Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man and its characters do not belong to me.
Author's Comments: [February 20, 2014] I have combined all three chapters into this singular post here. Please know that my writing presented here is from a time when I was around fifteen years old; it's completely different from now. I'm embarrassed of this thing but I keep it for prosperity's sake... On that note, it is not likely that Lion and the Lamb will be updated. You have my most sincere apology.
Who is the Lion?
The Black order loomed ominously in the dark, foreboding skies...
...ironically, it was the headquarters of exorcist organization, which existed to eradicate evil.
"I'm home," Allen thought, she was half starving to death. "I hope the cafeteria isn't full today..." Allen did not want any trouble from her friends, especially after her tiring mission.
After the series of battles in the Ark, things had settled down. She was now 16. Her time was running out (as the fourteenth was bound to show up sooner or later), and she already had a shortened life because of her parasitic innocence. There was only so much pressure she could take, and the Headquarters only just made it worse...
...by trying to waste her time by sending her on missions after missions, of course. They knew she was going to transform into a Noah. She was the host. But Allen could only guess what they were contemplating. There were many options of course. Killing her off immediately was one. Keeping her as an exorcist was another. So far, Allen had managed to live. From the general idea of staying as an exorcist came many more branches of "could-do's." She could keep working until she died. She could work until she transformed, and then died. She could transform into a Noah and live (Like THAT was even possible, with Reever down her throat). She could... not even transform at all, and continue to work as a human exorcist (Although that was the one that she wished for most, it wasn't on the possible list). And out of the options where she DID live, she could die at any time in action.
"I'm just running into the reaper at every corner I turn, huh?" She muttered to herself. "Mana... how can I even go on like this?"
Allen sighed. Even if she was to not be used like cattle as the upper authorities wished, her future was bleak. What was the point of walking forward when death was pursuing you at the ankles at every moment? When living like every second was the last, it dragged her spirits six feet under. Did she mention that it could go even farther down?
The cafeteria was very full, to her disappointment, but no one that she knew closely enough were present. Allen gave a sigh in relief and stood in line to order her food.
As she set her tray on the table and she began to chow on her grub (she had ordered for anything and everything, the variety of food on her plate was so diverse it looked like pig slop), she noticed people making their way towards her through the crowd.
"Allennnnnnnnnnnn~" Lavi called out. Allen groaned. Just great, she thought, here's one of the people I hoped I never see so soon. She pushed a slice of some donkatsu around with her chin, while nibbling on some french fry.
"What's up?" She asked, putting up a serene mask. She smiled gently, crumbs dotting around the ends of her lips. Lavi stopped to glance at her food and his eyes averted back to Allen.
"Eating out of emotion there, Allen?" Damn Lavi and his psychic senses. He could guess her mood somehow from taking a look at her meals. Was her eating habit that predictable? She made a mental note to further randomize her menu in the future.
"...just felt like ordering something right off the bat..." She took a second to take in what she saw on her plate, even she, the ironly nerved Allen jolted. "...a lot of... things.." she trailed off. She stood up. "Jerry! I'm going to take this to my room; I'll return the plates later." Jerry merrily waved her off and dropped spices into a simmering pot of soup. She also made a note to ask for some of that soup, later on...
She strode off to her room, with Lavi trailing after her. "Ne, Allen? Allen! Why the serious face?" He was irritating her. To set him off her back, she grabbed and tugged at his ear, making him drop down to her level. She whispered...
"..." Lavi jumped, every hair on his body upright and stiff. He gave Allen a piercing gaze. "I'm... sorry to hear that. Errm.., okay, good riddance, I'm off." As Lavi quickly dashed off, Allen smiled and continued walking towards her room.
Her door was open. She walked in; eyes closed from exhaustion, and closed the door, slumping onto her knees. "I'm home Mana..," She said softly.
"Hey, fucking midget. I forgot to give you thanks for the kind actions a few days ago." She gasped and opened her eyes, while she fumbled with her plate.
Kanda was sprawled lazily on her bed, with an air of arrogance. She wrinkled her eyebrows at him. She didn't like showing her weak side to a man like him. She stood up and towered over him. "What are you doing here, freak?" He ran his index finger from the corner of his left eye to his chin, mimicking a tear falling down his face. He roughly pointed at his arm, where there were claw marks. She raised an eyebrow, while she put the plate down on the bedside table. "And?"
