A/N: Thanks for waiting everyone! Special thanks to my friends, and everyone who gives reviews, I'm glad that people are enjoying my stories! Here's chapter 14 for you. Its just a bit longer than the other chapters...special treat! I hope you enjoy it, and please review! Oh yes, and please vote on my poll on my profile, at the top. Thank you readers! Darkotter.

Chapter 14: Day 14 -- Letters and Codes

Allen Walker had heard the explosion. More like…felt the explosion. It was around three in the morning when the whole apartment shook, dust falling from the ceiling.

"What the—" he said, pushing himself off the floor where he had fallen. He had been dozing in a chair when the explosion occurred and had fallen off. Now he was rubbing his back where he had hit the table.

He looked around as he heard the sound of the explosion ripple off the buildings. Everything settled, but he could hear a subtle roar. He got up and grabbed his jacket.

He reached the building quickly, seeing nothing but rubble.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath, staring at the dark smoke that could only be seen in the light of the lampposts. He turned as he heard the distant calls of a fire truck.

He knew what building had been there. It had been the police station…now there was nothing that could stop Him. He knew that Tyki was responsible. And by the looks of the rubble and the smoke and the still burning fire, he had probably taken care of it himself.

Carefully, the silver haired boy slipped away as the fire truck screeched around the corner. He didn't really want to get caught there.

ooo

"The police station was destroyed," Fo said, looking up from the book she had been reading as Lenalee came into the sitting room.

"What?" she asked, startled.

"Police station…fire…blown up?" the older woman said. "Where's Bak?"

Lenalee shrugged. This stuff was starting to feel normal. And so was the growing number of people who had come to live with her, because Lavi had just entered the door, carrying a book.

"Morning!" he said to the room, setting the book down.

"Good morning Lavi," Lenalee said. "Where'd you go off to?"

"To return the book that I 'borrowed' from Bookman a while ago," Lavi said. "After I copied several of the different codes of magyk, which might I add took a very long time."

"You still had that book?" Lenalee asked.

"What is this? You have a coding book?" Fo asked. "And you got it from Bookman?"

Lavi nodded, waving some papers that he had set on the table next to the book. "Its all here, all…well, not all of it. There are at least fifteen different codes in just that book. I only copied the most common ones. And…only three of them."

"Ok, so now that you've returned that book, what'd you nick this time?" Lenalee asked, a teasing light in her eyes. She knew his nature.

The redhead made a false look of hurt come across his face. "I'm hurt. You don't trust me to ask first? Yes, I actually asked this time," he added when he noticed the looks Lenalee and Fo exchanged. "But, it's a different matter if he actually said yes."

"I take it he didn't," Fo said, raising an eyebrow. "Where is Bak? BAK!" She raised her voice, calling through the house.

"Why do you need Bak?" Lavi asked.

"Because he's been lazing about. He needs to do something," Fo snapped. "BAK!"

Lenalee giggled lightly and turned back to Lavi.

"So, book?"

"Yes, yes book! Ok, so I had looked at this because its about magyk," he said. "Another one, at least. This one also tells about 'shadows' and other odd creature like things that haunt around."

"I've never heard of those before," Lenalee said, going over to him and flipping through the papers he had written out. "How do you write this small?"

Lavi shrugged. "Lots of time practicing…I should talk to Allen about that code stuff. I bet he knows some stuff. Oh yeah, that other thing…" he drifted off. He had another thing that he wanted to ask the silver haired assassin about next time he came around.

"Is the radio correct? Did the police station get blown up?" asked Bak as he entered. Fo snapped her book closed.

"I was calling for you!" she said. "Where were you?"

"Listening to the radio!" he said back.

Fo rolled her eyes. "Yes, Bak, it's true. The East-West gang is responsible."

"How do you know?" he asked, sitting down beside his wife.

"Who else would be blowing up buildings? Baka Bak!" she snapped. "Where's that assassin? I need to ask him some questions!"

"I don't know where he is…he doesn't really come when called," Lenalee said. "And…and he had a start last time he was here."

Lavi glanced at her. He knew what she was talking about and wondered if Allen would come back any time soon. He really wanted to ask him about that.

No one said anything, until a manservant came in, holding an envelope.

"Miss Lee, this was found in the gate…it's addressed to you," he said, handing the envelope to the young woman and left the room.

Curious, Lenalee looked at it. To Miss Lenalee Lee was written in neat handwriting. The others stared at her as she opened it and pulled the letter out. She stared at it for a long enough time for Lavi to say something.

"Lenalee! What's it say?" he asked finally.

She looked up. "I…don't know."

Lavi blinked blankly at her. "What? What do you mean you don't know? You can read."

Lenalee handed it to him wordlessly and he looked at it. "Oh…" he said. "Because its in code."

