Disclaimer: DGM belongs to Katsura Hoshino-sensei, not me =)
Candle in the Dark
Discordant Silence
First Impressions
"Let go of me, old man!" A livid voice snapped from the direction of the infirmary door.
"Now, now Yuu-kun, that's no way to talk to your father!" A gruff, yet friendly voice teased back.
"I'm NOT your son!" came the furious retort.
Lenalee blearily opened her eyes, awakened by the loud voices. Blinking a few times, she lifted her head slightly from the pillow to see who the noisy pair was. A middle aged man with greying brown hair with a kind, patient smile holding a struggling arm in his grasp. The owner of that struggling arm was a child, a little older than her, Lenalee observed, with the longest, silkiest hair she had ever seen. The child's otherwise beautiful features were marred by an irate scowl, with eyebrows that were so furrowed that they seemed to be digging permanent ridges in her face.
Lenalee watched the Matron hurry over and try to placate the two of them. "Kanda, please show some respect to the General, hmm?" When Kanda merely sent a scorching glare her way, the Matron twitched and towered menacingly. "Or at least keep it down so others here can sleep?" Anyone else would have been cowed by the Matron in demon-mode, but Kanda merely swept his glare across the medical wing, landing on Lenalee briefly before he returned his focus to his captor.
"Let go! Don't make me slice your arm off, old man!" Kanda whipped his hand down to his side, intending to unsheathe Mugen, only to find empty space where his sheath should have been. "What? When did you—!"
"Uh-uh-uh," General Tiedoll shook his head reprimandingly. "You aren't getting Mugen back until you promise to stay here for the night!" He held Mugen in his other hand, waving it just out of Kanda's reach.
Kanda growled under his breath before muttering, "Che. Fine."
"Sorry, what was that?"
"I said FINE!" Kanda snarled, finally snatching his arm free from Tiedoll's iron grip.
"That's better!" Tiedoll gave Kanda's head a few pats, hard enough that Lenalee heard them. She winced slightly, but Kanda just stood there with his arms crossed, otherwise unresponsive. "I leave Yuu in your capable hands, Matron. Sorry he's more irritable than usual. See you in the morning!" He subtly slipped the Matron a note before stepping out of the room with a cheery wave.
"Come on, Kanda, let's get you to bed." The Matron put a hand on Kanda's shoulder, meaning to direct him to the bed directly left of Lenalee's.
"No thanks, I don't need your help," Kanda snapped, shaking her hand off. Instead, he chose the bed to her right, the one right under the window. Without another word, he threw the covers back, got on the bed, and threw them back over him. The Matron shook her head and huffed. "Fine, I'll attend to you later." She bustled off to the other end of the wing with her medical cart.
Left alone with Kanda, Lenalee felt a twinge of excitement at the opportunity to meet someone her age for the first time since she had arrived at the Black Order. She rolled over onto her side and propped her head up on her arm. Suddenly unsure of what to say to the unmoving lump under the blankets, she started with a quiet, "Umm, hi! I'm Lenalee Lee, nice to meet you!" She smiled brightly, even though the lump couldn't see her. Not getting a response, Lenalee tried again. "I'm Lenalee, what's your name?"
After a few more moments of awkward silence, the lump finally gave a curt muffled reply. "Kanda."
Excited at coaxing a response, Lenalee opened the floodgates and words came tumbling out of her mouth. "Kanda? But it's your last name, isn't it? Didn't that man from earlier call you Yuu?" She paused, noticing that her listener had stiffened ever so slightly. "Sorry, you want to be called Kanda, right? But still, Yuu is a very pretty name! And—"
"What kind of wimpy Exorcist would want a 'pretty' name?" Kanda interrupted, pulling down his blankets to face her properly.
Lenalee bit her lip. "Well, I'm an Exorcist in training, and my brother used to tell me that my name was really pretty, back when we…" She broke off, fiddling with her fingers in an attempt to stem the flow of memories of her brother.
Supremely unaware of her discomfort, Kanda countered, "Che. You're a girl, it's different. Wait. A little kid like you is an Exorcist?"
"But aren't you too?"
"An Exorcist?"
"No, a girl."
Once again, they lapsed into an awkward pause as Lenalee wondered what she had said wrong and Kanda fumed. The frustration of the failed mission with his General that morning had worn what little patience Kanda had down to nubs. After putting up with the girl's chatter, even giving his own name when asked, this was his reward? This is why I hate people. They're all so annoying. Kanda seethed. "I'm a BOY."
Lenalee's eyes widened and she stammered, "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
Taken aback by her earnest, pleading eyes compared to the teasing (more like mocking) twinkle of his mentor's gaze, Kanda felt his initial anger dissipate. "Forget it." He flipped onto his other side, back turned to Lenalee.
