted, "nor am I sure of how to fix it."

"How about we just bash those damn akuma," Kanda said, punching his own hand.

Eri couldn't help but laugh about how girlish that sounded; Kanda glared at her.

"That's at least a start…" Bookman pondered the situation more.

"Don't tell me you're gonna suggest we THINK ABOUT THIS!!" Lavi shouted, standing up. "I'm a freaking girl! I don't wanna think about this! This is WEIRD! It FEELS weird!" and instead of yelling as he would've hoped, he was shrieking.

"I'm sure it does, just calm down, Lavi." Bookman waved his hand for Lavi to sit back down, which he did, even more annoyed than he had been when he stood up. He crossed his arms over his chest, pouting like he'd just been grounded.

"Anyway," Eri said, clearing her voice to absolutely no avail.

Allen stood up, "Perhaps we should…find some more suitable clothes for the time being…ones that won't be falling off us or…too tight," he referenced the fact his uniform was falling off his shoulder and Eri's appeared to be too tight around her middle. After all, how could they hope to win if they were too busy dealing with the clothes, none of which fit correctly anymore.

"That should be the first thing we do. Afterwards we can go squash these akuma," Eri smirked.

"I'll kill'em twice," Kanda mumbled, standing up.

Since not even their own casual clothes fit right, they were forced to spend the rest of their money to actually buy some clothes. Thankfully they were going to be able to return them, just not for a full refund. That was irritating, but it was better than having clothes too big or too small during battle.

The more annoying thing was that their transformations weren't blessed with the correct types of underwear, meaning they couldn't just change and be on their way. While one person changed in the bathroom, the other three sat outside in the room. The first person to change was Eri; she was done quickly.

When she returned, she was wearing her normal boots along with black pants and a button up shirt. Annoyed that this is what she had to wear, she took a seat on her bed, crossing her arms. Allen went to change next and came back out quickly too. Again he seemed a little too calm, but that was probably just his way of dealing with it, as Kanda's was homicidal and Lavi just screamed or shrieked as his voice was still getting higher.

When Lavi went in to change, he did not come out so quickly. In fact, about after 3 minutes, he called after Eri. She was utterly confused but walked into the bathroom anyway to help him with whatever it was.

When they came out, Lavi was red with his arms crossed over his chest, and Eri was slapping her forehead continually. When they both sat down, Allen asked Eri what that was about, as she was still slapping her forehead. She didn't answer him exactly.

"I swear if this EVER happens again I'm not going to be around to help you and you're problems," she grumbled.

"S-sorry…" Lavi said, uncharacteristically red and meek.

Eri sighed, "Well I can't blame you either way." She brought her knees up to her chest, but dropped them immediately as it still felt a little weird to her to have something between her legs.

"I still don't get it," Allen complained, lying down on his back.

Eri chuckled, sounding more like Kanda had before he became a girl, "you're not supposed to."

Allen just looked at her, still not getting any drift or hints she was giving off. It couldn't be helped though, being 15 he was the most innocent out of the rest of his friends.

Kanda was the next to go in to be changed. And though he did take almost as long as Lavi had, he didn't once lower himself to asking Eri for any help with his problems. Sure that would've gotten the cursed bra on faster, but that didn't mean Kanda was still ready to swallow his own pride to go kill akuma any faster. No, he'd rather struggle than ask the red headed nuisance for help.

"Hey look…she finally returns," Lavi smirked, using his words wisely.

Kanda stared at him, "Yeah? Why don't you go look at yourself in the mirror."

Lavi glared at him but did as he was told. He hopped off the bed and looked at himself in the mirror. He returned only to fall on the bed and burry his head under the pillows.

"What's wrong?" Eri asked.

"I LOOK LIKE A GIRL!" Lavi complained. In fact, he was looking more like a girl as the minutes passed. His hair had grown longer and was now shoulder length. Instead of good looking with his headband on, he looked incredibly cute. Not only that, but his neck wasn't as thick and his lips were thicker. If anyone who didn't know Lavi was born a guy, they'd think he'd always been a girl.

Allen walked over to the side of the bed, his hands behind his back. Funnily enough, Allen didn't make a horrible girl either. Being what one would call petite, he didn't have the selection of pants that Lavi and Kanda had, so he had on a skirt that didn't pass his mid-thigh. Along with that, he'd chosen a sort of hoodie shirt with long sleeves. His hair hadn't gotten longer, but it was flowing outwards.

"Lavi?" Allen asked his voice much higher than before.