The dark haired girl nodded. "I know that. I can't read it. So, whomever this is from knows the language. Now we really need Allen," she said, sitting down at the table.

"What's it look like? Is it an actual letter?" Bak asked.

"More like a couple sentences," Lavi said, sitting down as well. He stared at it, then looked at the papers for a minute then looked back. "This is really complex."

"We're in need of Mr. Walker, it seems," Fo said.

"Is there any way to call him?" Bak asked.

Both Lenalee and Lavi shook their heads. He only came when he wanted too. They could only wish that he would come.

ooo

It was around lunchtime when there was a knock on the door. Lenalee looked up, and after grabbing the letter, almost ran to the door. It might be Allen.

The manservant pulled the door open for her. It was Allen.

"I'm glad to see you!" Lenalee said and led him inside. He looked slightly pale.

"Why?" he asked. "You've heard of the police station, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. Oh, we're just starting lunch, would you like to join us?" she asked. He shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

"I'm fine," he said. "But thank you."

Lenalee looked at him, then nodded and headed back to the dinning room where the others were eating lunch, Allen behind her. Once inside, she sat back down, inviting him at least to sit.

He nodded and sat.

"Oh yeah," she said and slid the envelope over to Allen. "This was found on my gate."

Allen took the letter in his gloved hand, and Lenalee wondered why he always wore those white gloves. He flipped it over, looking at it for a moment, then opened it, pulling the letter out.

"I tried to figure it out," Lavi said. "But it's really complex."

The silver haired boy nodded slowly. "Yes…what're you using to decode things, Lavi?" he asked, looking up at the older boy.

Lavi left the table, hurrying back to the sitting room and back. Allen was still looking at the letter when he returned, and dropped the papers by Allen.

"I copied them from a book…but its just three of them, out of the fifteen that they had," Lavi said as the younger boy looked at them.

"These are the basic ones," Allen said, leafing through.

"I know…"

"This is one of the more complex…and whoever wrote it also added their own element into it," Allen said.

"Can you read it?" Lenalee asked.

Allen looked up. "Yes."

Fo and Bak glanced at each other.

"…and?"

Silver eyes moved back to the letter. It was around a paragraph, the handwriting very familiar.

I know what is going on.

I've seen you, Allen.

I know that Miss Lee could never figure this out.

And the redhead couldn't either, even if he worked on it.

I'm warning you.

Be more careful.

He might see you.

He looked up once more, then read the letter out loud to the small group.

"What? Someone saw you?" Lavi asked. "And I'm mentioned."

"What other redhead would they be talking about?" Fo asked, the first thing she had said for a while.

"I also got a letter…much shorter though," Allen said, pulling the letter from his pocket and flipping it open. He compared it for a minute. "The handwriting is similar, as well as the code. The code is actually…almost exactly the same."

"So, they're from the same person. Whoever saw you come here," Bak said, continuing to eat his lunch. Allen nodded.

"I have to be more careful," the silver-eyed boy murmured. He slipped his letter back into a pocket, then turned the letter Miss Lee had received over, to look at the back. There was a small symbol on the very bottom right hand corner.

Lavi stared at him, chewing slowly. "This is getting thicker and thicker…" he commented.

"Yes, and since he wants you gone—" he motioned to Lenalee "—I have to be even more careful. I don't…don't quite know what to do."

Bak and Fo looked at each other.

"He got the…the job for me," Lenalee said. "Tyki wants me dead."

"Ah," Fo said.

They continued eating; all of them falling into silence as they carried on their own trains of thought. Allen pulled his letter out once more and looked it over, looking at the other letter as well.

The telephone rang, echoing through the house. It rang several times before a maid picked it up. They listened to her answer, then footsteps were heard and the door opened. "Miss Lee, it's the doctor."

Lenalee got up and went to the telephone. "Hello? This is Lenalee Lee," she said.

"Hello, Miss Lee. I have some news for you," the doctor said.

"Good news?" she asked, holding the receiver tightly. There was the sound of flipping through paper, then the doctor said to her, "Yes."

"Really?"

The doctor said, "Yes. I'm very glad to say that your brother has recovered! And he can come home today, if you like. He's still healing, but we think that it would be better for him to return to his own house and family."

"That's great! Thank you so much! I'll come straight away!" Lenalee said happily.

"I look forward to talking to you," the doctor said and hung up. Lenalee set the phone down and hurried back into the dinning room, where the others still were seated.

"My brother can come home!" she announced happily. Bak and Fo both smiled warmly and Lavi grinned widely. She glanced at Allen and saw a small smile come across his pale face.

"That's great news!" Lavi said, standing up. "Can we go pick him up?"

Lenalee nodded happily and turned to leave. "I'm going right now. I'll be back, unless some of you want to come."

