Return of a Smile

She had forgotten how to smile.

Ever since they caught her, and separated her from her brother.

The fact that her father had sold her to the Black Order was unbearable; not to mention the fact that they restricted her freedom and did experiments on her didn't help much.

There was one boy who sort of helped eased her mental stress, a Japanese boy with a badly chopped off haircut that went to his ears; like a butcher cam and chopped his hair off, like what he would do to a pig.

He never really told her his name, she never asked.

For every question that she asked, he gave a quick brisk answer; like he hated socializing. So she left it like that.

She appreciated the fact that he would let her meditate with him.

She liked the fact that he would let her hide behind large objects to avoid the people she feared, and not tattle on her.

She appreciated the fact that he would let her cry in his shoulder when she needed to and wrap one arm around her and pat her on the back.

For a short period of time, she developed a small crush on him, but soon diminished by the fact that she only saw him as a father she always wanted, or a brother who would ease her pain like a doctor.

Even though she had this magnificent boy near her, she wasn't satisfied. She wanted her real brother here. Someone who could stop all the pain she had to endure. It wasn't fair that you weren't allowed to see your family if they weren't in the Black Order.

Some times in the night, she would subconsciously walk around the premises to find her brother, occasionally calling for him too.

Exorcists, finders, and some people from the science depart and the like, who were awake would peek out into the halls and pity her. They would all think, "A child like her shouldn't put through all his torture", they'd shake their heads and go back doing what they were doing.

This has been repeated for three more years.

During the time, a man named Rouveilier, found out about her "act", and had her confined to her bed, tying her wrists and ankles down to the bedposts.

She didn't do anything wrong, she never knew she slept walk. She just wanted her brother here with her…

After five days of confinement with no one to talk to and be fed with bad cafeteria food, she had withdrawn herself from any human contact; cocooning herself within the depths of her mind.

There she could sing, dance, laugh, and play as much as she wants. Her dead mother would come and give her kisses, and her father would pat her on the head and praise her like he did a long time ago.

Still, no matter how much she spent in her world, she was missing something; a brother.

She couldn't re-create her brother in her wonderful hallucinated world.

Someone so precious, loving, and original can not have a carbon copy of the sort.

After several attempts, she gave up and soon she had forgotten she even had one.

Days rolled in, and she was breaking again.

She would think, "What am I missing?", and spend hours pondering on it.

There were times when she heard a gentle familiar voice calling for her, but she never pin-point where this mysterious voice came from.

She opened her eyes to the dark room, with a blurry face looming over her vision.

"Lenalee, you're awake" the figure said, as he lovingly strokes her head.

"Brother" came out as an automatic response.

Brother. That word felt so familiar, she stared at the man and examined his features.

His hair was similar to hers but shorter and slightly curly at the end. He had rectangular shaped glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He looked very tired but happy. Happy as if,

"Brother Komui" Lenalee said, tears swelling up in her eyes.

She waited so long for him.

"Come with me Lenalee, there's a great new cook downstairs waiting for you to order. You look famished!"

Christmas came early that year, didn't Lenalee?