The Pendant My Mother Gave Me by Shoujo's Revenge
Summary: She was plucked out of her all-female hometown where she felt the safest beside her mother and even though she promised her mother to help defeat Akuma, it didn't help that most Exorcists at the Black Order were boys.
Disclaimer: D. Gray -man belongs to Katsura Hoshino. Although, Zhang Wei belongs to me.
A/N: I really hate the Lenalee spelling. I think Linali looks better so bear with me if you're not used to this spelling.
Translation Guide
Linali-Lenalee
Jie Jie- older sister in Chinese
Chapter 1: Kanda is a Mean Lady
She was coloring in the details of Linali's portrait when there came a light knock at the door. Her sad eyes didn't move from the charcoal drawing nor did she muster her remaining energy to answer the knock. Her hand moved carefully so that she wouldn't make any mistakes despite the tightening feeling in her stomach. She squinted at the drawing because her vision was blurring.
"Zhang Wei?" A gentle voice called her from the other side of the door. "You haven't eaten anything all day. Aren't you hungry?"
She clutched her protesting stomach, frowning at its defiance.
"Go away," she whispered.
"I can hear your stomach from out here," a new voice teased from outside. "She likes cookies, right?" It whispered though she can clearly hear him. "If you come to the cafeteria with us, we can ask Jeryy to make you chocolate chip cookies. She's Chinese, right? How about if we get you a bowl of delicious fried rice?"
"She'll only listen to Linali…" The gentle voice whispered to the other.
"Linali's on her way to Barcelona though."
She no longer wanted to work on the portrait so she carefully rolled the drawing up, tied one of her ribbons around it and slid it under the bed along with her art supplies. A tear slid down her cheek as she opened a sketching pad and turned it to a drawing of her mother seated on a chair, working on her embroidery. Linali and Allen, one of the boys right outside of her door, had arrived at her hometown one day, the same day that a hideous monster called Akuma tried to attack her mother.
After the Exorcists found out the Innocence resided with Zhang Wei, her mother having been made aware of the Akuma situation, persuaded her to follow them to the Black Order. And she had protested violently, not willing to leave her side or the safe hometown where no males resided.
"Ahh!" Zhang Wei was pulled to her feet, the sketching pad wrenched from her hand and thrown on her bed. One of the Exorcists, Kanda Yuu dragged her by her arm past the shocked Exorcists, Lavi and Allen.
On the way to the cafeteria, she tripped on one of her legs but yanked back to her feet again by the older swordsman. Kanda completely ignored Lavi's and Allen's protests of his rough treatment of the new recruit. He pushed her onto a chair, surprising chatting Exorcists at the table into silence. She glared holes into the tabletop, her entire being trembling in anger and humiliation.
"Kanda, how could you be so rough with her?" Allen began to argue.
Zhang Wei tuned out their noisy conversations, choosing to concentrate all her energy to hating the mean Exorcist. Miranda joined her at the end of the table. The woman had just come back from a mission but despite her weariness, she tried to coax the girl into eating something. Zhang Wei clasped her hands on her lap.
Kanda had left the cafeteria, ignoring Allen as usual except for insulting him briefly. Allen and Lavi carried their dinners to their table, having told Jeryy to prepare cookies and a light dinner of rice and some side dishes of meat and vegetables at least. Allen remembered their returning train trip and when dinner time came, she blanched at the sight of the spaghetti and meatballs, moving the meatballs around the plate like they were toys. Linali had to resort to trying to feed her because all she wanted was cookies. It worked until Allen chuckled at how babyish she looked.
"Would you like me to feed you?" Lavi said as Allen looked surprised. Had he read his mind?
"Here you are, my dear!" Jeryy said, carrying some plate of cookies, a bowl of rice and one side dish of pork and vegetables.
"Thank you," Zhang Wei said wearily. It was an automatic response; she had been taught manners by the women of her hometown. "You can eat." She pushed all the dishes in Allen's direction.
"Jeryy made it for you, Zhang Wei." Allen said patiently. "Aren't you a little hungry? How about this: you can eat the cookies before your meal. We won't tell Linali."
"When is Linali jie jie coming back?" She turned to ask Miranda, ignoring Allen's groan "She ignored me."
"I have no idea," Miranda said, smiling.
"You can eat," Zhang Wei said, pulling the plate of cookies to Miranda. She could sense that the older woman was tired.
"What about you?"
"I want to eat Mother's food. Do you want this?" She took out a pendant out of her skirt pocket.
"What's this?" Miranda fingered the shimmering stone.
"That's her Innocence," Allen said.
"You can have it. Can I go home to Mother now?"
