Alright, here we go! Chapter 2 of Dancing With Lotus Petals! A few more of your favourite -man characters will be introduced in this chapter :) Hope you enjoy! And remember: reviews are always appreciated!

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Emzielluvsbooks

allen-chan85

.Kawa

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For reviewing/favourite/following my story :)

Disclaimer: I do not own -man!

Ch2 - Dancing With Lotus Petals

The expected letter came in the mail exactly five weeks after Allen's audition. He ran out to the mailbox area and almost did a little 'whoop' of joy when he spied the crisp, white envelope. Wasting no time, Allen tore open the top and carefully pulled out the folded piece of paper. All of a sudden he was very nervous. What if they hadn't accepted him? What if they'd thought he wasn't good enough? Or too young? After a few minutes of worrying over nothing, Allen hardened his resolve and unfolded the letter.

•••••++•••••

Master Allen Walker,

You have received this letter on behalf of the Black Order Gym & Dance Academy. Your audition was on the 21st of July and was overseen by Director Komui Lee and Principle Company Lead and soloist Yuu Kanda.

We have the great privilege to inform you that both Mr Lee and Master Kanda were very impressed by your performance during the audition and you have therefore been accepted into The Black Order's ranks.

You will be expected to attend a short introductory briefing at 8:00am the day after you receive this letter. During the meeting you will be required to perform a short sequence of exercises. How well you do during this performance will determine which strength group you will be placed in. This will be elaborated at the meeting.

Congratulations, see you at the Order!

•••••++•••••

Allen could hardly breathe for a few seconds as he let the information he had just read, wash over him and attempt to sink in. He'd been accepted! They were pleased with his performance! And the slightly less relevant thought that 'Kanda' was actually a last name. He couldn't wait to attend the introductory briefing tomorrow! Allen decided to ignore the small part if him that hoped the long haired Japanese man would be there.

•••••++•••••

Allen felt a slight sense of déjà vu standing in the impressive foyer. This time, however, he was now a member of this company and there were many other people standing with him. He stood there awkwardly, watching as the people around him talked animatedly to their friends and family who had come to wish them well and congratulate them on being accepted. The only family Allen had had was a father who wasn't blood related and had past away due to cancer twelve years prior. He tried not to think about it too much.

Allen looked around, trying to find someone he may be able to talk too so he wouldn't appear so much like a loner. Abruptly, he got his wish as a young man with a shock of bright red hair and an eye patch bounded up to him, a girl with green/black hair followed at a slower pace.

"Yo! My name's Lavi! It's nice to meet ya!"

Allen didn't know quite what to think of him and managed to stumble out a reply, "n-nice to meet y-you, my name i-is Allen." Allen mentally smacked himself for how lame he sounded. Stuttering? Really? Ridiculous. The girl with the green hair walked up to him, "hello, my name is LenaLee Lee. Please excuse Lavi, he always gets like this when the newcomers arrive each year."

LenaLee Lee huh? He'd heard of her, she was their lead, trampoline specialised, Gymnast (below Kanda of course, because being the Principle Lead meant that he was the best at everything), and the director's younger sister.

"Oh, it's okay. I'd be excited too."

"Awwwwww!" Lavi cooed, "he's so polite!"

LenaLee smacked him.

"Ow! Come on Lena what was that for? I was just telling the truth!"

"Well when you 'told him the truth' you somehow managed to make it sound suggestive! And you wonder why people think you're bi!"

"Hey! I'm dating you aren't I? And you know for a fact that I'm not bi so there isn't a problem!"

Allen looked between the bickering couple, slight confusion written on his face, "um, excuse me." They both turned their heads around to face him before realising that he was still there. It was LenaLee that spoke first.

"I'm sorry Allen, we get a bit carried away sometimes," she said with a pointed glare in Lavi's direction, he smiled sheepishly, "You were saying?"

"Uh, well... You mentioned that you greet the newcomers each year... If that's the case then, you're a part of the company Lavi?"