Kanda invocated his innocence and whipped it out of its sheath. He yanked her by the arm, his other hand poised to stab her in the chest. Unfortunately, it was her right arm. Allen activated her crown clown, and Kanda held the air where her wrist used to be. Allen stabbed him in the chest, smirking.
"Please, not in someone else's privacy? I like my room neat, you know." Allen gave a sadistic twist, imagining how he would stumble and cringe at the pain if it were a normal sword. "Wish it was a real one, Bakanda?" Kanda grinded his teeth at her.
"Fine. Take this out of me, asshole," Kanda spat at her. Allen painstakingly withdrew her sword. There was a tear in his white shirt. "Che," he said, inspecting his clothes. He gave a threatening look and walked off, only to pause and wait at her door. "Are you coming to the training room or not?" She smiled at his back.
Although their relationship was like scratching a chalkboard, Allen could not help but feel that she enjoyed being around him. She had always kept up polite appearances, except in front of him. She felt truly herself when talking to him. It was always good to have a stress relieving victim.
"Victim?" She mildly chuckled, "Who is the victim?" Who was the lion, and the lamb?
She waved at Kanda to get out, while she deactivated her crown clown and began to strip off her dirty clothing. Her chest was bound by bandages. Although she wished it wasn't, her breasts were a threat. She wore the bandages to "hold together her stitches". She lied that she had a heart surgery, and had to tie it up constantly. But the bandages weren't enough; her body was already smooth and curvy. Her personality might've had the burliness of a man, but her body was otherwise. "Maybe I should flaunt that I'm not straight, that'll keep them off the questions." She laughed out loud at the thought.
She viewed herself in the mirror; her body was covered from head to toe in scars. Timcanpy flew in from nowhere and sat contently on her shoulder. She grinned from ear to ear, as Timcanpy cuddled Allen's cheek with its tail. Anyway, a lamb didn't have this much spoils of war.
They were both lions, her and Kanda.
Allen finished changing and walked to Kanda, a French fry balanced delicately between her teeth. She lightly placed her hand on his shoulder, and gripped tightly with her nails, causing some blood to ooze out.
"Let's go, fuck head," She laughed. He grinned darkly.
"My pleasure, bitch face."
A Dream and a Mission
Kanda, after his sparring match with Allen, had a long shower. He then went back to the training room to meditate. It calmed him down, made his senses more alert, and helped him create peace of mind… But Kanda felt groggy today, and it wasn't helping at all.
He closed his eyes to focus on meditating, but his mind wanted to wander off today. Thoughts of Noahs and deserts popped into his mind.
"I'm usually good at this," he thought, "What the hell does deserts have to do with anything?" He glared intensely inside his eyelids, and scowled. He changed his mind about meditating for today, and went off to bed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Winds blew harshly, and wailed as it created giant sand dunes in the deserts of Africa. In the midst of the blinding swarm of hot, yellow sand, a figure appeared in the distance.
All you could see was yellow, orange, gold, and yet to see a streak of black amongst the bright colors, seemed almost foreign… alien.
Kanda shuffled against the billowing sands, in the fiery of the sandstorm.
"Fucking curse this damn shit," Kanda mumbled in his muffler. His idea of working as one of the new four high generals was to travel around the world, eradicating the world of akuma one by one. "I'm getting sand up my fuckin' ass, getting them stab my eyes like needles…and most of all, I'm having the time of my fucking life because of this shitty new year's resolution of mine."
He walked as if what seemed hours and hours, while he lugged his pack behind him. At last, he climbed up to the top of a dune to scan the horizon. If he could even see one, that was. However, he could see what was below his feet. Beneath him, lay an oasis which the sandstorm somehow couldn't reach.
"This better not be a mirage," Kanda told himself, and eased himself down the slippery slopes of the dune with the use of his innocence as a walking stick.
As it turned out, it was not a mirage; it turned out to be a real village that surrounded a body of water. Famished and thirsty, he headed for the village.
As Kanda neared the village, he observed his surroundings. Palm trees were randomly growing out of the sand. The air was clear of sand and noise ("Looks fishy," Kanda thought), and the village was surrounded by a reddish bricklike wall. From inside the wall, leafy green vines were growing, with gourds swelling into the size of a human head.
