The Man Behind The Mask
Chapter 2- A Woman
Standard Disclaimer Applies
A/N: I just have to say I am personally happy with the way the first chapter turned out. It was better than I thought it would be. I just hope you, as the reader, think so too, and I hope you like this chapter too, if not better!
Lenalee felt a soreness in her thighs that she never thought could be sore, it was a good sort of sore though. The sore you get after you make love to someone you've wanted to with for a long time.
She wrapped a blanket that she was sure that Lavi put on her before he left tighter around her body. It was so much colder without him next to her, it was going to be colder for a long time. She laid still for a moment willing for this to all be bad dream, and that when she woke up she would be happy and Lavi would here, smiling at her and only her.
People were going to notice soon that she wasn't in her room, especially her brother since even now he still checks up on her every now and then in the middle of the night.
Lenalee turned to lay flat on her stomach, twisting herself in the thin sheet. It was going to be hard to pretend that this didn't happen, but she had to do so, no one would understand the deed she had done. She didn't even really understand.
She wasn't sure if she loved him, or not, now that Lavi was gone and Bookman was born, he was so different than she had expected. He was so gentle and considerate at times last night, but in others he moved quickly and devoured every inch of her like there was no tomorrow, there wasn't but…
Her hair was a mess, she thought as she finally pulled herself out of bed. She took a glance back at the bed and she felt her stomach lurch it was disturbing that she was the same willing woman she was last night. What did she expect would happen last night? That Lavi-Bookman would change his mind and decide to stay with her? She was sure there were many other girls like her that fell for him, and tried to use their body to stop him, he was very attractive after all.
She looked around the room for her discarded clothes and was a little surprised that they were neatly folded on the lone chair in the room, even her under garments were folded which made her blush at the thought that Lavi had touched her clothes, but the thought quickly went to the back of her head when she thought of the more intimate things he did to her body and not her clothes.
After getting dressed and taking long deep breathes, Lenalee made her way out of the room that would now be vacant and if the Order was lucky would be filled with another exorcist in the near future. She wasn't sure if she was ready to face anyone yet namely her brother who was still too overprotective of her. Although at times Lenalee could tell he knew of her budding feelings for Lavi, like the time shortly after the late Bookman's death Lenalee was always there by Lavi's side to console him if her ever needed consoling.
He didn't, but she stayed by his side all the same.
Walking down the stairs to go to the kitchen to get her brother his routine coffee, Lenalee thought back to the time when she first tried to confess her feelings towards Lavi.
Lenalee sat quietly next to Lavi in his room shortly after the funeral, everyone else being used to death and bearing with it went about there business, respecting the Bookman's wishes of being treated as if he was never known. She understood that but she could not find it in her heart to let Lavi be, he was alone now, and even though now he was a very mature man. He also had a heart.
"Lavi, Do you want to talk about it?" Lenalee asked quietly as she fisted her hands in her lap, shyly looking up at Lavi whose expression looked far off as if she was not there at all.
"Talk about what?" She was surprised she thought he couldn't hear her what with his expression and all.
"Bookman." She said after a short pause, he was looking at her now. She could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes, but she blinked twice and they were gone.
"That Old Panda? No, I'm glad he's gone, he kept treating me like a kid." He said with a soft chuckle.
"Lavi…" Lenalee placed one of her hands on his that he had casually lying between them.
"It's okay really, we didn't have a father-son relationship, or in our case a grandfather-grandson relationship like most people would think." His hand beneath hers twitched slightly "To tell you the truth I didn't know him that well. Its pretty sad ya know?" Lenalee now moved her hand from his to his chiseled cheek.
"Lavi, Its okay to miss him. I miss him too." He looked at her in shock.
Why did she care for a bookman?
"Lenalee, don't be so serious. He was getting old and…" He had his signature crooked grin on his face but it quickly faded when Lenalee pulled him into a hug and placed his head on her heart. She wanted to show him that he could talk to her, she cared for him.