"What?" Lavi mumbled. He was refusing to show his face.

"If we're right about this, if we kill the akuma this'll go away. We can't kill them if you're in here sulking."

"I don't care," Lavi said. "You can kill them without me. I refuse to leave this room."

"Now you're just being childish," Bookman cut in.

"Mmphh," Lavi gave as his reply. Acting still like a child who'd been grounded for a week.

Bookman sighed, "Then just leave him here. I'm sure it won't make a difference," And that was the end of that.

Lavi, feeling as if his power had just been underestimated, shot up with a glare on his face and pursed lips.

"Fine, I'll fight."

"Good," Eri said, and no one actually knew it was her. She grabbed her scythe from the couch and held it tightly in her hands as she smirked. She could never again be mistaken for a weak little girl as right now she looked much more like a strong man. It didn't help that her hair was down either.

"Let's go kill the fuckers who did this to us. Before this starts to feel any more awkward," with that last sentence, she was far from the strong man she looked like but was closer to the grumbling teenager she acted like.

Outside of town, it didn't take long to find the twin akuma. Eri's hand made it easy to assess how far they were from the akuma. And from all Eri knew about her own innocence, they weren't in for just two akuma.

"Hey look!" the akuma's raspy voice rang out and echoed through the cave walls.

"It's our exorcist friends!" a new one shouted.

"Don't they all look so much better~"

"Ok this is getting on my nerves," Eri grumbled, spinning her staff and pounding it into the ground. The perfectly silver blade protruded through the air and came to a stop to complete the look.

The roller blading akuma laughed and its laugh was shrill and amused, "I think whitey's cute," it snickered some more.

Allen hadn't activated his anti-akuma weapon yet, and instead of doing so he took the more girly approach and hid himself behind Eri.

"Oh that's unfair~" it snickered again.

"No worries," a new one said its voice low and seductive, "I'll take him out of your way."

"Oh god you have no idea how gay this is," Eri said, her face showing just how unimpressed that she was being scouted by an akuma, had been called a man, and was protecting a petite Allen.

"I'm sure we've all got our eye on one," the raspy one said before clapping its clawed hands together.

When the bright light cleared, poor Allen found himself alone in the cave with that roller blading akuma. And he still didn't activate his anti-akuma weapon. He just stood there, his knees shaking as if he were too scared to do anything. This spell hadn't just warped their image, but who they were.

The akuma then suddenly morphed down into a human. Instead of a large faceless monster with wheels for feet, it had become a young man about the age of 20. He had short brown hair coupled along with ocean blue eyes and a smile that came straight from the sun. His arms weren't thin, but not quiet muscular either. They showed clearly though the green shirt the akuma wore.

"I'm sure this form is much better?" he titled his head to the side. He questioned just to make sure he hadn't scared his prey too bad.

Allen still didn't answer. He was trying to "un-scare" himself remembering Eri's dry humor that this situation was "so gay." Sadly, no matter how many times those words rang through his mind, Allen wasn't getting any less scared.

"That's too bad," The akuma sighed, pursing his lip. "I thought I was pretty good looking this way," he pretended to fix his jaw.

Allen still couldn't bring himself to say a word; he only began to back up. Mentally he was kicking himself for acting like such a girl, but seeing as how he now was one now…it made a tiny bit of difference.

The akuma laughed, "Well if you're going to be a big baby about this, then this might just be the easiest battle I've ever fought," he chuckled as he quickly made his way towards Allen.

*

"Damn that hurt," Eri snarled as the light dimmed down. Her surroundings had changed, unlike Allen. She was standing in a large field, the akuma circling her. However, the akuma wasn't the large monster Eri remembered, instead a tall girl.

Eri cursed in her mind as she took her battle stance.

"My my, is that any way to treat a lady?" the akuma said.

"You do know that I'm one too, right?" Eri was beginning to question this herself though. Not that she really didn't know she was one, it was just she was getting too used to feeling like a man.

"Oh but what does that matter?"

Eri sighed and swung her scythe through the air, mumbling words.

The akuma screamed as explosions suddenly surrounded it, each one doing its own little bit of damage.

"So I see you don't wanna play," the akuma huffed, transforming back into its ugly self.

"No," Eri said, "I like my akuma to look ugly." Joking had always been a way to make an akuma mad, this one no different as it immediately ran at Eri. However, anger being its motive, it made it all too easy to step to the side and slash down its back.