"Yep! Have been since I was fifteen, which was four years ago. The Black Order is a wonderful place, you'll like it here. Just do really well in the introductory exercises and you'll be fine! I was talking to Yuu after your audition and even though he didn't say much I could tell he was impressed. Not even LenaLee or I could make Kanda impressed, even now. So for you, a complete stranger, to walk in and impress Yuu in your first audition? That is quite an accomplishment. I know the instructors and the other existing company members are looking forward to meeting and working with you."

Allen looked at Lavi with his mouth slightly agape. Kanda was impressed by his audition? The trainers and existing company members were looking forward to meeting and working with him? No way could this be true. Allen had seen the dismissive way Kanda had acted, they must be mistaken. Before Allen could reply to Lavi's enthusiastic speech, a booming voice came over the loud speaker, informing all the newly recruited members that they should start making their way down to the Gym floor.

Lavi turned to Allen, "well, it seems Marie has spoken. Catch ya later Allen! Good luck!"

"Thank you."

Allen then started to move towards the queue of people making there way to the elevator and Lavi and LenaLee were lost in the crowd.

•••••++•••••

Just like at the entrance to the massive building, Allen got a sense of déjà vu standing in the the silver elevator. The red block numbers at the top of the elevator counted down to 0 and kept going till they eventually stopped on -4 and the doors opened. Allen followed the other new recruits into the massive room, where various stations were set up. It reminded him of the circuit training he used to do in P.E. when he was in primary school. The only difference being that instead of skipping ropes and mats for sit-ups and hop scotch hoops, there were mini versions the massive gym equipment found on the upper (but still below ground) floors.

The 'kids' looked around in slight curiosity and anticipation and nervousness. They all knew that the test they were about to take would determine the rest of their career at The Black Order. Komui and, much to Allen's reluctant delight, Kanda walked to the front of the room.

Komui greeted everyone and went on for a bit about how this was an important time and congratulations on getting this far etc... Then he went on to explain how the next few hours would work; everyone would be split into three groups according to the stats collected during their entry audition: aero, trampoline, floor. From these groups, each person would perform a short routine on a piece of equipment (or on the floor) from their group's specialty, demonstrated by Kanda. The strength and potential of each person is measured and final groups would be chosen according to that data. Komui then wished everybody good luck and the sorting began.

•••••++•••••

Allen, to his relief, did not get put in the trampoline group. He, instead, was placed in the 'aero' group. Their supervisor introduced herself as Klaud 9. She said that the aero section was the broadest and therefore had the most options in the way of different equipment available and what not. It included the trapeze, tight rope, bars and basically anything that was performed in the air or from great heights. Apparently she had chosen the flying trapeze as their 2nd audition equipment.

Just like before, Kanda demonstrated and just like before, Allen was mesmerised. To his embarrassment, Klaud had put him first and it took a couple of snaps in front of his face for him to snap out of his 'Kanda-daze'.

Once he'd pulled himself together, Allen made his way up the rope ladder and onto the, very, high platform at the top. He took a deep breath, covered his hands in white chalk to make them grip, and grabbed hold of the smooth silver bar covered in, slightly faded, cream cloth. Another deep breath in, on the breath out Allen launched himself off the platform and into thin air. He swung backwards and forwards a few times in order to gain momentum, then when he was ready, he yelled a quick "ok!" To the men on the other platform. At his signal, they let go of the identical and unoccupied trapeze on the other side. Allen did a few more swings to ensure he was moving at exactly the same time as the other trapeze. Then, when he was certain he was in perfect sinc, he flipped off he trapeze, front saulted once and landed neatly on the other one... Feet first, so he was now hanging from his knees. The rest of the routine consisted of several more trapeze changes and flips backwards and forwards. As his feet touched the ground again, the next person scaled the ladder and the exercise was repeated.

Allen walked over to a nearby drinking fountain and took several small sips, as much as he would love to gulp as much as he could he knew it would do more harm than good to scull freezing water after vigorous exercise. As he straightened up from the tap, he caught a glimpse of black hair.

He immediately froze. When Allen finally worked up the courage to slowly turn in the direction the hair came from, Kanda was gone.