"You don't have to hold it in anymore Lavi. I want to be here for you, I want to care for you if you let me in." His eye widened in shock, and he felt himself melting into her arms, but not yet ready to wrap his arms around her.
They stayed still for a long moment until he began to spoke.
"I…He never told me his name, his real name." Before she could say anything he continued "He told me names are nothing more than labels and Bookman have none, we are only meant for information, not labels." Lavi could feel Lenalee begin to stroke his hair.
"You are more than that to me, you are Lavi and to me you are a very special person." She lifted his head to look him into his eye, but he wasn't ready to look at her just yet. "Look at me Lavi." He did.
"I'm going to miss him, but I know I'm not supposed to." Lavi looked so sad that she wanted to do anything for him, she wanted to make him happy, she wanted to kiss him. So she did.
She softly placed her pink lips onto his and barely applied pressure. Even though it felt barely there, she felt so much emotion inside of her, and she could refrain from deepening the kiss. He didn't fight back-at first, but when she fell onto her back, he jumped off her and started to shake his head.
"No you can't do this to me, not now." Then he walked out of the room. As she sat on the bed she saw her brother look at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She had expected to say something to her or to Lavi, but he did nothing and said nothing and pretended as if it never happened.
A few short weeks after that he changed into who he is today-Bookman
When she arrived in the cafeteria she felt as if all eyes were on her as if everyone knew that she had slept with Lavi. She shyly said hello to those who walked past, and gave her small smiles. She only hoped that she would not run into Allen, Kanda, Miranda, or better yet anyone. She just wanted to be alone, but that wouldn't be possible considering she had to bring coffee to her brother.
Lenalee made her way through the cafeteria and almost got away home free.
"Lenalee?" She turned with a tray in her hands to see Allen looking at her. He changed so much if not more than Lavi. He battles constantly with the 14th over the control of his body, making his eyes have a permanent look of tiredness and jadedness. His hair still the same white was grown out to flow just above his shoulders, but now it was wavy. Although he unlike Lavi did not grow to become painstakingly handsome, it could be in just her eyes that it seemed that way.
"Yes Allen?" Her long hair whipped across her face as she turned.
"Where were you this morning? Me and Krory went to your room to bring you some muffins, but you weren't there." Allen looked truly curious. She opened her mouth to reply, but thought to ask about Lavi.
"I was just in the library, anyway what about Lavi… have you seen him?" Although she knew by now that he was long gone.
"No, but we all know he left just before the sun rose." He stated as he shook his head.
"How?"
"It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was Johnny who saw him leave."
"Johnny? Did he talk to him? Did he say anything? Did he notice him?" Lenalee's hands began to shake, Allen pretended not to notice. He knew how she would react if he said anything about it; she would shut him out.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask him yourself. I only heard from eavesdropping." He attempted to smile at her, but her mind was a million miles away.
"Thank you, I'll ask him about it later." Then she turned on her heel, and made her way to her brother to give him his morning coffee.
Bookman flexed and relaxed his hands while waiting for the train to reach his destination. Why was it taking so damn long? Shouldn't he be on a caravan in the Middle East?
"Are you okay sir?" He looked up to see the worried expression of the woman who was too friendly to everyone in the box. He was not in a good mood right now, if things were to stay set in there current course, he would grow to be old and senile just like the other bookman.
"I'm fine." He saw that a blush stretched across her cheeks, which made him think of the beautifully rosy blush that was on Lenalee's face when his kisses became more passionate, and his hands began to linger. It was more than just a bittersweet memory, it was one of the hardest to forget.
"Are you sure?" He didn't want to take out his frustration on her, but she was making it too tempting to let it loose. But Lavi wouldn't do that. No he wasn't Lavi anymore he was Bookman. He had to stop thinking like him.
"I'm sure." Not taking a hint, she slipped onto the seat next to him, much to his great annoyance.
"My name is Frances. What's yours?" She had a grin plastered on her face, if Bookman did not have his mind on Lenalee. He would have been more than willing to talk to her, what with her crystal clear blue eyes, golden ringlets, and perfect body. She could have easily passed as a "Strike!"
