A/N: Something I quickly typed up on a rim. It was an idea to a story that never really happened, but I still thought it would be cute as a one-shot.
It had been exactly two months since the 9-year old girl had joined the Black Order. The first couple of weeks had been difficult for Kara since she didn't know a single soul and thus stayed in her room, either drawing or reading by herself. It wasn't until she was, against her will, forced to begin training that she began to meet the rest of the exorcists, one after another. She had taken a particular liking into the blind, large-statured Austrian, Marie, because of his calm personality and his talent to play vocals with his Innocence. This eventually led to the girl following Marie wherever he went the following weeks, which the Austrian luckily didn't mind.
The past two weeks Kara had become more independent, which meant, she didn't follow Marie all the time, but instead spend more of her free time with either the Science Division or helping the head chef, Jerry, with cooking. She would once in a while also go meditate with Kanda, but that only happened when the Japanese boy was in his "best" mood, since she otherwise would find him quite frightening. All in all though, the American newcomer had settled down at the Order pretty well.
Humming aloud, Kara was tripping down one of the empty corridors by herself, which she at first was afraid to do alone, but eventually she overcame the fears. Shoulder length, auburn hair was swinging from side to side along with the ruffles of her purple skirt, both fluttering with the movement of each bounce she took. One hand was occupied holding a tight grip around the newly found book from the library, while the other hand went up to tug a lock of hair behind the small ear. Kara looked outside as she passed a window.
The sun was setting, which colored the sky a beautiful contrast between rose pink and deep orange. Kara loved to see the sun setting, but she had yet to make a well-drawn picture of the scene.
Skipping longer down the corridor the russet-haired girl stopped dead in her tracks as she came across the door to one of the medical rooms. She had often heard voices from the other side of the door, but was for some unexplained reason, forbidden to go in there.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Kara made sure no one was around, her brown eyes scanning the empty corridor, before she soundless opened the door, tripped into the forbidden room and quickly shut the door again.
The room was just like any other hospital at the Order; plain and empty, no paintings or furniture in fancy colors, only white beds and medical devices. Disappointed, Kara was about to leave again, as something – no someone – caught her attention.
Further down the room, lying on one of the white hospital beds, with arms and legs tied down like an animal, was a young girl. She looked to be no older than Kara, and she was lying completely still. If it weren't for the rising and falling chest, the auburn-haired girl would have been convinced that she was dead. The girl's long, dark hair was spread across the pillow like that of a princess's, and her eyes were only half-open and completely empty from any source of life, simply staring into midair.
The girl didn't seem to notice Kara's presence at all, even as she began to walk across the room and placed herself by the bed, right beside the dark-haired girl's head, she still didn't look at Kara. Up close, it was obvious to Kara that the girl had been crying, because of the red, swollen eyes and dried streaks of tears running down her cheeks.
As minutes in dead silence passed, the Kara finally decided to break it.
"Why are you tied up?"
Minutes passed in silence as Kara stood patiently and waited for an answer, arms crossed over her book and a curious expression plastered on her face. As it became obvious to Kara that the girl wasn't going to answer, she tried again.
"What's your name?"
Another silence was followed. Kara shifted a bit uncomfortable. She was shy around strangers and wasn't usually the one to start a conversation with one she didn't know. But something about this girl in front of her told Kara to keep trying. Pointing to herself, Kara made sure to clear her throat before speaking again.
"My name is Kara." She tilted her head slightly to the side and tried again. "What's your name?"
As the girl in front of her simply continued to ignore her, Kara pouted and got up on her tip toes. Leaning over the bed, she placed her head inches away from the girl in front of her and cleared her own voice again.
"Have you lost your hearing?"
It wasn't meant as an insult in any way, it was simply a question that came to Kara as the only solution to the dark-haired girl's absence in the conversation. It seemed to catch the girl's attention though.
A pair of now tear-filled eyes turned to meet Kara's dark orbs. The girl in front of Kara, looked petrified to the bones now, and it made Kara instantly move her head away. She suddenly felt bad, was she the one that had scared the girl this much?
"N-no…" The frightened girl whispered. Kara couldn't help but smile as the girl finally answered one of her questions. Satisfied, she crawled up on the chair beside the bed and placed the book neatly in her lab.
"That's good, because if you were deaf we wouldn't be able to talk." Kara began, looking with soft eyes at the girl beside her. "My name is Kara. What's your name?"
"L-Lenalee…" The dark-haired girl chocked out. Kara tilted her head to the side and put a hand to her ear.
"What did you say?"
"Lenalee." The girl repeated, louder this time. She didn't look as frightened as before. Kara smiled satisfied and placed a hand on top of Lenalee's forehead. The girl flinched at the sudden touch, but seemed to calm down as Kara began to gently stroke her pale forehead.
"Nice to meet you, Lenalee." Kara smiled widely, patting the girl one last time before removing her hand and placing it on top of her book.
"I just found this book in the library, you know. I can read it to you, if you want."
A small hope of light seemed to suddenly shine in Lenalee's eyes, like a bird when it escapes its cage and finally can fly free. The corners of her dried mouth tugged slightly upward in a shy smile as curiosity along with gratitude shone from her eyes.
"What kind of book is it?"
Kara grinned widely at Lenalee's response, opening up the book and turning the old pages until she made it to page one.
"It's Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare."