Hello, I'm Sophie and I don't write a lot of fanfictions. But this character and her and Lavi's story almost came to me in a dream, and so I decided to write this and post it. Hopefully someone out there likes it and even if no one does, I posted it.
Lavi reached up his hand and wipes his brow of sweat. It was a hot day in the order, but most importantly, he was tired. Not just from his morning training, but really tired. He looked to Allen who had the same weary look on his face.
They had missed Cross by a day at most. They had gone through so much just to arrive in China, and they had missed him. Lavi was frustrated as well as tired.
"Hey," another droopy voice sounded behind him and both he and Allen turned to find Lenalee with both hands occupied by tea cups, "Sorry, but the Asian branch didn't have any mugs. Or coffee, for that matter. Green tea's the only thing you'll get."
"That's a little too typical," Lavi muttered and brought the boiling beverage to his lips.
"They usually have other things," Lenalee said, handing Allen the second cup, "Trust me, I grew up on coffee here. But there's been a rat problem recently."
"A rat?" Lavi spat some of his tea out grumpily, "Well, I'd like to find that rat and smack it on the behind until it coughs up all the coffee!"
Allen snickered and took a sip of the tea, "Someone's grumpy today."
Suddenly, the other boy spits his tea out too and looked as if he finally understood that Lavi had not swallowed not only because he was unhappy. Lenalee took his cup and smelled it. Her face contorted into a grimace and she set it down on the wooden railing.
When Lenalee leaned against the rails that separated them and an a-thousand-feet long fall down the middle of the tower, Lavi noticed that she was slouching. Lenalee never slouched.
"But there's good news," she said as if she had read his sad spirit, "My friend Riko's coming in from Russia."
"How's that good news?" Lavi mumbled and Lenalee shot him a lethal stare. Now even he realized that his overload of gloom was unnecessary and that he should stop.
"Lavi," Allen said in a cautious voice, then turned to Lenalee, "I'm sure he'll be of great help. We need the help, really. Finding my master is worst job in the world..."
As Allen trailed off, what seemed like a large boulder appeared on top of his head, weighing his spirit down even further. Lavi got up and patted his friend lightly on the shoulder.
Just then Krory walked by. He said hello with his shoulders hunched and his fangs loose. He didn't even try to hide them like he usually did.
"Actually," Lenalee added, "Riko's going on another mission to find Klaud. They think she's in Germany."
"Why Klaud? Why not help us with our mission to find Master?" Allen now looked like he was on the brink of tears. He sucked in a shaky breath.
Lavi held his cup of tea out to him, "Tea, it'll calm ya."
Allen met Lavi's easy-going smile with a threatening glare. It was clear that Lavi was going to get killed with only stares that morning.
"Riko was Klaud's apprentice. They had a close relationship, but both of them wanted to maximize their efforts and spread out to kill more akuma with each mission," Lenalee sighed, "Riko hops from branch to branch and barely stays at any for a long period of time. We met in London when I first arrived there."
"Sounds brutal," Lavi started, "I bet he's boring. He's boring and brutal. Oh, and he has battle scars!"
"Actually, he's not..." Lenalee began but Lavi had no intention of knowing who Riko really was. He just wanted to trash the person who had an excuse to not help them look for Cross.
"Big, ugly battle scars," Lavi then started to waves his hands dramatically around his face, "And he'd be..."
A sharp stab connected with Lavi's body from behind and he almost fell to his knees in pain. He writhed around but realized that there was one arm wrapped around his mid-section, a hand grasping his neck, and a foot stepping down on his calf.
"Actually," a cold voice whispered in his ear, "He's a she."
Lavi couldn't turn to look at his attacker, and so he peered at the terrified expressions on Krory and Allen's faces. Lenalee, however, looked overjoyed and pushed past Lavi. The person behind let him go when Lenalee came over.
"Hi!?" Lenalee squealed as Lavi got up to see two girls embrace. He couldn't believe that the scrawny teen, who looked barely stronger than Lenalee, could have held him down like that. He suddenly felt weak and embarrassed. Allen and Krory then started to laugh at him, which didn't help his self-esteem.
When the girl was finished with Lenalee, she strolled calmly towards Lavi, pressing him against the railing. She held up her arm and peeled back her uniform sleeves. "No battle scars," she said in the same cold tone, "And don't call me boring."
She stepped back and as Lenalee introduced her to the other two boys, Lavi tried to clear his head. He shook out his body and tried to relax but his heart was pounding hard in his chest. And then the girl faced him again.
"He'll do it," Krory whispered from behind Lavi, "He'll go all Lavi and yell 'Strike!'"
"Yeah," Allen agreed.
Suddenly Lenalee stepped away from her friend, who barely seemed to notice the commotion behind Lavi, and leaned towards the whispering pair, "For ten bucks, I say he won't."
"Deal," they said in unison.
Lenalee stepped back again and gave Lavi a flashy smile, "Lavi, this is Riko, the friend I was talking about."
"How do you do?" Riko asked and extended her hand. The movements seemed robotic and her tone forced, as if she was doing this purely out of etiquette.
Lavi swallowed hard and took her hand, "I'm okay. How are you?"
Just as Riko pulled her hand away hastily did Lavi notice how cold it was. "It was a rhetorical question," she stated.
Lavi suddenly felt mad at how she was treating his kindness even though he had been rather rude with his comments before, "Yeah, well, my question was actually out of caring and kindness and you can show a little respect for that."
Riko regarded him as if he was an insect. She then walked away with Lenalee eagerly following. When Lenalee whispered in her ear and showed her a ten dollar bill, however, Riko actually laughed.
Lavi stayed stunned as he stood with the other two equally astonished guys. "Does she remind you of Kanda?" he asked as he watched her go.
"Yeah," Allen agreed, again.
"Why didn't you do it?" Krory yelled, "I lost ten bucks because of you."
Lavi snickered at his own weird behaviour, or lack thereof. Riko had showed him her smooth pale skin. Her face was hard yet delicate in a remorseful way. Her shorts were longer than Lenalee's, but still above the knees, and she had worn her uniform jacket undone with her white dress-shirt showing in the middle. He would've went completely berserk for a girl with half her looks. But Lavi hadn't said anything out of the ordinary.
"Oh, no..." he muttered, "Am I starting to become normal?"
There was a pause and then the whole hallway was filled with Krory and Allen's laughter.