"My name is Cael." He said without baiting an eye.
"Cael? That's quite a rare name, you must be from Eastern Europe than right?" He looked at her for moment. He could take on that persona, but he had to remember only assistant bookman created aliases.
"No." He said it such a final tone that let her know that he didn't want to be talked to anymore.
Oh, was all she said in reply. Then a silence fell between them until he came to his stop, and stood up and made his way out of the train.
"Bye Cael." He shook his head slightly in response without turning to look at her.
Frances looked on in wonder as he walked off the train, he was much more attractive than she was told.
Bookman was surprised when the next train he was on took him only as far as Turkey. He could have sworn that he was supposed to travel to the Middle East, but when he looked at the last entry of Bookman's journal it said to meet with Duygu in the meat shop of the small Turkish city where he was.
"Old Panda still had a trick up his sleeve." He muttered under his breath, before making his way to the meat shop.
Allen could tell when Lenalee was upset. He knew this because every time she was upset she talked so little, and never went around talking to others in her usual cheerful manner.
Yes Lenalee was very upset.
Allen strutted his way back to the kitchen for the 4th time that morning, all the worrying about Lavi made him extremely hungry. Making his way his usual seat, Allen spotted Howard Link speaking in hushed tones to Krory whose back was to Allen.
What could he possibly be telling Krory that he couldn't tell him.
"Hey guys!" Allen said with a full mouth, he couldn't resist the food all the way to the table. Both Krory and Link jumped almost out of their seats when Allen greeted them. Allen sat on the edge of the table dragging his tray behind him, and eyeing the two of them suspiciously.
"What are you guys talking about?" Allen asked nonchalantly. Krory and Link exchanged looks, before Link stood up and quickly excused himself and exited the cafeteria, leaving Krory all alone with the inquiring eyes of Allen.
"H-hello Allen." Krory said shyly. Allen gave him a small smile while chewing on a big bite of chicken.
"Hello. Sooooo what were you guys talking about?" Krory did the best he could to avoid Allen's pestering glare.
"N-nothing." Krory stuttered out.
"Oh, that was quite a lot of nothing." Then without much effort on Allen's part, Krory broke.
"Okay, Okay! Link was telling me of how they tried to track Lavi before he left to see where he was going and, and…" Krory stopped abruptly looking away from Allen to hide the growing blush on his face.
"And what?" Allen asked curiously while munching on a large meatball.
"I don't think I should tell you. I don't think Lenalee would be happy if she knew that people were talking about her and Lavi." Allen stopped chewing.
"Her and Lavi? What happened to them yesterday?" Now Krory was sure to lose it, why couldn't he keep his mouth shut sometimes?
"Nothing really." He mumbled back as a reply.
"Nothing really?" Allen kept his usual cheerful expression plastered on his face.
"No a lot happened! Lavi and Lenalee slept together last night!" After that things got awkward, Allen stopped mid chew to look at Krory aghast. Did he just say what he think he said?
Before he was able to ask Krory to elaborate, he was tapped on the shoulder by a finder to be told to see Komui in his office. There was one thing Allen knew before he went into the office: He did not know anything.
"Allen!" Komui exclaimed as Allen entered the beyond messy room. When Allen entered his eyes immediately set on Lenalee, who sat quietly in the corner staring off into space while holding a cold cup of tea. He started to make his way to her even though the conversation that was passed between him and Krory struck a cord in the back of his mind.
"I'm assuming you know why I called you here?" Komui asked in one of his rare serious tones, causing Allen to immediately panic, but he wasn't going to be like Krory he was going to be calm about everything, and let Komui do the talking.
"No, the finder only told me that you needed to speak to me." Allen said truthfully.
"I want to ask you about Lenalee. What's happened to her?"
"Brother!" Lenalee gasped out.
"No Lenalee I must know, you've been in a daze ever since this morning. If anyone were to know it would be Allen."
