Damn,

Long time no update, right? Well, I'm back and I'm on my holiday week so I thought about continuing. Unfortunately, this is another rush and it's one of the reasons I never put a hundred percent of effort into the characters ways of thinking. As long as I get the story done it's cool, right?

I'll try and do them to the best of my abilities, but even though my exams are over the damn teachers are giving me coursework and so far, apparently I plagiarised and my work won't be submitted for my finally marks, so I have to do it again – but that's how England works and that stupid Gordon Brown guy (president) is saying that the tests should be harder.

I'm sincerely sorry if the standards of the writing aren't good at the moment, but blame my school – I'm starting to hate it even more than I already did.

Chapter 4

A friend in need

Allen's breath caught in his chest as he carried Lenalee on his left shoulder through the rooftops. The pain was getting too much. He didn't know why the hell he began to carry her away in the first place. What was the reason? Was it sympathy for what he'd done to her mother? Was it guilt? Or was it something deeper – like love? He shook his head and mentally slapped himself.

'No way' he thought to himself 'there's no way I'd fall in love with anyone. I can't fall in love.'

He struggled to carry Lenalee on the rooftops – there was no other choice, he had to or other wise face the consequences of being caught by the police and put to death. Besides if he made it make to the orphanage, the only problem he'd have to get through was explaining how he got his wounds – nothing-big right? Easy peasy.

But why he was carrying Lenalee back, he didn't know. He just felt like it.

'Yeah, that's right' he convinced himself 'I felt sorry for her and wanted to make sure she was alright, just like any human being would do, no feelings in that at all.'

His body was beginning to ache so much now and all he wanted to do was to give up. But of course he couldn't. If he did, then he might as well say 'Adios' to the world he'd lived in for sixteen years and he wouldn't let that happened – not know anyway. Even if it meant facing a lot of physical pain.

Allen finally arrived in his orphanage and made his way in through the open window leading him into his bedroom. He collapsed on the bed with Lenalee next to him after he made his way in. He breathed in and out heavily as he closed his eyes. Now all he needed to do was to come up with an explanation to tell matron about his arm. The silver-eyed boy turned to his side to face Lenalee who was lying next to him and began to examine her features again. Her violet eyes were closed and she was sleeping peacefully until and sudden tear slipped down her eyes. Her dress was ripped on the ends and messed up completely due to the fight she'd been through. Allen smiled softly and reached forward weakly with his unbroken hand, wiping the tear away from he eyes. He pulled away immediately as he realised what he was doing and blushed slightly.

'Damn, what the hell's wrong with me?'

He slowly got off the bed and made his way to a cupboard that was able to fit Lenalee in and slid the door open. It wasn't a cupboard as such on the inside, seeing as it had no clothing stored within it. It had a few mattresses stacked on top of each other to make a high bed. Every time Lavi ran away from the bookman's (or to him, the panda's) day-to-day routines and rules, he'd come over to the orphanage and sleep in there.

Allen lifted Lenalee with his left arm and carefully placed her inside, afraid of hurting her in anyway. After putting the young Chinese girl in the cupboard he shut a small part of it, leaving a bit open so that she could breath. He turned around and slowly made his was down after taking his blood stained cloths off and replacing them with his pyjamas (even though he had a broken arm he managed to do it since it was a sleeveless shirt).

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"Hey, Panda, how come we're doing this again? It sucks," whined Lavi as he sat on the floor with his legs crossed in a meditation position "It's damn boring. I don't see the point."

Bookman got up and hit him on the head, wearing a comical anime panda costume.

"Look here, you immature little brat!" he mumbled, "being a bookman requires concentration of the highest level and focus – this means meditation is required to be a successful bookman."

Lavi mumbled something under his breath and began to meditate, trying to clear his mind and release the third eye chakra. However his mind kept on drifting. He couldn't concentrate. There were too many questions in his head – about being the next bookman. He didn't really want to, nut there was no choice and so, he dedicated himself to something he didn't really want to do. Then his friends appeared in his head. He'd have to leave them one day, go in his own path as a bookman, giving them historical titles and names.

"Lavi, I sense that you're mind is troubled," Bookman said with his eyes slowly opening "What would be the problem."

Lavi looked up and grinned at his grandpa.

"I thing you're losing your senses at your old age, panda, there's nothing troubling me at all."

Bookman hit Lavi across the head again, this time inflicting more pain than he did last time. He wanted Lavi to speak his mind out to him and tell him what was troubling him, that way at least he could try and fix it.

