Protection

This is a one-shot for D. Gray Man, the pairing is Lenalee X Allen. This is my first fanfic posted ever! Please review- so I know how I did! Onegaishimasu~

P.S. I apologize in advance that I do not know extensively about DGM yet, so I may have got some stuff wrong in the following story. Please kindly let me know.

P.P.S. English is my second language, so please let me know about my grammar mistakes and stuff like that. Thanks!

Let's get started!!


'Ahh-ahh…!! My Lenalee!!" the air of the Black Order was filled with a deafening scream that came from Lenalee's room. Expectedly it was the scream of Komui, Lenalee's protective (or more precisely, overprotective) older brother.

Lenalee opened her tired eyes and let out a whisper, 'I'm okay, brother. You'll wake everyone up if you keep yelling,' she said, smiling weakly. It was 3 o'clock in the morning.

Lenalee just came back from a mission with Kanda, defeating an akuma that resided in the River Thames. It took a lot of effort just to locate it since it lived underwater. Incidentally, the exorcising was extremely difficult and the two exorcists were both badly injured. The water muffled the sound of the akuma's weapons, and they were attacked mercilessly without even a split second to realize they were. Despite all this, the exorcising did take place and a piece of Innocence-which had led them there in the first place- was safely retrieved in the end. Thought Kanda had tried his absolute best to protect his younger and less-experienced comrade, she was still hurt by the silent and lethal attacks. Kanda was not in good shape either. The first aid team had hurriedly rushed to their rooms once they got back to the Black Order.

Kumoi stayed beside Lenalee the whole time of her treatment and rushed to Kanda's room to make sure he was OK- he was the chief after all; he decided to give them the mission. However, he did not get word that it was such a powerful akuma. Now he was regretting about it.


Allen was gulfing down his 20 plates of food at the cafeteria (as usual), when he saw an injured Kanda walked past him.

'Hey Kanda! Another mission?' Allen gestured at his broken arm, 'are you all right?'

'No need for you to worry, bean sprout,' Kanda said in his well-known cold tone, 'though my partner is still weak in bed.' He left to order his food after giving Allen a cold gaze of his.

It was until then did Allen realize that it was Lenalee who went with Kanda on the mission! She told him about it a few days ago and he had been worried about her! Now he felt like such an idiot that this realization came so late.

He quickly finished his Tiramisu and signaled Timcanpy to come along. He ran all the way up to Lenalee's room and stopped right at the door, gasping for air. He softly knocked twice. 'Lenalee? Um…it's Allen…I was wondering if you're all right,' he said in a soft voice, 'May I come in?'

'Sure, Allen,' a weak voice came from behind the door, 'the door's not locked.'

Allen gently turned the doorknob and opened it, only to find an ill-in-bed Lenalee looking at him, trying hard to put a smile on her face for him, despite all the fatigue and pain she was feeling. Komui was not there; he headed back to work. He had tiles of paperwork undone since he went to stay with his precious little sister since morning the day before.

Allen looked at Lenalee with his gentle silver eyes, his heart aching to see her hurt. He had always cared a lot for her, and it hurts to see her in pain or dismay. He wished he had the courage to run over to her bed and give her a big hug, telling her everything will be fine right now. Over these times of being with her, he was beginning to understand why he felt so many different emotions at the same time every time they saw each other. He was falling for the sweet, lovely Lenalee.

Instead of giving her a hug, Allen walked to her bed and pulled a chair next to it, sitting silently.

'Hey,' Lenalee said breathlessly, 'how are you, Allen?'

'I'm fine, Lenalee. More importantly- how are YOU?' Allen said with one of his warm grins, hoping to cheer her up a little.

'I'm okay, I guess.'

'Were you hurt badly?'

'Um…I guess I had a few stitches here and there. And a bone or two broken. Otherwise, I feel fine.'

'Poor you,' Allen said with a sympathizing smile, gazing into her lovely dark eyes, making the girl blush a little. 'Anything I can do to help? Get you something from the cafeteria maybe?' he said, eager to offer his help.