It recoiled though, turning around and slicing through Eri's shirt, throwing her back into the grass. Eri scrambled back up just in time to block another attack. The akuma was swift, but Eri was swifter. She ducked underneath the akuma, flipping back up to her a feet before running. When the akuma turned around, it was surprised to see Eri no longer held her scythe.

"Giving up already?" the akuma snickered.

Eri just smirked as the akuma suddenly screamed as the silver and nearly indestructible blade ripped through its body.

"Nope," Eri replied to the explosion as she caught her scythe. "Just playing." She turned at her heel, following the path back down to the town.

*

Kanda pushed himself off the stone ground of the grotto and looked around. His boots clicked with every step he made. Not helping with making him forget how he looked. But that was immediately thrown to the back burner as he saw the assailant.

"Well well, m'lady," the raspy voice came from a suited man walked towards Kanda.

"I'm not a girl, ass hole," Kanda said, still kicking himself for sounding like one.

"You could've fooled me," the blonde man said, winking as he bent to be eye level with Kanda. His hand went wandering, placing itself on Kanda's chest. Though the original Kanda wouldn't have cared too much, this new female one did. He pulled Mugen out of its sheath and hit the handle right into the akuma's stomach, throwing it back.

"I do like'em feisty," The akuma said, standing up. The body began to bulge grotesquely before it blew from the pressure. It released the true akuma.

"Whatever," Kanda spat, sounding more bitchy than angry. He drew his sword, running his thin fingers along the blade. "Innocence activate!" He shouted as the blade grew blue for a moment.

Kanda charged, not wanting to let this monster live any longer. This battle wasn't going to be easy though. The akuma flung Kanda away from it using its tail. Kanda hit the ground hard, groaning as he struggled to get back up.

The akuma laughed, its horrible voice making Kanda angry. It was laughing at him for being weak. Weak. Had Kanda really gotten weaker? No, Kanda wouldn't allow himself to believe such foolery. He pushed himself off the ground and stood in a strong stance so he wouldn't waver.

"Kaichū: Ichigen!" he shouted. And from his blade came creatures from the underworld. Almost as if they were swimming through the air, they made their way to the akuma, cutting through enough to injure it.

In the time of weakness, Kanda ran at the akuma. He jumped into the air; bring his blade down on top of it; slicing it in half.

Somehow Kanda had anticipated a much harder battle, but if this was what he got, he couldn't complain. He stood up and began to walk away, the explosion behind him adding go the already present breeze.

*

That was it. Lavi couldn't get up anymore. After being thrown to the ground several times by this beast, he was tired and hurt. The blood was running down his chin from his mouth. And that was enough to tell him that he was hurt. He had to keep fighting though. With the things this akuma was threatening to do to him were far worse than death.

Lavi used his now small hammer to help lift himself into a sitting position. How was it he got stuck with the strongest of the four? Hardly fair to him. He stared up at to the akuma, anger in his eye.

The akuma only shrieked with laughter. It reached down to Lavi and grabbed his neck with his crab like claw. Lavi started to struggle as he was lifted higher into the air, his hammer long forgotten on the ground.

"L-Let me go!" Lavi protested, his body wriggling as his hands tried to get the almost rotting claw off him.

"I think not!" its shrieking voice seemed to be tearing at Lavi's ear drums. But how could that stop him now? He needed to get free!

"J-just put me down!" Lavi tried to scream.

The akuma seemed to be pondering that order. And it smirked and nodded. Only it didn't set the poor exorcist down, no it threw him to the ground. Lavi groaned, but he couldn't stop now. He quickly shot up and grabbed his hammer. It lifted it before bringing it down through the air as it grew. In one swift move, he'd killed the akuma. But so much for a flawless victory as Lavi dropped to a knee to catch his breath.

He sighed, this wasn't going to get any easier. And all he could do was fall onto the ground, hoping that they'd find him. And if they didn't? Well maybe when he woke up he wouldn't look like a female anymore. He could hope at least.

*

Eri and Kanda met up on the beach.  Given they were both still a bit angry with each other, but seeing as how the two sat at the beach for an hour and were not joined by a red head and Allen, they knew they were going to have to put their heads together to come up with a plan. That in itself wouldn't take long.

"I'll go find Allen, you go find Lavi," Eri shrugged, refusing to make eye contact with the now busty samurai.

"Whatever,' Kanda chirped, following Eri's example and not looking at her.

"See ya then," Eri pushed off the sandy ground and left. As Kanda watched her leave, he was dumbfounded as to why her scythe stuck to her back.

"Eri!" Kanda called, standing up.

"Hm?" She turned around, her long hair flowing out.