"No, Lavi. I'm being serious now," muttered Bookman in a serious tone, which Lavi understood well "I need to know what's bothering you…please."

Lavi looked at the ground since he didn't want to say anything. He knew the old Panda wouldn't like what he was going to hear, but at the same time Lavi knew that he could be a stubborn old bat. If the bookman didn't find out something from that person there would all ways be other ways of finding out. The red haired boy sighed and started to speak, but said it simply without any explanations first.

"I'm having doubts being the 49th Bookman," he stated looking at the old panda, expecting him to say something like he's disappointed.

The bookman looked at his grandson and then turned around.

"I see," he said, walking away and rummaging through a small drawer "there's nothing I can do to convince you to be a bookman Lavi, it'll come naturally."

"But don't you get it, Panda, I don't wanna be a bookman!" Lavi protested getting up on to his feet "I don't find any joy in it at all. I can't even help my friends in major incidents apart from akuma hunting! I'm not allowed to interfere in businesses that affect the future – that's like saying I don't even exist in this world."

"Yes, it's true that a bookman cannot interfere in situations that affect the future, but that doesn't mean that you're not part of history – you'll be remembered for your deeds as a bookman. In away not playing a major part in history is a curse all us bookmen are born with. And we can't do anything about it. We're only here on earth to record the happenings – the war between the akuma's and Exorcists and those involved."

"But what about my friends? I wanna be there for them. I don't wanna abandon then and go and record some crap that's gonna rename them the 'chosen ones by god' or the 'destroyer' or the damn 'lotus'. Gramps, I'm gonna opt out of this whole bookman thing. I know we've got abilities others don't have, but I want to lead a life of my own."

"It's you're decision to make, Lavi, I have no saw in it what so ever. It's you're future not mine."

The bookman stopped rummaging through the drawers and left with a small book in his hand, leaving a shocked Lavi to figure things out.

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"You stupid, little child," muttered the matron "look what you've done to yourself. Getting injured like that. Next time I'll see to it that you don't go anywhere with that longhaired boy. What's his name…Kanda, that's it. I'll see to it that he doesn't do this to you ever again. Last time he came over here he'd turned the place upside down, he did."

Allen was lying in his bed as the matron was tending to his wounds. Surprisingly, she believed his story about Kanda and him getting into another fight. Then again, last time Kanda came over the matron almost threw him out since he wrecked the place trying to kill Allen. The white haired exorcist shivered at the thought.

The matron was surprisingly caring about him now a days. She'd greet him in the morning nicely and if he was sick she wouldn't bother him like usual. But ask him if he needed anything. It was just too weird and freaky. Maybe she was in love with him! Allen chuckled at that thought – Lavi came out with it when he told him about her earlier.

Lenalee was in the cupboard and Allen really hoped that she wouldn't wake up anytime soon. If she did, he was busted. The matron, finished bandaging his right arm and putting it into a sling.

"If you need anything, Walker, just give me a shout," she matron smiled before shutting the door behind her.

Allen listened closely after she'd left, making sure that she wasn't standing around trying to listen to or see what he was doing. After he was certain that no one was listening, Allen got off his bed and limped towards the cupboard. The after effects of the battle were finally setting in and they hurt more than before. The sliver eyed boy slowly slid open the cupboard and checked on Lenalee. She was injured just like him, but not as bad. He had to heal her somehow, but didn't know much on medicine or first aid.

"Damn, what am I gonna do?" He muttered, "She needs to be healed now."

Then an idea struck his head – Lavi.

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"Yeah, sure, I'll come right over," Said Lavi "Allen, you better not have done something stupid. I'll bring Yuu over, too."

Lavi put his cell phone into his coat pocket and pulled it on. Bookman was a sleep and Allen had just disturbed his. Although he didn't mind, he was more than willing to help Allen since he wasn't able to help him much before. Lavi pulled on a black shirt with white jeans pants and blue sneakers – not wanting to wander through the streets in his pyjamas.

The red haired boy slowly sneaked down stairs, making sure not to wake bookman on the way. He reached the door and carefully pulled it open and closed it behind him as he left. He let out a deep sigh when he was outside.

Lavi made his way to his bicycle, which was right outside the house. He began to walk with it then began to speed up and lifted one of his legs over the other side as he cycled away down the road. The night air was cool against Lavi as it ran through his hair, ruffling it in the process. He stopped right in front of Kanda's house and began to scream.

"Hey, Yuu, Mayoshi-kun needs us."

Lavi waited for a while. There was no response. Lavi sighed, today defiantly wasn't his day – first his talk with bookman and now Kanda wasn't even at home. He was about to give up and go when the door unlocked and the longhaired boy came out.