"You don't need to ask Allen anything, because there is simply nothing wrong with me." Lenalee said calmly before standing up and shutting the door with a thud. Komui turned his attention back to Allen and braced his head on his laced fingers.
"Allen do you know anything?" Komui asked as his eyes bore into Allen's.
"Truthfully I don't know anything. She hasn't really talked to me today."
"Does she know about Lavi leaving?" Komui asked quietly. Allen looked at him for a moment. Was what Krory told him really true?
"I'm not sure, not a lot of people know about his relocation to the Middle East." Komui shook his head slightly then spoke again.
"Thank you Allen, if you could, could you tell Kanda to step into my office? I'm sure he knows something about Lenalee's mood." And with that Allen nodded his head once then turned to leave his office and regrettably made his way to Kanda.
Komui looked at the closed door with much distress. He was not a fool he knew how he sister felt for Lavi, and if he knew her well enough she had acted on those feelings.
Damn it.
Johnny was not a spectacular guy. He went to bed on time and woke up on time, and he made sure to brush his teeth after every meal. He was in short a guy who one would except to lead a very normal and boring life. That would be the way Johnny's life would be if he was not a scientist in The Black Order.
First it was the loss of his best friend, then it was when he practically help give birth to a level 4 Akuma, and now it was him being the sole witness to Lavi leaving in the dead if the night.
Johnny could not go to sleep, no matter how many sheep he counted, no matter how many times he tossed and turned, he simply could not go to sleep, so he swung his feet from his bed and slipped into his soft slippers, and made his way to the kitchen hoping that maybe he could find his way to back fridge to get some milk.
It may have seemed childish but h could remember that in his quiet peaceful childhood that his mother would give him warm milk on the nights that he could not go to sleep.
"Hopefully this will help me some sleep, finally." He said groggily while he shuttered down the stairs.
Just before he was out of the residential wing, he heard a door open and was taken aback that someone was out and about at this hour, unless they were feeling exactly like him. Johnny noticed someone stepping out from Lenalee's room, but before he started to greet Lenalee he saw that it wasn't her at all. It was a man's silhouette with a dark cloak draped over his body.
"Whose there?" Johnny proclaimed shakily, eliciting a curse from the cloaked man.
"What were you doing in Lenalee's room?" Johnny tried his best to sound assertive. The cloaked man turned to look at Johnny , and then pulled down his cloak. Johnny gasped when he was brought face to face with the green eyes of Lavi who had no hint of surprise on his face he in fact looked a bit indifferent or maybe it was melancholy .
"Lavi? What were you doing in Lenalee's room?" Lavi only stared at him with a blank look in his eyes. Johnny was taken aback at the sight he saw; Lavi was dressed in a new set of clothes, and the biggest characteristic about Lavi was missing- his eye patch. Lavi was staring at him with two green eyes.
"Lavi your eye!" Johnny always did speak to much. Lavi gave him one more look before turning on his heel to leave to he had a train to catch after all.
"Are you just going to leave without telling everyone good bye?" Johnny found courage to ask one more question .
"I hate good byes, why don't you tell everyone for me." It was not a question but a statement.
Johnny tried his luck by looking into Lenalee's room to see what had happened, if anything she should be up to answer his questions.
Johnny tried his best to open the door without making it creak, but by trying not to it did. Fate was a cruel thing.
Johnny took one look inside the room and immediately stepped out. Did he just see Lenalee laying bare under a thin sheet?
No, no way, nope, not possible, not Lenalee she would never do that.
Johnny kept telling himself that what he saw was a trick on the eyes as he made his way back to his room where he stayed until the early rays of morning shone through his small window.
He never did get that warm milk..
A/N: I know that in the first chapter I had them in Lavi's room but I changed to Lenalee's because I made it to where Johnny didn't know that it was Lavi's because of some background stuff that happened that I decided to scrap but please note that it really was Lavi's room. Anyway please, please, please review it honestly helps when I get reviews.