"N-nothing…" Kanda sighed, holding his hands behind his back.

Eri giggled and began to walk away, waving, "You're such a girl."

Instead of getting angry, as he normally of would, Kanda just blushed and sat back down. Instead of rushing off to fine Lavi, he was going to wait for a minute and think.

*

Allen was only a little lucky. His akuma admirer hadn't gone along with his original plan…yet. Allen soon found himself chained to the wall of the cave, unable to move. How stupid he thought he was. He could've fought back, but something in him refused to let him. What was it? Hell if he knew, all he knew right now is that he was cowering against a wall, hoping and praying that the akuma wouldn't get up any nerve.

Allen was rather accustomed to wearing clothes in public.

"Hey there," a voice echoed through, stopping all thoughts running through Allen's head.

"Hey look," the akuma said, rubbing together his pale hands, "it's back."

"It? What's that supposed to mean?" the voice was deep.

The akuma chuckled, "Well you know…"

Eri walked out of the shadows. Her chin now looked far more angular, as did her eyes. The only thing that told Allen that this really was Eri was her strange color hand and that black mark under her green eye. If those weren't there, it could've been any random man.

"E-Eri!" Allen squeaked.

Eri sighed, "Looks like I get two akuma today. I hope Kanda has an easier time finding Lavi," she twirled out her scythe, the blade popping out as she took her stance. "I can't wait to get back to the order like this if killing this bastard doesn't work."

"Bastard?" The akuma asked, a smirk on his face. "Now that's just plan rude," the body of the nice looking young man began to bulge until it burst at the seams, revealing the large akuma.

It charged Eri, roller blading through the air.

*

"LAVI!" Kanda shouted, seeing the girl lying on the cobble stone path. He ran up to him, dropping down to his knee.

Lavi was unmoving, and the pool of blood under him was bigger than Kanda would've liked to see it. He knew he'd have Eri on his ass if he didn't make sure Lavi was safe. So Kanda got the work. He rolled Lavi onto his back just to see he was bleeding from the side.

Kanda was stuck at that. The only thing he had with enough fabric to help cover the wound was his pants. And that wasn't going to work too well. He stopped to think about it for a minute, thinking seeming to be all he could do.

He got to work, ripping both pant legs until they became more like long shorts than anything. Doing the best he could, he wrapped Lavi's wound. It would hold until he got him back to Bookman, then he could fix Lavi.

Hauling Lavi onto his back, Kanda struggled to stand with the heavier other on his back, and just the plan awkwardness of it.

He was finally able to get Lavi back to the hotel, where Bookman was already tending to Allen's few wounds. However, his attention was turned to Lavi when Kanda limped through the door. This being only more proof that the townspeople were oblivious.

"No one helped you?!" Eri asked, her voice making her concern sound strange. She helped Kanda lay Lavi on the bed he'd claimed as is.

"No one," Kanda's voice shot up in pitch.

"Wow, these townspeople have the IQ of a banana," Eri put her hands on her now male hips.

Allen giggled, his small hand covering his mouth. Eri smiled back, seeming to be proud for making the cuter Allen giggle. Kanda growled, still having his regular tendencies in him, out of jealously.

Yes, he may have fought with Eri much more than he fought with any other people, but that didn't mean he hated her. All of the fights simply acted as a cloak of sorts.

Kanda plopped on the couch, keeping his arms crossed over his chest to keep from any "bouncing" that would've occurred if he hadn't. His only goal was to block out all the noise from behind him. Sure, it didn't help that Lavi was up now, his wound properly wrapped up so he could move.

"Wait a minute…" Kanda said, standing up, turning to face his fellow exorcists.

"Yeah?" Lavi asked.

"Anyone notice that none of us have switched back? And we killed the akuma that caused it?" He was getting angrier.

"Now that you mention it…" Eri said. They'd all ignored the fact, but it couldn't be ignored anymore. Killing the akuma hadn't gotten rid of the strange status effects.

"Well it would appear that you'll be returning to Headquarters this way," Bookman stated, receiving a loud unwelcoming groan from everyone in the room.

"And to think there wasn't even any innocence!" Eri shouted.

But on the way back to Headquarters, all the four could do was hope that they wouldn't stay like this forever. Lavi wanted to go back to flirting with girls. Kanda was tired of having to deal with the annoyance of extra weight up top. Allen didn't want any more guys to wink at him or flirt with him. Eri just wanted to be able to move without a disturbing presence between her legs.