"About time, Yuu."

Kanda cast Lavi a glare and took out his mugen, pointing it directly at Lavi's face.

"Don't ever call me that, eye patch or you'll die."

"Y-Yes, Kanda. I swear I'll never call you Yuu ever again…Yuu."

Kanda rolled his eyes and muttered something like "stupid old rabbit" under his breath as he got on to his bike. The two boys began to cycle into the direction of Allen's orphanage with Lavi making fun of Kanda on the way. They arrived out side the building and crept around outside, looking for the window that belonged to Allen's room.

Lavi used his hammer to get up to the window while Kanda merely jumped up due to his training. He clung onto the window while Lavi sat on his hammer. They knocked on Allen's window once and waited. No answer. They knocked again, but this time Allen was there and he opened the window for them to let them in.

"What the hell is Kanda doing here?" asked Allen surprised "I thought he said he didn't want to be disturbed with this whole 'Jack the Ripper' thing. What made you change your mind Kanda?"

"Shut up, bean sprout," Kanda muttered dangerously "If you wanna die an early death then I'll be happy to grant you your wish, but I promised to help in the beginning an I stick by it."

Lavi stared at the two as they argued and sighed. He was getting tired of both of them – the situation Allen was in could get him killed, but the two just kept on arguing away like nothing happened. Lavi came in between the two and separated them both asking Allen how he got his very obvious injuries. The young white haired boy explained what had happened leaving out the bit about Lenalee.

"So you killed the woman prostitute," said Lavi going into his thinking mode "Okay, then why did you want me over?"

Allen looked down at the ground, suddenly becoming interested in the floor.

"Erm…I need healing," he muttered simply.

Lavi stared at him slightly astonished. He was already healed for damn sake and her he was telling him he needed to be treated. Allen sighed and looked up at the two boys in front of him.

"Actually it isn't me who needs healing," he said walking over to the cupboard and opening it "It's this girl."

Lavi and Kanda pretty much had a heart attack the moment they found that the person inside the cupboard was indeed their good friend from the head quarters – Lenalee.

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The next hour or two were spent with Allen retelling them the story of what happened, but this time not leaving out the bit about Lenalee. Lavi was tending to Lenalee's wounds while he listened carefully to every detail Allen gave him. He couldn't believe how stupid the younger boy was sometimes.

Allen finished telling the story and Lavi began to question him like an inspector, which made the white haired boy very uncomfortable. He'd never seen Lavi this serious before and it began to scare him.

"I take it you guys knew her," said Allen simply as he looked at Lavi "She's a really good fighter, you know."

The silver-eyed exorcist didn't know why he said that, but he knew that it was probably the most stupid thing to say in a situation like this. Surprisingly however, Lavi only smiled and nodded at his question telling Allen that Lenalee was indeed a good fighter.

Just as he said that, the young Chinese girl began to stir and wake up. She slowly opened her eyes and found Lavi towering over her with a smiling face, still tending to her wounds.

"L-Lavi?" asked Lenalee, slowly supporting herself to sit up "Lavi is that really you And…Kanda?"

Lenalee suddenly hugged Lavi tightly and cried into his shoulder as he patted her back comfortingly. Kanda stepped up behind Lavi and gave Lenalee a small wet towel to put on her head. Lenalee took it in her hand and in the corner of her eye caught the boy from earlier (Allen) sitting on his bed looking at her.

"You," she hissed getting up and leaping at Allen, even though most her wounds hurt like hell. All she wanted now was to avenge her mother's death. This boy had made a loner in this world; he'd taken away the only family she had and she didn't care if she was in pain or not, all she wanted was to kill this boy.

She landed on Allen who was forced back on to the bed as she sat on him and strangled the white haired exorcist. Allen chocked and tried to push Lenalee off him, but being unable use his right arm meant that Lenalee was able to over power him. He could feel himself losing his ability to breath, but just the Lavi and Kanda grabbed Lenalee by her arms and pulled her off Allen.

"Lenalee, what the hell do you think you're doing tying to attack him like that?" asked Lavi, struggling to hold back the girl "It's not worth it."

"Yeah," agreed Kanda "Do you wanna go down the same path as him or something. That just makes you as bad as him."

Lenalee pulled away from the two boys holding her back and pointed an accusing finger at Allen.

"What the hell is he doing here?" she roared, looking at Allen with venom in her eyes "What's this little piece of shit doing here?"