Kanda passed through the gates, and it seemed that he had entered a noisy marketplace. Inside were people, dressed in many colors, covered with turbans and shawls, robes and hoods. Everyone was tanned a milk chocolate brown. They chattered amongst themselves while they fingered the fabrics in display, felt the fruits and smelled them, and the children ran to and fro. Their language seemed to flow smoothly and sound sweet, like melodies. Vendors sat under the shade and fanned themselves with plumed fans. Fair ladies walked daintily, with their sun umbrellas over their heads. The huts that surrounded the bustling area were also made of the same material as the wall. Roofed with palm tree leaves, they looked quite primitive.
Eyes wandered, from what they were looking at, to Kanda. "A foreigner, a foreigner.." They whispered amongst themselves. A little boy with white hair, running happily without much thought, bumped into Kanda. He looked up, to see an angry face looking down on him. The boy trembled in anticipation of punishment.
However, Kanda was only wearing his usual face. "Can you tell me where I can get some water?" He asked calmly. The boy looked confused, in the midst of his fear, and clasped his hands together as to plead for forgiveness.
Kanda was irritated that he had to deal with a child, but understood what the kid was going through, and tried to soften his gaze.
"Water," he said. "Mizu, agua, aqua, mool…" He motioned drinking from a cup of water. Understanding flashed in the boy's eyes, and he asked for permission through hand language to hold Kanda's hand. Kanda held out his hand, and with the boy leading him, they walked off together away from the market place and into the heart of the village.
There, a vast pool of water sat. Next to it, an elaborate hut stood. Unlike the other ones, this one was painted upon with earthy, calm colors. There were writings that he did not recognize. In any case, Kanda took his eyes off of the hut and took out a canteen. While it was filling up, he greedily dunked his face into the blue waters, and drank in large gulps. His long black hair dipped into the waters and floated gently along the little waves that he was making. Before long, he had refreshed himself, and wiped his face off with his sleeve. The little boy tentatively waited beside him.
Kanda turned to the little boy to thank him, but noticed that his gaze was elsewhere, in a respectful manner. He turned to see what he was looking at, and saw a person coming out of the entrance of the elaborate hut.
It was a woman, with long, luxurious black hair, and brown skin. She was of a slender build, yet she looked as if she was full of strength. A mask nearly covered half of her right face. Her eye was sharp. It shined a brilliant gold, and it seemed as if it could see through you. A turban was wound lazily around her head, as one could tell by seeing the tuffs of hair sticking out from between the cloth. A long bang on the left side of her head was tied together with beads and string. Her hair was all pushed to one shoulder, but strands escaped her notice and fell along her back. She wore a crimson mantle, and her robes were pure white.
The boy called out, "Sol, sol!" Excitedly and ran out to meet her. He hugged her fiercely, and chattered about his day to her. She smiled gently towards him, ruffled his hair, and pushed him off towards a group of kids who were waiting for him to return. Then, she averted her gaze back to Kanda, who had come to face her. He was taller by a head, but it felt as if he was being the underdog.
"What is a stranger, doing in my land?" She asked him; crisply, and clearly, with anger in her blazing eye.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Kanda jolted awake, head butting Lavi. Furiously, Kanda swung a left upper cut at Lavi's face, but missed.
"What the FUCK, you stupid rabbit? Why the hell are you in my room?" He roared.
Lavi rubbed his face. "Ugh.." he groaned in pain. "Is my brain okay? Am I still here? What's my name and what's yours?"
"Get the FUCK out,"
"Okay, okay fine fine. I just came by though, to tell you that Komui has given you a mission… It's in France this time."
Unavoidable
In the dark comforts of his office, Komui took a sip of his coffee. It was a long day, and all he had done today was briefing exorcists on their next mission. He rubbed his temple and tried to concentrate on his next paper on top of his stack.
Yu Kanda, it read at the next to the bold letters "exorcist." Underneath, were the mission details.
"Oh boy," Komui thought. He leaned back into his chair and pushed his glasses upwards to rest properly on the bridge of his nose. He had liked it better, when he had taken the responsibility for assigning the mission. But watching from afar as another came to fill in that position, it came to be clear to Komui that some things felt.. strange.
He flipped the pages and looked at the other missions that laid waiting for their assigned exorcists. The crisp white pages of his debriefs held the fate of his comrades in their black ink.
Komui sighed and took a sip out of his coffee mug once more.
He had gotten so used to sending exorcists off to their missions. More importantly, in groups. Even if there were amazingly simple missions in which the exorcists just went to confirm the presence of the Innocence and bring it back, he always glued one to another. There were always partners, and, although some had not been the best with cooperation with each other (Komui grimaced at the Allen and Kanda's first mission together), it ultimately ended up for the best.
