Here and There
She never "met" her biological brother, and he is "family" only in the sense that she loves him. There is little else beyond that. She was born to his existence, not the other way around. To her he has simply always been, like the sun coming without fail every morning. Beloved but unquestioned.
She had left him once without much thought. Since then, he has always tried to insinuate his way into her new "family" (and maybe she has tried to sneak him in too) but it is useless. The two families remain separate. It is a matter of being "here" instead of "there". He will always be "here" with her in this drafty old tower that they will do well to be happy in because it is their home, but he does not go "there" with her.
"There" is where she can get cut up (it took her forever to learn how to brake, especially in the middle of a fight) and shown up (coming back with empty hands and emptier debriefings).
Those who do go with her are comrades. Her other brothers, who may be too snippy, or too fresh, or maybe have never even bothered to voice much of an opinion on her at all, but.
Still.
They get beat up and beaten down with her and will say not a word about it as they head home together. Because they have the same kind of honor between them. And it is because of it that they act the same when they do succeed, except maybe with a little more of a smile. Her brothers-in-arms.
Missions are not spectacles. And being loved by Komui as his rightful sister is-- being swung around and around in his arms as if he's a one-man carousel screaming her name in a string of praises.
If such blood-happiness is a carnival between the Lee siblings it is a somber little elegy for the others. Like sitting idly in the window one day and getting approached by a unsteady Suman Dark, who nervously cleared his throat before saying: "My little girl wears her hair in pigtails too."
Lenalee had tried not to stare and not sound generic while attempting a sincere "She must be beautiful." That had meant, "I see how much you love her," but that wasn't something you said to a soldier.
"Yes, she was--is." had left Suman looking pained enough to die and on top of that, hideously embarrassed. He had went away awkwardly. They had several more missions together and they never mentioned his lapse.
Some months (enough to be a year?) later he had died. She remembers that was the first time she felt iron-cold fury at her brother, who had condescended something about traitors--what did he know about an Exorcist's pride? She had thrown away the phone and his arrogant orders and run for all the other brothers she had in the world.