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The next thirty minutes or so were spent trying to calm Lenalee down and tell her what was going on. Obviously, she was still filled with hate towards the white haired exorcist, but that was, but that was reasonable. They tried to sort out where Lenalee could stay and Lavi's house out of the question seeing as he'd had a harsh discussion with the Bookman earlier on and didn't want to cause anymore trouble. She didn't have any other relatives left except Komui who was all the way in the Asian branch due to some business and paper work. There was no way she could stay at Kanda's since he shared a room with a few guys around his age and it wouldn't be good if Lenalee was made to stay with them. Who knew how they'd treat her or what they'd do to her.

Which then left little Mr. Allen Walker as the only opinion. Allen had thought about moving out of the orphanage a numerous amount of times already and he'd already arranged for a house nearby a long time ago – all he needed now was the payment. And it wasn't much of a problem for him seeing as orphans get quite a lot of money for their housing and school.

Lenalee obviously didn't want to stay with Allen and she made it very clear. She didn't trust the boy for one and he'd just killed her mother, so she would most likely get the urge to kill him and avenge her mother's death.

"Look," said Allen softly, speaking for the first time in a while "You're not gonna stay with me forever and I'm not gonna do anything to you, trust me. As soon as I get the money, and that's probably in like six months or so, I'll send you to china where the Asian branch is, Okay?"

Lenalee looked at Allen and sent him a death glare, scaring the young boy a bit.

"Fine. I'll stay with you on one condition." Said Lenalee with disgust in her voice.

"Go on," said Allen "What is it?"

Lenalee smirked.

"If by any chance I get the urge to kill you, I'll take it. If by any chance I get the opportunity to torture you or put you in pain I defiantly will."

Allen smiled at her. So this was her condition. It made Allen want to laugh, but he didn't. Allen didn't have any objections against this condition of hers. In fact he couldn't care if she tries to kill him, he deserved in the end, didn't he? He killed her mother and now felt sorry for her.

"Fine, whatever."

Lenalee stared at Allen, slightly suspicious, but then gave up. What kind of an idiot would say yes to a dangerous condition like the one she'd just made? Unless they could gain something out of it…

"I'm going to bed," sighed Allen "Joanne wanted to meet us in the park again, so I might as well rest up before I twist my ankle again."

Lavi and Kanda decided to stay over for the night; seeing as Lavi had to finish tending to Lenalee's wounds and Kanda just couldn't be bothered. There was weird an uncomfortable silence between Allen and Lenalee, filled with hate which Lavi and Kanda couldn't stand. They couldn't believe they'd missed something so big. Both Lenalee and Allen were their friends and yet both of them hated each other because of the incident that happened – the incident that they both missed.

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The next day was a huge rush. Allen and the boys tried to get Lenalee out the house as fast as they possibly could. None of them got any good sleep at all, especially Allen who was forced to go into Lou fa's room and get some clothing for Lenalee. It wasn't hard – Lou fa was fast asleep and even if she had seen Allen all she would have done is probably blushed. Allen got Lenalee a small black mini skirt with a blue tank top and blue cardigan, which suited her nicely after she'd changed in the toilet. Kanda, being the fastest, was made to go and get food from the fridge, which he did successfully. The gang ate their small proportion of food as quickly as they could except for Allen, who ate a huge pile surprising Lenalee in the process.

'How the hell can he eat that much?' she asked herself 'And still manage to stay so thin.'

Allen caught her looking, but she quickly looked away and closed her eyes as if she wasn't. He just shrugged and ate up as quickly as he could. After that the gang slowly sneaked out of the window and the silver eyed boy closed it behind him. Everyone sighed as they got out – they'd escaped the clutches of the matron for a day, but Lavi had no idea how Allen was going to escape for the rest of his time in the orphanage.

"Okay, we're out and about. Now what?" asked the red haired eye patch "Where not supposed to meet the guys until like in two hours."

Allen grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, indicating that he had no idea what so ever.

"Che," muttered Kanda "we could at least try looking for a house so that bean sprout can move out."

"Good idea, Yuu," grinned Lavi "And we could buy some food for the picnic again."

The three boys nodded, while Lenalee had no clue on what was going on. All that she could rely on now was Lavi and Kanda. They were her friends and she trusted both of them with her life. Allen on the other hand was out of the question and she's never even think about trusting the white haired boy – ever.

"I'll get the food," smiled Lavi "while you guys check out the houses on sale. I'll phone you once I've finished."

