Trust

Summary: After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

Chapter Ten

Photographs

When Lenalee had willingly stepped into his office, Leverrier was expecting her to yell at him about Kanda's care— what he didn't expect was her to walk in with a smile on her face, her eyes unreadable as she took a seat in front of him.

"What do I owe the honours of seeing your beautiful smile for the first time, Lenalee?" he asked, holding a cup of tea in his hand, staring her down. "I was expecting an argument."

"Of course not," she responded, her tone calm. "I'm not a child anymore and I've come to push aside the hate I'd gathered for you, since we are on the same side, aren't we?"

Leverrier furrowed his brow, taking note that she wasn't trembling, that she was staring at him, her gaze never once leaving him.

"I'm glad you view it that way," he said, his tone clipped. "So why are you here?"

"I'm here to talk about Kanda," she responded smoothly, resting her hand on his desk. "Or rather, his Innocence. It spoke to me."

Leverrier paused, his fingers tightening around his tea cup, his eyes flickering as he tried to pick up whether or not she was lying, but her expression didn't change.

"It spoke to you?" he answered after a few moments. "Why you of all people?"

"Perhaps because I actually care for Kanda," her tone turned slightly cold. "I never tried to get answers out of him when he was sick. The Innocence spoke to me because it trusted me for having no hesitation in helping him."

"I see," he didn't bother commenting on the tone she used with him, placing his cup down. "I thought that it may have responded to your Innocence, being that it also saved your life and that you are the only crystal-type the Order has."

Lenalee had wondered this as well, but the Innocence never once reacted when she had spent time with Kanda before, so she knocked the possibility of it off her list. Her smile never left her face, her fingers smoothing along the polished wood of his desk.

"It may be, but I wouldn't know," she replied. "It told me it was a trust issue. I don't think the Innocence appreciates how you're treating its host."

"We wouldn't be treating its host in such a way if it just responded to us in the first place," Leverrier leaned on his desk, staring the youngest Lee down with a somewhat irritated expression. "Pray tell, what did the Innocence say to you?"

"It told me...that it didn't really have a good experience with the Order," Lenalee answered, wording carefully. "It also told me to tell you that the only person it would be willing to talk to was me."

Leverrier was thoughtful, trying to figure out if Lenalee was lying to him or not. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lenalee gave him a bittersweet smile as she rose to her feet.

"So I suggest you let me take care of Kanda, if you want your answers from it."

Leverrier was dumbstruck as she then left the office without another word, closing the door behind her. When she was out of sight, her calm expression dropped and she felt her legs tremble, taking in a deep breath as she walked away.

'...now to see if he takes the bait…' she thought, heading back to the cells to check on Kanda, having grudged leaving his side, even for such a short amount of time.

Trust

When Kanda finally woke up, he felt his breath catch in his throat at the feeling of something cold being rested against his head, cobalt eyes flickering open slowly as he tried to recollect what had happened.

He had suddenly felt weak and dizzy, his skin feeling like it was on fire...but why?

'Edgar keeps telling me that we'll get sick if we keep coming to the pools without warm clothes...I wonder what that is like though?'

Alma's voice rung in his head, causing him to blink at the sudden memory, oblivious to the voice that was calling his name. Was this really because he lay wearing only bottoms and never covered himself with a blanket.

"No…" his voice came out in a rasp, his eyes widening slightly. "It was...that bastard…"

"Who?" Kanda snapped out of it when he heard the familiar voice of Lenalee, who looked concerned. "Who are you talking about Kanda?"

He sat up abruptly, feeling the wet rag fall from his head and onto his lap, staring at Lenalee with disbelief. Wasn't this the cell he had been in for the past...how many days now? He lost count. A quick glance around himself confirmed that this was not the cell he had passed out in, but a bedroom. A beautifully decorated bedroom, with blue and green wallpaper covering all four walls. The furniture was all white, a couple of photographs sitting on top of the drawers.

Sitting next to him was Lenalee, who had taken a hold of his hand, a bright smile on her face.

"Thank goodness, you finally woke up," she blinked softly, squeezing his hand. "I got permission to move you to my room so I could tend to you. I know it's a bit girly in here, but I think it's a lot more comfortable than resting in that cell."

His attention was brought down to his wrists, which were no longer chained, then down to his body where he took note that he was wearing a fluffy blue robe that was far too big for him.

"That's a robe that the older you owns," she let out a soft laugh. "I bought it for you one Christmas, though I don't think you ever wore it. I know it's too big for you, but it's warm, isn't it?"

He couldn't deny that it wasn't warm. He went rigid when Lenalee let out a soft laugh at his expression, then calmed when she patted his shoulder.

"Anyway Kanda, now that you've finally woken, I'm going to go ask Jerry to make you some food. Just...stay here okay? I don't want you to get in trouble for wandering."

He watched her leave, then stared at his lap for a few moments and sighed, slipping off of the bed and looking around the bedroom once more, his gaze resting on the photographs sitting on her drawer. Not that it would usually interest him, looking at someone's pictures, but when he managed to catch sight of himself in one of the frames, he couldn't help but wander over, examining each one.

There were lots of Lenalee and Komui together, but then there were pictures of her standing with her...friends, as she probably would have told him. What caught his attention were the few pictures of her at a much younger age...and then himself standing beside her.

He picked it up, staring at it closely. She looked a lot younger, maybe ten or eleven, the age he appeared to be right now, though in the picture, he looked twelve or thirteen. She was smiling brightly, her hair tied up in pigtails, her face covered in plasters and her arms wrapped in bandages. Was she an Exorcist that young as well?

He stared at himself, taking note that he wasn't looking at the camera and was appearing an all-in-one training suit, Mugen held firmly in his hand. He had to admit, he looked pretty annoyed in the picture.

