Knowing that Lenalee was trying to get me alone, I did everything in my power to make sure that I didn't leave the Moyashi's side. Using my pregnant husband as a shield felt cowardly, but I needed time to figure out what I was going to say to her; after all, no matter how frustrated I was with her, she was still my little sister. However, there was a war going on, and I was a general, so it was only a couple days before I was given another mission. And it was almost predictable that that mission was with the one person I was trying to avoid.

Unsurprisingly, Lenalee cornered me the moment the finders left us alone. But I was prepared for this and knew exactly what to say to her to get her to back off. "Just so you know, I'm not above telling the Moyashi everything you say and do. This will get back to him, so if you ever want him to speak to you again, you better watch yourself now."

The glare on her face instantly faded to tears, and I had to resist the urge to cringe; I got more than enough crying from the Moyashi, I didn't need Lenalee's tears too. "What's the point? He's the one who says that we're not friends anymore."

I scoffed at that. Allen's outburst the other day had really gotten to her, but it had also really gotten to him; he would probably still be crying about it if I hadn't been able to calm him down. "That's just hormones. He's eight months pregnant with twins, he's not exactly emotionally stable right now. He'll probably have completely forgiven you before the girls are a year old."

Her tears stopped, which was relieving, but cheering her up meant that she was back to being angry at me. "I guess that's true. He does seem to have completely forgiven you."

"Che. According to him, there's nothing to forgive."

"But you raped him. How can he-?"

I clicked my tongue as I cut her off. "I don't know. We may have gotten really close in the last five years, but that doesn't mean that I can read his mind."

Lenalee laughed, but then she fell silent, clearly thinking hard about something. "... Five years. Have you really been together for five years? And it started with you raping him? That doesn't make any sense to me."

Her prodding was getting annoying. "Then take his advice and just drop it."

But she didn't drop it. Not completely anyway. "You really loved him from the beginning?"

"I was sexually attracted to him from the beginning. The love didn't happen until later." I regretted telling her the truth the moment I said the words, but it was too late to take them back now.

Lenalee practically shrieked at me in horror. "Kan-da! That's not helping!"

"Che. I love him now, so why does any of the rest of it matter?" The comment had been meant to blow her off, but it was at that moment that I finally understood everything that the Moyashi had been saying about how the details of our first time weren't important. I really had no reason to feel guilty over a rape that both did and didn't happen. We loved each other now and that really was all that mattered.

And once I'd processed that revelation, I was even more annoyed with Lenalee than I was before. "In case you haven't noticed, we're about to have a baby together. He's so deliriously happy about that fact that he felt no need to fight back when you all were bullying him for being a whore. He told me every day that he didn't care that he'd lost all his friends because he still had me. So, I can tell you with confidence that if he does decide to cut you out of his life, he'll mean it. Which means that if you want to stay his friend, you better start acting like it. Let go of this whole rape thing and stop acting like nothing has changed between the two of you."

I moved to storm off, but Lenalee caught my wrist. I could have easily escaped, but injuring my mission partner seemed like a bad idea, so I let her stop me. She held me in place for a moment before she found her voice. "Is this what you're like around Allen?"

The question was completely unexpected. "What do you mean?"

She made a face as she thought about what to say next, but she kept a firm hold on my wrist so that I couldn't escape. "I've had some luck getting you to talk about your feelings, but it's always been like pulling teeth. Yet, you're opening up now with very little prodding. Is that because of him?"

I scoffed, trying to blow off the question. "He's a very emotional person."

She unsurprisingly didn't give up. "But you let him in, right? So this is the side of you that he sees all the time, right?"

"We're married." There was more I wanted to say, but her jab about me sharing my feelings was embarrassing and my pride kept me silent.

Lenalee laughed once before rolling her eyes at me. "I suppose that was my own fault for straight up telling you that you were opening up. Of course you'd go back to being sarcastic and giving two word answers."

She got back on track when she caught the way I was glaring at her. "But you at least answered my question, so I can't be too mad. Which means that there's just one more thing I want to know: what are your thoughts on the babies? I know how much he wants them, but what about you? How do you feel about your impending fatherhood?"

The question made me want to laugh, but I was definitely not going to do that now, while she was so dead set on dragging my feelings out of me. "Che. I've known for years that I want to have kids with the Moyashi. And the fact that he was able to carry them himself just makes it even more amazing. I'm thrilled that this is happening."

She clearly didn't expect that answer, if the blank look on her face was anything to go by. But I was done dealing with her, so I moved to end the conversation. "What was the point of asking me all this anyway?"

"Curiosity, I guess." Lenalee shrugged as she finally released my wrist. And when she spoke again, she was clearly choosing her words carefully. "You may have started your relationship with Allen by ... touching him inappropriately, but you're clearly completely dedicated to it now, so I guess you're right, it's none of my business. Especially since it seems to have made you both better people. So, I just have one last question before I drop this: do you regret it?"

I had had a lot of regrets just an hour earlier, but my perspective had changed now and I was over that. "Regret what exactly? Getting him pregnant? Claiming him for myself before anyone else had a chance?"

She stuck her tongue out at me in response, but I continued before she could speak. I knew what she was after, and I knew that I was going to have to tell her the truth to get her to finally move on. "I have no regrets. Things turned out exactly how they were supposed to turn out. But if what you're really asking is if I feel bad for accidentally raping him, the answer is: obviously."

Before I could react, her arms were thrown around my shoulders and she pulled me into a hug. Why was I surrounded by people who had no respect for personal space? "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She didn't let go. If anything, she just held on tighter. "It's just a hug, Kanda. Calm down. I'm just so happy to see you finally acting like a human. I can't believe that Allen actually managed to do that to you."

"We're married." I tried to shove her away without hurting her, but she didn't budge.