"No, its fine. We can wait," Fo said. "We have some papers to fill out for our company, don't we, Bak?"

Bak winced. "Yes, dear."

Lavi chuckled. "I'll stay here as well. We can welcome him home!"

Lenalee smiled and left the dinning room to get ready. Once she was ready to leave, she headed down and got into her horse drawn carriage. It headed for the hospital.

"Come, Bak," Fo ordered, getting up from the table and dragging her husband out. Allen and Lavi listened to his protests as she led him to their room, where apparently they had some overdue paperwork to fill out.

Allen smiled slightly, listening, then folded both letters up.

"Hey Allen, there was something I wanted to ask you about," Lavi said. Allen looked up and over at the redheaded young man.

"Yeah?" he asked, slipping both letters into his jacket.

Lavi nodded. "I was wondering something. Since this is going to get more dangerous, I think, since now you were ordered to kill Lenalee…" he said. "I was wondering if you could teach me a few moves. I want to help out. I know some stuff, actually." He grinned at Allen.

Allen looked slightly startled and asked, "You want me to teach you how to fight?"

Lavi nodded. "That's the basic idea. Don't worry, I know some basic things. I had a teacher when I was younger, but I kept putting it off…now I wish I stayed with it," he said, laughing lightly.

He looked at the silver haired boy. He seemed slightly paler then normal, but his eyes were sparkling. "So, yes or no?"

"I agree that if you knew some things, you could actually help me out if anything happened. You wouldn't be a match for an assassin, but if it were just one of Tyki's thugs, I think you'd have a chance if we did. So, I think we can give it a try," Allen said, actually grinning.

Lavi grinned widely. "When can we start?"

ooo

"I'm so glad to be home," Komui said as Lenalee helped him up the path. He was still bandaged, but he could actually walk. His ribs ached—they were still very sensitive—but he could breath without it sending shots of pain up. Lenalee smiled.

"And there are some guests that I think you'll be happy to see," she said as they entered the house. He looked at her.

"Who?"

His question was answered when Bak fell—or was thrown—out of the library doors, to land in a crumbled heap.

"You're no help!" Fo's voice could be heard.

"You didn't have to kick me!" he called back, holding his head. Then he pushed himself off the floor and looked around, grumbling. But when he saw Komui and Lenalee, his expression brightened.

"Komui!" he said happily, coming over to them. Fo poked her head from the library door and then came out.

"Bak! I haven't seen you in a long time," Komui said, embracing Bak then turning to Fo. "Its lovely to see you."

"Same here…but seems that your still healing," Fo said, raising a slender eyebrow and looking at his bandages. He nodded, but was still smiling.

"But I'm glad that I can come home!" he said happily.

"No bouncing around," Lenalee said sternly.

Komui looked over at his younger sister. "Always keeping an eye on me, aren't you?" he asked jokingly. "I promise, I won't do anything, sister."

Lenalee smiled, then glanced around. "Where's Lavi and Allen?"

"I believe that both young men are outside, in the back courtyard," Fo said. "And don't ask me why, because I don't know. They were just kind enough to tell us that they were going out there."

Lenalee giggled. "Ok…I'll go out and look. Komui, what do you want to do?" she asked, looking at her brother.

"I think I'll catch up on some stuff with my old friends," Komui said, smiling, looking at Bak and Fo, who nodded.

The girl nodded and headed down the hall, leaving her brother and his friends. She slipped through the kitchen, since it was the fastest way to get to the back courtyard, and pushed the door open.

The stone patio was visible. Snow had been pushed aside, so that the boys had a clear space to stand. She wondered why they were back here, but then thought that maybe it was because it was more private. It would be harder for someone to see Allen if he were back here, instead of in the front.

"Try again, Lavi," Allen was saying as she came out onto the cobblestone patio. She looked around and saw him standing in the middle of the patio, slightly tense. Lenalee watched as Lavi tried to hit him. Allen slid away easily, dropping down and spinning around, his hands on the ground, one leg outstretched to knock Lavi's own feet out from under him.

Lavi jumped quickly, barely getting out of the way. But as he landed, Allen kicked him in the stomach and he stumbled backwards. Lavi let out a startled yell and crashed to the ground.

Allen was actually grinning. He looked happy! Lavi pushed himself up to a sitting position.

"Nice try," Allen said, giving Lavi his hand so that he could pull him off the ground.

Lavi grunted, taking the gloved hand. But as he took it, he yanked Allen down. Allen twisted his arm in Lavi's grip and pushed off Lavi.

"Uff!" Lavi grunted in surprise as Allen flipped over him. He had used Lavi's shoulder as a base to push off and the redhead was forced to the ground. Then Allen landed quickly and pressed his boot onto Lavi's neck.