*

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T REVERSE IT!?!?" Eri shouted, slamming her fists onto Komui's overly cluttered desks. Several piles of books toppled onto the floor on account of Eri's rash actions.

"Hehe," Komui giggled, "I mean there's no way for this to be reversed. You're either stuck like this or it'll just wear off."

"You have got to be kidding me," Lavi sighed as he slapped his own forehead.

"Well," Komui stood up, looking only a tad less serious than he had the moment before, "I suggest you look at the bright side!" He threw his arms up as he screamed his suggestion for name changing.

Everyone just stared at him. He was the only one not taking this seriously at all. Name changes? Really, what good would that do them beside remind them that they weren't the right gender.

"Oh come on, it'd be fun!" Komui insisted.

"Well it's not like that'll change the fact that EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE ORDER WILL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO US!" Eri growled.

"Oh," Komui said, slumping back in his seat with his finger upon his lip.

Eri sighed, dropping back onto the couch.

In the midst of the silence, there was a small creaking noise, just loud and fast enough to tell them all that the door was being opened. Shit. Just what they needed, someone to actually SEE them like this.

"Brother?" Lenalee's soft voice rang out. And then they knew they were all utterly doomed.

"Yeees~?" Komui chirped, looking at his green haired younger sister.

She stepped into the room, "I was just…wondering…" her purple eyes had caught her four fellow exorcists, neither of them looking like she remembered them.

Eri counted to three on her right hand, and just as the last finger went up, Lenalee uncharacteristically laughed. She was laughing at them no doubt. Even from the back, it wasn't hard to tell that Lavi, Allen, and Kanda weren't guys anymore, and that Eri wasn't a girl anymore.

Each of the four could only grit their teeth to stop from yelling at the girl. No one would dare, not with Komui in the room. He'd eat them alive, nothing less, and a physical punishment was the last thing they needed.

Lenalee came around to the front of the couch to look at the four. Not only had they changed looks, everyone changed their normal sitting position too. Lenalee folded her hands behind her back and bent down to be eye level with them all.

Eri had resorted to sitting like Lavi once had, arm around the back of the couch and legs wide open stretching outwards and elbow resting on the arm rest. Next to Eri, Allen sat. He was leaned back against the back of the couch, his knees pulled up to his chest. His head rested on Eri's arm. Lavi sat beside him, looking embarrassed and obedient. Kanda: legs crossed and arms crossed.

"Brother, you didn't tell me we got some new exorcists," Lenalee laughed, aware of her bad joke she was making.

"Yes yes, too bad I can't find out their names," Komui's glass shined with evil intentions. Great, now both of the Lee siblings were in it to make their lives miserable.

Lenalee giggled, "Well…" she pointed to Eri, "I'm gonna say his name is Erik."

"What?" Erik spat.

Lenalee ignored him and pointed to the next in line, "Ellen, of course," she smiled.

Ellen blushed and hid her face.

"Lavie," that name didn't bother anyone, it sounded the same. "And…." Lenalee stopped to think about Kanda. Sure they could just keep the name Kanda, but that wasn't any fun.

Lenalee then smiled as she tried to hide her giggle. As she remembered Kanda's first name, she suddenly had the perfect idea, "Yumi!" She shouted.

"WHAT?!" Yumi screeched, unimpressed with her new name.

"Perfect!" Komui clapped his hands together. "Until this spell wears off, you four our stuck with it!"

"This is just great," Erik mumbled, standing up as to brush off his pants.

"Well I'm sure we could…look at the positive side," Ellen suggested, looking to cute to be called meek.

Erik smiled, "Yeah I guess you're right," his voice was gruff. He laid out his hand for Ellen to take, and she took it gladly, standing up. A growl of jealously erupted from Yumi as the two walked away, still holding hands.

"You jealous much?" Lavie smiled.

"Shut up," Yumi shot back, all too un-amused by the sights before her.

Lavie giggled and stood up, "Well, I'm with them, let's see the positive side of this. You can continue to mope," she fixed her headband, "but I'm going to have some fun." And with that, she vanished from the room.

Yumi sighed, with nothing to do now; she figured retreating to her room wouldn't be a horrible thing.

Lavie had spent enough time wondering around torturing other male exorcists. She was bored of making them all cry and wanted something else to do. So where could she could but Erik? Her cousin?

Lavie knocked on the door and waited, tapping her foot in utter annoyance. Erik was taking too long to answer.

"Yeess?" Erik cooed as he opened the door, a smile on his face.

"Hey," Lavie said, looking over the obviously shorter exorcist. Ellen waved and smiled.