Lenalee just rolled her eyes at me. "Yes. You've mentioned that. What I meant was-"

I cut her off immediately. "Che. I know what you meant. I knew he was going to do this to me before I ever asked him out in the first place."

She was silent for a moment before she raised an eyebrow at me. "You actually asked him out?"

The question was unexpected, but I just shrugged and answered it anyway; it was the best way to get her to drop the hug without physically hurting her. "Not really. I basically told him that he was mine and there was nothing he could do about it."

"That sounds like you alright." She laughed once. "And what did he say to that?"

I once again tried and failed to escape from her hug. "That he'd already figured that out on his own. He had absolutely no problem with committing himself to a monogamous relationship with me and just wanted to know if I was going to start using his real name."

She raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief. "Really?"

I shrugged. "I told you, he doesn't view what happened as rape."

Lenalee frowned in thought for a moment before she spoke. "Maybe he was just scared to-"

I cut her off before she could finish that thought. We were not going down that road again. "Lenalee. Has Allen ever had a problem with saying things that he knows will piss me off?"

She sighed in defeat. "Point taken."

"Good. Now are you dropping this or do I need to tell the Moyashi that you pestered me for personal details about our relationship?"

Lenalee was silent for a moment before she sighed once more. "I'm dropping it."

Despite her words, she didn't end the hug. "Will you let go of me now?"

Her answer was exactly what I expected it to be. "No."

Lenalee eventually let go, but not until the finders came back, and by that point, I was seriously ready to punch her in the face for touching me for that long. I stormed off, but it was only a few hours before she cornered me again. I was getting really tired of this. My only consolation was that she kept her word and chose a different topic of conversation instead of pestering me yet again about a rape that didn't really happen.

She didn't touch me either, she just fell in step beside me and made it clear with her body language that she was going to follow me until she got what she wanted. "So, serious question: what am I going to have to do to get Allen to trust me enough to name me the babies' godmother?"

I frowned, wondering how to word my response without setting her off. "We've already asked Marie and Miranda to be their godparents."

Lenalee looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her skull, but she didn't cry or hit me, so at least I hadn't made her angry. "Miranda? Really?! But she's so high-strung! She-"

I cut her off before she could go any further. I had mixed opinions about Miranda, but Marie clearly liked her and she adored Allen, so I often found myself standing up for her, even when I didn't particularly want to. "She's my brother's fiancée. Remember that before you say anything you'll regret."

Lenalee caught the thinly veiled threat and didn't press the issue. "Ah. Right. Your brother. You didn't pick Miranda over me, you picked Marie, and she got chosen by default because they're engaged."

"We also just plain didn't want to pick you." The words were mean, but she needed to hear them. However, while she needed the confirmation that we purposely hadn't picked her, she didn't need to know that we truly had picked Miranda over her. "Maybe if you get your act together, we'll consider you for the next one. But these two are already spoken for."

Lenalee didn't cry like I thought she would. Instead, she got really excited. "The 'next one'? You guys decided that you're going to have another baby?!"

Of course, that would be what she focused on. I could have kicked myself for not realizing that and actually saying something about having another baby out loud. "We haven't decided anything. It was a hypothetical situation."

She didn't back down. "But Allen is able to have more babies, right? And you both seem to really want kids, so why wouldn't you have another baby?"

I didn't want to discuss that with her, so I tried to put an end to the conversation. "That decision is entirely up to the Moyashi."

For some reason, that seemed to really offend Lenalee. She immediately got in my face and started lecturing me. "Kanda! You can't just push things off on Allen and expect him to make decisions for you. Especially when it's something as important as having another child. You're married. That's a decision you two should be making together!"

I shoved her away and rolled my eyes at her. "Che. We have talked about it. He's the one who would have to carry the baby, so the decision to put his body through another pregnancy is his alone. He knows I'll be fine with whichever he chooses."

She either didn't get it or didn't want to admit that I was right. "But-!"

I cut her off before she could argue. "No. I'm done sharing things with you. I'm tired of repeating myself, and I'm tired of you second guessing my life choices. You're my sister, not my therapist, and you're definitely not my spouse. So it's time to back off."

I moved to storm off, but I was caught in yet another hug before I could escape. Only this time, Lenalee was in tears. I wondered how what I'd said could have upset her that much, but once she spoke, it became painfully clear that she was crying because she was happy. "You think of me as your sister?"

Dammit. "Let go of me."

"Kandaaa..." She whined when I pushed her away and immediately latched back onto me. "Just answer the question."

Swearing internally, both at her and at myself for being so fucking stupid and actually telling her that I thought about her like that, I had no choice but to continue to share my feelings. "Che. You've been a part of my life for a long time, and I've always been able to count on you. You're obnoxious and you're always interfering in my personal business, but I love you in a strictly platonic kind of way. So yes, you're my little sister."

She squealed in happiness at that, and the sound was so irritating that I felt the need to hurt her in response. "That being said, I will always choose my husband over you, and if you ever spread nasty rumors about him again, I will punch you. The same goes for all the personal details of our relationship that you've been told. If I find out that you've shared any of this with anyone, there will be hell to pay."

She just laughed and rolled her eyes at me. "Relax, Kanda. Even if I told Lavi everything, he'd never believe that you actually opened up and shared your feelings. You've got nothing to worry about."

I had to fight off the embarrassed blush that crept onto my cheeks, and for that brief moment, I was thankful that Lenalee was still hugging me and therefore couldn't see my face. But then the moment passed, and I was back to being irritated that she was touching me. I growled, intending to push her away as roughly as I needed to, but that was when she finally let go of me on her own. She smiled as she put the minimum acceptable distance between us. "I hope you know that the feeling's mutual. I love you like a brother."