"Zhang Wei, you're on your way to becoming an Exorcist. This is your home now." Lavi said. "Giving us your Innocence won't mean you get to leave and go back to your hometown."
"Toilet" she snapped, pocketing the pendant. Now that Kanda is gone, she could go back to her own room and sleep. If she can't see Mother in reality, she would see her Mother in her dreams. Mother was always waiting for her there.
"Uh, the Ladies' room is the other way." Miranda said.
The lack of food in her system eventually got to her. She fainted on the spot, crumbled to a heap on the floor.
Someone's hand was brushing the hairs out of her forehead. She reached up to clasp the hand and opened her eyes excitedly.
"Mother?" Her mother's kind face was changed to Linali's relieved face. "Jie Jie?"
"You're finally awake. You've been asleep for three days," Linali said.
"Mother," Zhang Wei mumbled, sitting upright and noted something in her left nostril. She fingered the tube curiously.
"You were fed through that tube while you were sleeping," Linali said.
She nodded, wondering if it was safe to pull it out. Linali gently took her hand away.
"Are you angry at me for leaving?" She asked.
"Yes." Zhang Wei reached for her skirt and discovered that her clothes were changed. "Ah, my rock."
"Here it is," Linali pointed to the pendant at the side table.
Zhang Wei snatched it up, clutching it to her chest. Mother had given her this shiny stone. It felt warm to the touch. If she gave this to the right person, she might be able to go home.
"Here, Linali jie jie. You said this can help defeat the Akuma. They tried to hurt Mother and other people."
"That's right. Do you remember when your mother told you to help us fight the Akuma? You promised her you would do your best. If she found out that you lied, she would be sad, wouldn't she?"
"Linali jie jie, the ugly woman hurt me here," She pointed to her elbow.
"Don't change the subject…Sheesh…What ugly woman are you talking about?" Linali clutched her head, sighing.
"She is always frowning like this." She demonstrated by pulling the meanest expression she could muster and mimed long hair to her waist. "She ties it up like this."
"Um, you mean, Kanda-kun?" Linali said, pressing a finger to her chin.
"She's mean. And weird people won't leave me alone." She scratched her arm nervously. Linali took her arm touching to indicate Allen.
"They were trying to be nice to you. Allen and Lavi told me that you didn't eat anything."
"I wasn't hungry."
"For the whole day?"
She nodded defiantly. "Are you going away again today?"
Smiling, Linali squeezed her hands and felt her squeeze back. She shook her head.
"I'm going to stay with you today, okay?"
"Okay! Linali jie jie, I have to say sorry to Jeryy. I didn't eat her food."
"You should apologize to Allen and the rest of the Exorcists, too." Linali said, suddenly serious. "Miranda was tired from her mission but you gave her trouble. Your mother would be ashamed if she knew you were rude to everybody."
"Linali jie jie, an ugly woman hurt me here."
"Nope! You can't get out of this one. You even have to apologize to Kanda-kun. It wasn't right for him to hurt you but he was worried about you in his own way."
Under Linali's rare stern look, Zhang Wei nodded timidly.
"That's a good girl. Now I have a surprise for you."
Zhang Wei bounced excitedly beside Linali as she went around the building running her errands. Her surprise had been in the form of a phonecall to her Mother, who scolded her for being a burden to everybody. She didn't care that she was scolded; she was happy that she was able to hear her warm voice. Although, she was reluctant to do so; she followed Linali's instructions and extended apologies to the other Exorcists and some of the scientists.
Despite her aversion to men, she even gladly accepted a toy from Komui. She ran after the whirring toy, giggling.
"It's almost lunchtime," Linali said. "You can apologize to Kanda-kun in the cafeteria. He doesn't have an assignment today."
Zhang Wei stuck her tongue out, frowning at the thought of the mean lady. She caught the flying toy, turning off the switch and pocketed it.
"Yes, Linali jie jie. May I have cheesecake for lunch today?"
"Nice try. You have to eat a healthy meal before dessert. Oh, wait." Linali pulled out a golden strand out of her jacket pocket. "This is for you. I forgot I bought this for you from Barcelona. Give me your shiny rock."
She gave it to Linali obediently, watching curiously as Linali fixed the pendant to the strand.
"There. It looks beautiful on you," Linali fixed it around the girl's neck.
She touched the pendant nestled between her chest.
"Thank you, jie jie," she said, calmly following Linali. "I'll give you a cookie later, okay?"
Holding back a giggle, Linali said, "Okay. I can't wait."
A/N: Review please if you would like to read more. I just recently got back into DGM again and Zhang Wei's character popped into my mind when I was watching the rest of season 1. I haven't read the manga in a while so forgive me if there are inaccurate details.