"I win," he said, looking down at Lavi. Lavi grinned up at him.

"If this was an actual fight, I take it that I would be dead," Lavi said as Allen took his foot off of his throat.

"What're you guys doing?" Lenalee asked, even though she could see that they were dueling.

"Miss Lee!" Allen said, startled, looking around in surprise.

"Dueling, of course. I want to learn how to fight better," Lavi said, standing up and rubbing his neck.

"He's actually pretty good," Allen commented, still grinning. He seemed more at ease. Lenalee smiled.

"Except I haven't gotten you once," Lavi said, brushing himself off. Allen just grinned.

"I've been doing this for a long time," he said. "I know you didn't realize it, but you almost dislodged my dagger."

"What?" Lavi asked, looking up at Allen.

Allen slipped the silver dagger from its hidden sheath. Lenalee hadn't even seen it there…it had been well hidden.

"When you grabbed me," Allen explained. "You almost pulled it out, on accident."

Lavi looked puzzled. "Really? I didn't even feel it. But what happened after happened so fast, I kinda forgot about it if I had felt it."

"What happened?" Lenalee asked.

"He grabbed me," Allen said.

"And he wriggled free like a fish, seriously," the redhead said. "He's amazing. And he's stronger than he looks."

"I'm flattered," Allen said. "Just takes practice…"

"…and magyk," Lavi added.

Allen froze, then relaxed. "Yes, that too. But if I'm not mistaken, you have some too."

The older boy shrugged. "I guess so…not as much as you though."

"So, are we going to continue?" Allen asked. Lavi nodded, then swung his leg around, kicking Allen's hand, which was holding the dagger.

Lenalee sat down on one of the benches to watch, slightly amused but also happy. Lavi wanted to help, she knew that. And this way, he could help and not just be in the way. She knew that if he was doing something, Lavi had to do it well. And it seemed like he was.

The dagger fell from Allen's hand, skidding across the stone. Allen lunged towards it, but Lavi grabbed it before he could reach it and slid backwards, out of the assassin's way. Allen watched Lavi carefully. The redhead spun around and slashed the dagger. The silver haired boy easily moved out of the way…and suddenly he was behind Lavi. He grabbed Lavi's forearm and twisted it behind Lavi's back. Lavi let out a yell of surprise and the dagger fell from his hand.

"How-how'd you do that?" Lavi panted. Allen gripped Lavi's arm tighter, forcing him onto his knees. "Ah! I give in!"

"Assassins would just kill you," Allen said, letting Lavi go and picking up his dagger.

"Ow…" Lavi muttered, rubbing his now bruised arm. "You're really strong, Allen. You don't look it, but you're like a loaded gun, with all that strength."

Allen raised a silver eyebrow. "Loaded gun? You mean, like this?" he asked, a grin plastered onto his face. His dagger disappeared into its sheath. His gloved hand pulled something from under his jacket, clicking it as he did so.

Lavi and Lenalee both stared.

"How many weapons do you have?" Lenalee asked softly as Allen slipped the gun back into its holster.

"Enough," he murmured. "Never know what you'll need."

"I guess you have a point, in your line of work," she said, standing up. Allen watched her. Lavi had seized the chance to sneak up on him, and was now behind him. Lenalee kept her eyes on Allen's face not to give Lavi away.

Then Lavi grabbed Allen from behind. Allen tried to twist, but Lavi held him tightly. Then Allen slumped.

"Haha!" Lavi said triumphantly. Lenalee didn't think that Allen was defeated yet. And in a single motion, Allen jerked his head up, hitting Lavi.

"Ow!" Lavi let go of Allen, a hand on his face. He staggered backwards, his eye watering. Allen turned, an eyebrow raised.

"You're not very stealthy," Allen commented.

"My nose!" the older boy said indignantly. Allen shrugged. "You attacked me," he said.

Lenalee giggled. "He's right, Lavi. You attacked him," she said, laughing.

Lavi dropped his hand. He stood still for a moment, then rammed Allen. With a surprised yell, Allen twisted. His feet got tangled and he slipped on a puddle, falling onto the ground.

"Did he actually get you that time?" Lenalee asked, coming over to Allen.

"Lets say he did," Allen said, grinning at Lavi. "I wasn't prepared for that and then I slipped."

Behind Lenalee, Lavi was celebrating his small victory. Allen shook his head, then turned back to Lenalee.

"Here," Lenalee extended a hand and he took it with his left. She pulled him up, but felt the glove slide off and she stumbled backwards, holding it.

Allen gasped. Lenalee and Lavi both stared at his left hand. "Oh…" she murmured.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope I kept them in character, because I thought that some where ooc, but I try. Please review, feel free to ask questions. I don't own D.Gray-Man