"What are you two doing?" Lavie crossed her arms.

Erik laughed and let the annoyed girl into his room, "Sorry, but Allen makes a cute girl, and while I'm a guy I might as well take advantage of that."

Lavie shot him a glare, "That's really weird."

"What???" Erik crossed his arms, "It's not like I just look like a guy! I got it all," she made herself laugh.

"That's gross," Ellen said, giggling herself.

"I know," Erik plopped back down on the bed.

"Anyway, I'm bored out of my—what's up with the hair pin?" Lavie switched topics after seeing some of Ellen's hair being held back with a small clip.

"Oh, Eri gave it to me. My hair's gotten longer and it was in my face, so she lent me a pin," Ellen said.

Lavie raised an eyebrow.

"What!?!?!?" Erik shouted, falling back.

"Nothing, just after you two left, I must say Kanda got incredibly jealous."

"Really?" Erik shot back up into a sitting position.

"He was jealous?" Ellen squeaked. "Why?"

"Because," Lavie pointed at the two, "you two left holding hands."

Ellen and Erik looked at each other, shocked to hear that.

"And I'm sure he also saw you two sleeping together as well," Lavie sat down on the edge of the bed.

"But…" Erik scratched the back of his head, "Allen's just my friend. He's my best friend, the first person who knew I existed. Why's Kanda jealous of that?"

Lavie shrugged, "Anyway," she said, "you two had a fight didn't you? What was it about?"

"Oh," Erik stood up, "well he was yelling at me because of the way I act a lot of the times. Then he goes off and starts to say that I'm not at freedom to act like a child just because I'm a female and blah blah blah…"

Lavie nodded.

"You know, this might have something to do with that," Ellen said, standing up. She brushed down the back of her skirt before she walked up beside Erik, to stand beside him in the large mirror.

"What do you mean?" Erik looked at her.

"I mean, if he was yelling at you then blaming it all on being a female…" Ellen started, unsure of what to say.

"You mean the fact that those akuma were able to switch our genders is some cruel irony to prove a point to Yu?" Lavie asked.

Ellen nodded.

"And me," Erik sighed. "I was doing the same thing he was. But you know, not that it feels like I'm not me anymore, I can't help but want to take it all back…"

"But it wasn't your fault!" Ellen shouted, tugging at Erik's shirt.

"What?" Erik looked at her.

"I was there. Kanda started it all, he should apologize, not you!"

Erik sighed, "Yeah, but this isn't gonna change unless we all get over it," He slumped back down to the bed. "We're all different," she looked out her window, "but that doesn't mean we can't be good friends…and not hate each other in the process."

Ellen smiled and so did Lavie, causing Erik to do so as well.

Sitting on her bed, Yumi couldn't even think. All she did was stare forward at the lotus flower floating in the hour glass. How long had she been sitting there? How did this all start?

"Oh right…" She whispered, "I had a fight with Eri. Man…"

What else could she say? There was a fight and some how she felt bad now, only after this strange experience. It could've just been a coincidence, but that didn't change how Yumi felt.

But it was late; she'd apologize the next day. It was all she could do.

Morning came slowly, and the red headed exorcist forced her way out of bed. As she stood, she came face to face with the mirror. It'd always been there, but today, she found herself excited to see it. She immediately threw on her exorcist coat, not bothering to change out of her pajamas, and ran down the hallway as she buttoned it up.

"ALLEN!" Eri shouted, bursting into his room.

"What?!" He shot out of bed, looking at her. He immediately smiled.

"We're normal!" Eri cheered, happy to have the sound of her own voice back.

Allen hopped out of bed standing with his arms out, "We are!"

Eri giggled, "Come on, let's go get Lavi and Kanda!"

Allen nodded and the two ran.

As soon as the other two were notified, the small group went to the Cafeteria for breakfast. Given it was really early so no one was there. But that gave the perfect setting.

"Eri," Kanda said, looking up from his soba noodles.

"Hm?" Eri asked, chomping down on a doughnut she'd stolen from Allen's assortment of food.

"I um…wanted to apologize for everything I said to you," he couldn't meet her gaze.

Eri swallowed so she wouldn't look so stupid, and listened intently.

"I shouldn't have said those things and…I'm sorry," Kanda finished.

Eri smiled, "Anata ha oroka desu," she said.

Kanda looked at her, "Thanks," he rolled his eyes and continued to eat.

Eri giggled. It didn't matter how many times they fought, Kanda would apologize just to have another fight. But Eri didn't mind it; he'd get the lesson eventually.