'It's okay, Allen. I don't have any appetite at the moment…but I might want some ramen later…'

'Sure! I'll get it for you whenever you want it,' he said, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

Lenalee put her hand on his lightly, thanking him with a little grin. She looked in his big, deep eyes and blushed a little again. It was always easy to blush when you're around Allen- he was such a gentleman, so kind and well mannered; and for Lenalee, he has a special attraction that made her feel the need to stay beside him. The feeling was strange- and it was very hard to explain it in words. In fact, she wanted him to stay here with her right now- that'd be the best treatment for me, she thought sweetly. Though she did not know if he felt the same way toward her, so she never dared to say anything- even now.

She looks so tired and hurt…I really want to do something…anything…to ease her pain…what can I do? Allen contemplated in the meantime. He felt his heart aching more than before, tightening his chest. He felt a fierce need to protect poor Lenalee and he could not hold in his feeling for any longer…

'Lenalee…I…' as soon as he opened his mouth, he was at a lack of words. He stuttered for a few seconds, trying to clear his mind and organize his speech, but he was so nervous! 'I…er…um…that…' Lenalee looked up with a confused frown.

'Let me protect you, Lenalee!' he finally blurted out, 'I really like you, Lenalee…I promise I won't let anything hurt you anymore!' he said that, almost in a yell, feeling so nervous his cheeks turned to the shade of tomato and his hands shaking a little. He looked down at his knees out of embarrassment as he realized what a blunt thing he just did- what if Lenalee didn't like him back? It would be so awkward! He felt like such a moron!

Upon hearing Allen said that, Lenalee turned bright pink in the face as well, she could not believe her ears! 'Thank you, Allen!' She smiled at him gratefully, trying to sit up straight. Allen helped her up and once she did, she flung her arms open and wrapped them around him tightly. Allen was in shock- it took him a few seconds to realize he wasn't dreaming or daydreaming, and hugged her back. Lenalee's actually in my arms! Lenalee whispered into Allen's ear, 'I like you a lot too, Allen.' Then she buried her flushed face in Allen's shoulder, feeling safe and protected. Allen's heart pounded on his chest and he held her even tighter, showing her how much he cared. They stayed like that for a while; time seemed to have stopped for them, until a soft cough came from Lenalee.

'Sorr…sorry,' Allen apologized in panic, thinking he choked her with the hug and quickly let go.

'Don't have to say sorry, silly! I'm just a little thirsty, that's all,' Lenalee smiled lovingly at him. He immediately handed her a cup of water.

After drinking, she turned to Allen again, asking shyly, spilling out her thoughts earlier- now that she had his promise of protection, she felt a lot braver to show him how she felt. 'Um, Allen…do you…do you think you could stay…er…with me for the day?'

'Of course I can! Pleasure!' Allen said a little too dramatically (not on purpose though- he was just so excited!) it made her chuckle.

'Huh…why are you laughing…?'

'No…nothing…thank you Allen! You're so sweet!'

Allen loved the compliment.

'Now go to sleep, Lenalee. You need more rest,' he amiably demanded and bravely kissed her gently on her forehead, tucking her in- an action that send Lenalee into little shivers, feeling warm and a bit excited.

'Uh, all right, I will! Don't…don't go away, Allen!' she protested with a shy and cutesy smile and held his hand.

He tightened the grip and stroked her hair slightly with his free hand.

'I won't, Lenalee, I promise. I'll stay with you and protect you.'


Epilogue

Lenalee opened her eyes slowly, noticing it has turned darker than before- before she was asleep. She was pretty sure she had a dream; apart from she could not exactly remember everything…how long did she sleep for, anyway? She tried to sit up to look around the room, but saw no one in sight.

'Oh…was I dreaming? I was pretty sure I asked All-' the thought of asking Allen to stay beside her made go red a little.

Then she heard two soft knocks on the door, after which a gentle voice came through- 'Lenalee? Um…it's Allen…I was wondering if you're all right. May I come in?'

She said yes and told him the door was not locked.

She was feeling a bit weird about this- everything somehow seemed so familiar…she wondered why…


Writer's note:

Lenalee's dreaming things into reality! XD YAY! Allen X Lenalee!!

Hope you liked this little one-shot! I only watched a few episodes of DGM but is already super-addicted to it and found this pairing really sweet…so I decided to write this!

Please let me know if there were any mistakes…I apologize for that again!

Much lurvvve,

Mangolemonade xx