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Looking for the houses annoyed Allen. He never thought they'd be so stressing and irritating. It made him wish that he was with Lavi right now, and then at least he'd get some food. Allen's phone rang and he got a message from Lavi telling them to meet him in the shopping centre. The three some left and went to were Lavi had called them to come. Kanda and Allen got into many arguments on the way and Lenalee couldn't believe that the person who'd killed her mother was so innocent in life.

The three some made it to the shopping centre in time to see Lavi speaking to a girl with brown hair.

As they moved closer, Kanda and Allen noticed who it was and Allen mentally groaned – it was Lou fa. The brunette saw him and instead of blushing like usual she greeted him with a 'good morning'. Of course Allen replied while Kanda let out a 'che'. Lou fa told the gang that she was making her way to the park were she'd promised to meet the others, so the gang decided to join her.

On the way Lou fa clung on to Allen's hand and wouldn't let go, wanting it too last forever. She'd never been this close to him before and it felt great! But then she could see the dark haired girl that was coming with them staring at her.

"Allen, who's this?" she asked "Is she you're girl friend?"

Allen's attention was caught really quickly when she asked him that, and he put up his hands defensively.

"N-No," he stuttered looking at Lenalee, who was giving him a death glare "she's just a friend, whose…Erm…. Transferred over from china, yeah that's right. Her name's Lenalee Lee."

"Oh, nice to meet you," smiled Lou fa as she shook hands with Lenalee "I'm from China too."

"Really?" asked Lenalee, slightly surprised "that means we can both speak the same language then."

"Yup."

The two girls talked quietly on their way to the park, while Allen hovered close to the food, attempting to snatch it out of Lavi's grasp. But unfortunately the bookman, with his skills, was able to tell Allen's motives and sent him flying forward every time he tried to get the food.

"Come on, mayoshi-kun! Try and get the food," smiled Lavi as he ran for the park that was only up ahead "If you don't catch me, you'll get nothing."

Allen charged at Lavi, leaving behind the girls and Kanda to walk towards the park slowly. Lou fa giggled as she watched the two boys.

"What's up?" asked Lenalee "What's so funny?"

"Nothing much. It's just that every time we come up here, Lavi starts to provoke Allen with the food and Allen always ends up running after him for the food – they're both just too comical."

"Stupid, mayoshi. Stupid Rabbit." Kanda muttered, under his breath.

The gang arrived in the park to find that Allen had got hold of the basket and had one foot on Lavi as he stood up. Lou fa, Kanda and Lenalee sweat dropped staring at the white-haired boy standing in front of them, victorious.

"What?" asked Allen, confused "I've got the damn basket. Don't I deserve a round of applause…. for at least defeating Lavi here?"

The friends stared at Allen for a while, but then they could hear some people running towards them. It was their friends: Joanne, Jamie, Alex and Rebecca. Lou fa greeted Rebecca and Alex, introducing both of them to Lenalee, while Jamie ran up to Lavi asking him if he needed any help getting up. Joanne on the other hand, greeted Allen with a hug, almost throwing him of balance.

"Hey, Joe!" he grinned, hugging her as he regained his balance to stand up "You're actually on time for once."

Lou fa stared at Joanne, a slight hint of jealousy in her eyes. She grabbed Lenalee and both of them walked over to Joanne and Allen, who were chatting about something secretively. Every so often, Joanne would clutch onto Allen's hand and lean into his shoulders as he'd comfort her. This made Lou fa's blood boil and she was itching to interfere their little flirt lesson.

"Hey, what're you two talking about?" asked Lou fa, walking up to the two along with Lenalee "Is it a secret?"

"N-No," stuttered Allen letting go of Joanne "It's just that that Joann's mum's coming back and she's nervous about it. Nothing big. Oh yeah, Lenalee, this is Joanne. Joanne, this is Lenalee, a transfer student from china."

The two girls greeted each other with a small 'hi' and Joanne leaned close to Allen and whispered something in his ear.

"Nice choice, she suits you, you know?"

"I-It's not like that," Allen whispered back "Like I said, she's a transfer student. And shouldn't you be joining in on the gangbang with Jamie. That way you could get close to the guy."

"Shut up," screamed Joanne as she chased after Allen, leaving behind a confused looking Lou fa and Lenalee.

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Okay, that's it for now. I tried to develop lavi's character a bit about the whole bookman idea thing. I know I sort of screwed up, even though it's long. But I promised my friend that I'd include as much Joanne as I possibly could, seeing as the characters based on her.

But I assure you; the next chapter will be based around the Noah's and the whole ripper problem.

NEXT: The Noah's interference.

From now on Allen and Lenalee's relationship will start to take shape, but Rhode might interfere in the future chapters.