He placed the frame back on the drawer and picked up another one, furrowing his brow. In this one he must have been around eighteen and he was sitting at a table with Allen and Lavi, holding cards. Allen's expression looked completely demonic, while Lavi had a defeated look— and once again, like the other picture, he looked pissed off. It looked like he was halfway taking off his hair tie. Was that what he was meant to give up if he lost or-?

"Do you like the pictures, Kanda?" he almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice of Lenalee behind him, turning around to face her. "I have more in my bedside cabinet if you want to look at them, you know."

She was holding a tray with water and soba, which she placed on the table at the side of the room, going over to the cabinet and opening it before she pulled out a pile of photographs, sitting on the bed with them. Kanda was expecting to be told off for looking at the photos without permission, but he brushed it to the side as he lifted the food and went to sit next to her.

"This one here was when Allen first joined the Order. Big brother made a mistake and everyone thought he was an Akuma and you were the first one to react. Thankfully we managed to figure out that General Cross had sent a letter of recommendation, so you didn't gut him like you threatened to," she showed him the picture, which showed himself and Allen standing in the canteen, glaring daggers at one another and having an argument. "Ever since he joined, you always called him 'Moyashi' and he would always correct you. That's what you two were arguing about that day."

Kanda watched her place the picture down, fiddling with his chopsticks and then started to eat the soba, which he had decided didn't taste that bad, despite not wanting to eat it after visiting Hevlaska.

"This one was when big brother made the very first Komurin!" Lenalee sounded very surprised. "His robots were always crazy. It tried to eat your soba, so you sliced its head off with your sword. Big brother was distraught for weeks, but it was probably a good thing you got rid of it."

Kanda stared at the picture, which was slightly blurred. It appeared like he was breaking something mechanical looking with Mugen, a wide smirk on his face as he fully destroyed Komui's creation.

"I couldn't help but take this one," Lenalee spoke softly. "You were meditating. I was going to join you, but you seemed so deep in thought that I let you be that day. I think you would have interrogated me as to what was wrong, since I only ever seemed to meditate with you when something was on my mind…"

Kanda paused, seeing that his older self was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes closed. He did seem to be peaceful, though his attention was brought to the fact that Mugen was laying across his lap. Was he really that attached to the Innocence that he carried it everywhere?

"This one— oh," Lenalee suddenly blushed, growing flustered. "I think A-Allen took this one...I'd just returned from a mission and when I was talking to Lavi...I...kind of fell asleep on him...and he didn't bother to wake me up so he fell asleep as well…"

Kanda was in the middle of taking a drink of water, staring at the picture that Lenalee held firmly between her fingers. She was sitting on one of the couches with Lavi, fast asleep on his chest, while the redhead had his arm wrapped around her, also asleep. If he were going to take a guess, then—

'When a man and a woman love each other very much, they-'

This was not the time to be remembering something Edgar said. He almost choked on his water at the mere thought that there was a possibility of—

"Kanda, what are you thinking about? Your face has gone red-" she then paused, then became flustered as he turned his head to look at her, his eyes trailing down to her stomach unconsciously. "K-Kanda! It's not like that!"

"...do you like him?" he asked bluntly, placing his cup down on his tray, then placed the tray on the end of the bed. "What do you mean it's not like that?"

"H-He's my friend, of course I like him!" she nodded her head rapidly, slapping herself across the head. "O-Oh...um...it's nothing, I thought that-"

"Do you love him?" Lenalee's jaw dropped at his question, having not expected Kanda of all people to ask her this kind of question. Komui maybe, Allen the most likely. Kanda even being curious was just weird.

"W-What makes you want to ask that, Kanda?" she asked, trying to calm herself down. "I'm just...very comfortable around Lavi."

"Oh," Kanda glanced down at his soba, furrowing his brow. "I was told that if a man and woman loved each other very much, they have children together. That children come from their mother's...womb."

Lenalee was mortified. Who on earth had this conversation with Kanda? Whoever it was, they had given him the most vague explanation on love and about how children were conceived. At Lenalee's expression, Kanda felt the need to hastily add on.

"Doctor Edgar told me this because I asked if all humans were... born in pools of water..."

Lenalee calmed, though her expression became furrowed at his explanation. What was that meant to mean? Why would Kanda even ask if humans were born in pools of water? She had to remind herself that Kanda couldn't remember anything and only knew as much as he did as a child.

"I suppose this Doctor Edgar was correct in telling you that children come from their...mothers tummies," was she really having this talk? With Kanda? No, she couldn't bring herself to have this talk. Not with the man she knew would never normally have this conversation. "What makes you believe that children come out of water pools, Kanda?"

"Because that's where I came from," he responded, Lenalee trying to pick out from his tone whether or not he was joking. "So did Alma."

"I don't-"

'I think this conversation should end here now, Yu,' Kanda heard his Innocence speak in his mind. 'There are some things that your...friends...don't know about you at the moment. So I think you should rest for a while.'

Kanda was about to question the Innocence, but he felt a gentle pulse of energy, causing him to feel extremely tired. He closed his eyes and fell to the side, his head landing on Lenalee's lap as he fell asleep, breathing softly.

"K-Kan...da?" Lenalee was baffled when he fell asleep within seconds, but then reasoned with herself that Kanda's fever had only just calmed down. Maybe that's why the conversation went so weird?

She shifted him, laying him down on the bed and covering him with a blanket, frowning softly.

Allen had mentioned to her that he thought Leverrier was hiding something from them about Kanda. He's also mentioned the name Alma. Was there actually a deeper meaning to this conversation?

Lenalee stared at Kanda's sleeping face, getting to her feet, deciding that rather than thinking about this herself, she should talk with Allen and Lavi to see what their thoughts on it were.