Lenalee bit her lip, inwardly berating herself for alienating the only person who she could potentially be friends with.
The Matron returned to their end of the wing with the medical cart. She stopped in front of Kanda first and glared down at him. Kanda refused to look up. The Matron sighed and reached into her apron pocket. She withdrew the note Tiedoll had given her, held it out to Kanda, and warned him, "General Tiedoll left me this note saying that he would keep Mugen until you cooperated with the medical staff. And that he would paint all over its hilt if you didn't get your bandages changed."
An unbidden image of daisies and cute furry animals painted on his Mugen leapt into Kanda's mind. It was enough to get Kanda to sit up and shrug off his loose shirt, revealing his bandaged chest. He sullenly raised his arms and allowed the Matron to unravel his bandages. All his minor cuts and bruises had healed already, but one deeper cut that stretched from his lower rib to his opposite side was still prominent. He saw someone flinch out of the corner of his eye and turned his head.
Lenalee winced when she saw the cut on Kanda's chest. Did he get that from fighting Akuma? She shook her head, mentally rebuking herself for almost asking such a stupid question. Although his facial expression didn't change when the Matron applied antiseptic over the cut, Lenalee saw his hand twitch towards his chest just a fraction. It must actually hurt a lot, she reasoned, biting her lip.
Kanda frowned when he saw the girl looking over at him with her large, violet eyes. He had half the mind to tell her off for staring at him and not minding her own business, but decided to stifle the feeling and just ignore her. He turned his head away almost imperiously, dismissing her attention as curiosity.
"Your bandages are finished, Kanda. Now get a good night's sleep and we'll discharge you in the morning. The morning, do you hear? No earlier." The Matron warned her young charge sternly.
Kanda looked away from her with a "Che." He stacked a few of his pillows and leaned back into them. He was surprised when he heard the Matron trundle over to the girl's bed and say, "Lenalee, it's your turn now." She was injured too? Wasn't she only an Exorcist-in-training?
"Okay Matron." Lenalee pushed the covers back to the foot of the bed. Kanda's eyes widened ever so slightly when he saw that her legs were completely bandaged from her feet to her knees. The Matron carefully undid the dressings, revealing a mosaic of dark bruises and welts underneath. She gasped, "Oh Lenalee!"
Lenalee leaned forward for a better look. "Oh, the bruises have darkened. He's going to be mad at me again…"
"Never mind that horrid man! Forcing children to hurt themselves for this ridiculous war! It's an outrage!" the Matron scowled, wringing her hands.
Lenalee sighed, "My synchro with the Dark Boots failed yesterday, but he insisted I try harder… and then this happened." She gestured vaguely to her legs. The Matron's arms wrapped around her in a comforting hug and she hid her face in her shoulder, not willing to let her unseen tears fall.
The Matron patted her head. "Things will get better. Don't give up, okay Lenalee?"
"Thank you, Matron." Lenalee sank back down on her pillows, allowing the Matron to tuck her back in. "Goodnight dear," the Matron turned off the lights and left the room.
Kanda had surreptitiously watched the whole exchange, unwilling to admit that he cared – no, that was the wrong word – that he was bothered about that girl's condition. Why was he bothered? Was it because she vaguely reminded him of that time he was a test subject in the Second Exorcist experiment? Except she was even younger than he had been… And she was alone. Wait, she had mentioned a brother, hadn't she? Where was he? He glanced in her direction. She was facing him, curled into a tight ball under the covers. As if she were aware of his attention, her eyes flickered open and returned his stare. They didn't say anything for the longest time, until Lenalee broke the silence with a tiny, "Hi…"
Unsure of how to respond, Kanda mumbled back, "Hi." The silence that followed was deafening. Kanda had never been one for socializing – that was an understatement. What should he say? A small part of him wanted to ask about her, about her Innocence, and about the man who had forced her into this. Before he could formulate a coherent statement in his mind, Lenalee spoke up again. "I'm sorry."
Kanda was baffled, although he didn't show it. "For what?"
"For calling you a girl earlier. I'm sorry." Lenalee looked away.
"Forget it." Kanda muttered.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" Lenalee managed a tiny smile.
"Che."
"Goodnight Kanda," she whispered before turning over. Just before drifting off, she heard him return a barely discernable "Goodnight."
For the first night since arriving at the Order two years ago, Lenalee fell asleep with a smile.
Author's Note:
The first installment in a series of Kanda and Lenalee kidfics that I'm writing! =D These will range from childhood to preteenagehood.
Please drop off a review to let me know how I did? Reviews are excellent motivation for an author to write more, especially with school now in session. -.-
Thanks for reading! =D
~D.S.