9
"Where are we going?" I asked Kanda as we walked through the empty halls in the Order.
"We need to give Komui the Innocence that we recovered."
"Right!...Um, where is he?"
"Reever mentioned that he was showing some new guys around. I think he said that they would be in the Coffin Room."
"Please stop saying it like that. It sounds so heartless," I asked, shivering a bit.
"Che."
"It's the Mourning Hall."
"Val, don't." He picked up his pace and I had to jog to keep up with his long strides. Kanda had taken to wearing his long black hair in a high ponytail and it swung between his shoulder blades with each step he took. I glared at him when I matched his stride. He turned his head slightly in my direction and narrowed his eyes. I deepened my own glare.
"Fine! They are in the 'Mourning Hall'," he said sarcastically, emphasizing the name I had given the room. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders happily.
We entered onto the balcony in the hall. Below us coffins littered the ground. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought of all those who had died for the Orders cause. May your souls rest in peace, I whispered in my mind. I knew that Kanda would scoff at me if I said something of the sort out loud. He gazed down on the coffins with an indifferent eye.
I walked up to the railing and looked down. Lenalee was sitting by a coffin, bandages on her face and body. An IV was next to her and my gaze traced the line from the IV to the crook of her elbow. Tears were pouring down her face as she mourned for her friend.
"He was probably a finder from her team. She just returned too," Kanda whispered. He was watching her and I couldn't tell if he felt sympathy for her or not. His eyes betrayed nothing to me.
I turned my own gaze back upon her. She seemed so small, so broken. My tears escaped my eyes. Kanda looked and me in alarm, probably unsure what to do with a crying woman. He didn't say anything and I wiped the tears away with the sleeve of my jacket.
"Poor Lenalee. She's seen so much destruction, so much death. She's too young to have gone through so much," I managed to say. Kanda folded his arms and leaned against the rail.
"We're all too young to have seen so much. You lost your parents when you were six. You saw them get murdered. Isn't that worse than what Lenalee is going through?" Kanda said. I considered his question.
"Yes and no. I've long since accepted that there was nothing I could do to prevent their death. Lenalee feels that it is her fault when someone dies, because she thinks she should be able to protect everyone. It's not her fault."
The sound of doors falling close caught our attention and we looked to the left. Komui had just entered onto the balcony. Following closely behind was an old man whose eyes were outlined in thick black circles. With them was a boy with medium length red hair and an eye patch shielding one eye. The boy looked down and I saw him watch Lenalee. She stared up at him, tears creating trails down her face.
"Lenalee gets too attached," Kanda whispered. I turned my head slightly towards him, showing that I was listening but still watching the boy. He continued.
"She's a fool. She loves everyone that comes here."
"She and I both," I said. "I too am a fool."
"Che."
The red head was looking at us now. When both of us looked at him he smiled and walked over.
"Hi," he said.
"Hello. I'm Valeriya and this is Kanda. Welcome to the Order." The boy took my outstretched hand. "You can call me Val."
He grasped my hand and grinned. His one visible eye lit up mischievously.
"Valeriya? Like malaria? The disease?" he questioned with a smirk. I sighed and was about to speak when I was cut off.
"Gah!" the boy cried as he was kicked by the old man. "Gigi! You crazy panda! What was that for?"
"You have no manners," the man said. He turned to me. "I apologize for his rudeness. I have no name, but you may call me Bookman. The idiot there is named Lavi."
Lavi was sitting crossed legged on the ground, rubbing his cheek where he had been kicked. He grinned up at me and stood up.
"I was only kidding," he said defensively. I smiled.
"It's okay."
Komui cleared his throat. "Welcome back Val-chan, Kanda. Did you recover the Innocence?" he asked. Kanda took it out of his pocket and chucked it at the supervisor.
"Excellent. Why don't you two take Lavi on a tour around the rest of the Order. Bookman and I have some things to talk about," he said. He paused for a moment and we started to walk away.
"Oh! Kanda! Before I forget, the General-"
"Yu-kun! Val-chan! Welcome back!"
Kanda stiffened next to me. He turned and glared at Komui. Komui looked down at his shoes, avoiding Kanda's vicious glare.
"Too late," he mumbled. General Tiedoll was running over. Soon he had me and Kanda in a hug. Kanda struggled to get away.
"Don't touch me," he spat.
"Yu, that's not the way to treat your father is it?" the general sobbed. Kanda glared at him. "Fine. Run along. I'm sure you're busy."
Kanda quickly escaped from the room before Tiedoll decided he wanted to spend quality time with him. Lavi snickered and was treated with an icy stare from Kanda.
"Yu? Your name is Yu?" he said.
"Don't ever call me by my first name," Kanda growled, pulling out his katana. Lavi shrunk back but I could tell that he was a daredevil and would probably push the limit with Kanda. I was right.
Lavi walked up and squeezed between us, trowing an arm around our shoulders. Kanda's face twisted in anger.
"Touch me and die, baka Usagi!" he snarled. Lavi removed his arm from Kanda's shoulder.
"Sorry. I didn't realize that you'd be so touchy." He was definitely pushing the limits and seemed to feel the deadly vibes coming from Kanda. He quickly moved on.
"So how old are you guys?" he asked.
"Sixteen," I told him.
"Me too! I can just tell that we are all going to be such good friends."
Kanda responded to that by turning around and walking in the other direction. I sighed and looked curiously at Lavi when he started to laugh.
"He doesn't seem to like me," he said.
"Kanda doesn't like many people," I confirmed. Lavi turned his bright green eye on me.
"But he likes you," he said. "I can tell. You two are good friends, no?'
"I suppose."
"Of course you are. Don't worry, I won't take him from you. But I promise you I will be his friend before long."
"Good luck," I said, causing him to laugh as we continued our tour of the Order.
Thank goodness for snow days, because I would not have been able to post otherwise! I hope you liked this chapter. I'm in the process of introducing everyone so that the real story can get going. I have so many ideas for this thing that i really need to introduce Allen and then Miranda and Krory I might just stick in like I did with Daisya.
I wanted to stick to the book with this, so that Lavi and Lenalee have some sort of connection. That is why I introduced Lavi like this. I hope he is in character. I'm sorry if you think anyone else is out of character and that keeps you from reading. But Kanda and romance is probably always going to end with and out of character Yu.
Please review. I love reading them. They make me happy!