However... He gripped his fist, shaking with pent up frustration and rage. However, ever since Levier came into the spotlight of the black order, things started to change. Levier began to assign the missions, and Komui was cast off to helplessly hand off missions begrudgingly to the exorcists.
Damn. Was it really necessary to send of first time exorcists on their own, on a mission where the change of encountering many dangerous Akuma was practically bouncing off the chart? Was it necessary that people with no experience in the battles whatsoever, had to be cast into the heat of the war?
"What about Allen?" He thought. "She's clearly the one suffering here, out of everyone." Down to the very letters, his words were correct. Allen was being sent off alone to fight Akuma. To fight into the ways of hearts those were unwilling to believe in her cause. In the midst of uncertainty and doubt, Komui wanted to believe in him.
As he was pondering and staring at the ceiling above, he did not hear the door open and close. "Komui…?" He looked up.
"Allen?" He put away his binder in a hurry, and tried to tidy up his desk, unsuccessfully.
"Did you call for me?" she timidly asked.
"Yes, yes, sit down. Just some things I'd like to discuss." In a frustrated manner, he pushed all the towering piles of paperwork off his desk in a sweeping motion with his arms. Paper flew to the floor and made his office seem all the more disorganized. "Sorry," he politely coughed, to which Allen gave a slight smile.
"You give more care to your surroundings when you're serious, Komui," She chuckled while breathing out. "and perhaps even more mindful to others." Komui gave a slight nudge to his cap and tugged at the neck of his coat at this, and twiddled a pen around his fingers, maladroitly.
"Do I?" He took out the manila folder that was inside his drawer –Allen's folder– and gave his nose a good rub. The silence was heavy and taxing his poor nerves. Instead of confidently telling her as usual, he handed it over to her and said, "Read. You've got quite a load, again." Allen reached over the polished desk and took the folder, opening it to read its contents. Her eyes scanned over the pages. She stiffened, and her pulse quickened.
"I do wish–," He began, only to be interrupted by his office door opening once more. Distinctive footsteps, sure of each step, sweeping in stride, sounded and reverberated in the room. " –wish that Kanda would knock or alert me before he comes waltzing in," Komui finished his hanging words, with a pouty frown.
"Put a sock in it," Kanda replied bluntly. "You called, you should've prepared." Komui snorted in response.
"His propriety is the least of his concerns, humph," he muttered to himself, and returning to a normal voice, declared, "Kanda, you're to be dispatched with Allen to retrieve a piece of innocence that has been found there a week ago by our finders." He knew of the sticking out that the pair had with one another, but what was there to do? "To point out the obvious, I'd never let you two go together on anything, seeing how you two love your tantrums with each other. But it wasn't on my call."
Allen's shrill voice shot out, "Komui. Surely you can't do anything? This bloke here," she stabbed a thumb into Kanda's ribs, "has no such but the desire to slice my throat. This will never work out!" Kanda winced and merely left his hand on her shoulder. And squeezed.
"Not when you do that kind of shit," he spat. "You'd like just as much to kill –," Allen slapped his hand away.
"I cannot get a job done with such an interloper in my way," She declared through clenched teeth.
"Now, now," Komui tried to appease the two tumultuous individuals, "You guys did just fine."
"If you happen to exclude the fact that both of us almost died in the last mission we worked together on just quarreling with each other and not focusin–, "
"On a mission that was deemed highly dangerou–,"
"Komui! On MANY missions that weren't even close to dangerous! In what worl–,"
"I come back in one piece, when I'm alone!" Kanda hotly added.
"ENOUGH!" Komui snarled suddenly, "I can do NOTHING about this, and pay attention, the next time you two decide to have such a pointless time of trying to change orders from higher ups; God pity you two when I decide not to do YOU," at this he pointed to Allen with an accusing finger, "a FAVOR by trying to change Leverrier's commands into something much more possible, and giving YOU," he then swung his finger now to the next offending thing in his room, "some of Allen's missions from her sky high list so that you don't have to mope around the Order so much!" Allen and Kanda forgot their current thoughts under the rare burst of brazen authority from Komui. "Am I clear?"
"Crystal." Allen quietly breathed. Komui grabbed the other folder that he had with him, and threw, practically lunged, it at Kanda's static body, which was plastered onto Kanda's chest before it fell to Kanda's awaiting arms.
"Dismissed."