Chapter 7: Too little, too late


Along with all the faces Allen had seen after the holidays had ended- Lenalee Lee was among them. There was no denying the confusion in little Allen's brain when he first saw the girl. He had thought she was Kanda. Granted, when he first saw her, he had seen her only from the back. And she was encircled in the arms of an older man who sobbed uncontrollably, wailing things like- "Don't go! Stay with brother! " The blubbering reminded Allen of the frizzy haired man that cried whenever he dropped Kanda off to the daycare. Maybe it ran in the family. And Kanda did have brothers right? So maybe the new weeping man was just another member of Kanda's family.

The next thing that confused the identity of the girl was the way they looked. When she finally turned around. Or at least when she turned her face to the side to avoid the coddling of the sobbing man. Her features looked a bit like Kanda's. Though, her eyes were more rounded he would later find out. They had only been narrowed like Kanda's were in her frustration of trying to get away from her brother.

Her hair was the next issue. It was pulled back in two, but that was not too odd as Kanda sometimes wore her shoulder length hair in one. What was another one then? And so, who could blame Allen as he waddled along to meet who he had thought was Kanda?

The man was still holding on tightly, and they pushed away bumping into Allen who had been unfortunately standing behind. The one who turned, who Allen then realised was not Kanda, looked worried and helped him off the floor asking if he was 'okay'.

The girl was not Kanda, but she was still quite pretty, and Allen made it known when the word tumbled out of his mouth. The girl's brother looked at him for a moment, a glint in his glasses before he grabbed the girl again saying that she was "Not ready to go back to the daycare." And how there were even "More despicable male creatures." Thankfully Reever came over shortly to reprimand the man.

"Komui." He looked on at the scene with pity in his eyes. "It's only your first day back and you're at it again." He sighed.

"Reever! How many boys will you allow around my sweet sister?"

"Brother~" the girl whined. "You're embarrassing me! And you'll be late for work."

"Yeah. Seriously. Now go away." Reever made shoo-ing motions with his hands. Allen just looked on in confusion.

"How can you treat your patron this way?" Komui continued to whine and fuss, his sister had already managed to escape him and stood behind the no nonsense Australian caretaker.

"Ah, right." Reever spoke sounding unapologetic. "Sometimes I forget with the way you act. Can fit right in with the kids here."

Komui's mouth dropped open and the expression made Allen giggle. "Silly," was the only thing he said but it made Komui repeat the action- not because he was trying to entertain the child, but because he was surprised at being poked fun of by the child.

"Come on, Lenalee. Allen." Reever guided the two small children further into the building. "Go to work. Get stuff done." He called back to the glasses wearing man.

Reever didn't stick around to introduce the two, as he had to rush off to the other kids mumbling under his breath about needing new staff. When he was gone, Lenalee turned to him a bright smile on her face. "Hello! I'm Lenalee!" She punctuated her words with a wave even though he was standing right next to her.

"My name is Awen." His smile was as sweet as his words.

"Allen!" Lenalee saw a blur of red before she saw the face under all the bright hair. When their eyes met, the redhead's green eyes sparkled like gems. "Lena. You're back! Did you meet Allen?" He pushed the little one out for the girl to see. She she giggled at his excitement.

"Hi Lavi. I'm back."

"How was China?" Lavi's eyes continued to sparkle, his excitement barely contained. His thirst for knowledge already apparent in his young age.

Lenalee looked at Allen who seemed just as excited. Lavi's energy was contagious. She revelled in the attention and went on and on about the foods they ate. The things they saw. Her words weren't as extensive as Lavi's whose nose was stuck between the pages of a book more oft than not, but he continued to nod encouragingly.

The girl saw Allen glance at the door every time a child ran in. Maybe he missed his parents. "Where are you from, Allen?"

His little head tilted to the side as he said the name of the street his house was located, not really understanding why the girl wanted to know. Not knowing that was not what she meant. She giggled regardless and the three made their way to the play corner. Lavi immediately had a book in his hands while Lenalee and Allen played with colourful blocks.

The latter two looked up when they heard footsteps, more like stomps approach them. Even before they saw who was there they had heard annoyed grumblings of, "crying old man" and "just go away," before meeting the scowl of Kanda. Lavi too immersed in his book to even take notice of the changes going on around him.

Lenalee opened her mouth to greet her friend but before she could get the words out, Allen bounded to his feet and ran- though it was more of a waddle- over to the irritated looking figure. Arms flung around him as earlier grumblings faded away to a look of surprise.

"Has Kanda-kun been away?" Lenalee asked Lavi as Allen's reaction to the boy seemed like he hadn't seen him in a while.

Lavi paused and looked up from his book to see what prompted the girl's question. Allen flitted around Kanda's side as the older of the two tried to pointedly ignore the attention though he didn't tell Allen to go away. Lavi chuckled secretively, his mouth hidden behind his book as he watched the scene.

"Nope." Was all the redhead managed before laughing once more.