Sadly, I have no music…
***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx***
**Falling, Falling Snow**
~Chapter Three: My Arch Nemesis~
I was fascinated with her dark eyes; they had a firm grasp on my heart and would not let go so easily. Everything around me was a blur except for her, and the only thing to bring me out of it was firm shake to my hand. All of my sights and sounds quickly returned as I focused on the man who was now greeting me.
"It's a pleasure, Allen, but I want to warn you now before you regret it later on... No one is to touch my sweet Lenalee, especially the slimy paws of some hormonal teenage boy." Komui's face grew dark as he said everything he wanted me to know, his glasses glinting even further as he continued. "Got that?" It was a whisper from an insane lunatic that reeked with venom. I could just imagine the image of him turning into a man eating snake and wrapping his tail around me, going in for the kill. Well in his case, it would be more like boy consuming... Either way, this guy was insane!
"Brother!" Lenalee snapped at him and hit him in the back of the head. "Do you have to threaten every guy that comes within ten feet of me!? That is not a way to treat someone we just met!" This time it was a punch to the ribs. It was then that she suddenly whipped her head to look back at me and smiled. "Sorry, Allen. Komui can be a real numbskull when it comes to meeting new people."
"Well, uh... that's okay; don't worry about it." I could feel the sweat on my forehead as my eyebrow twitched. Lenalee just continued to smile as Komui recovered. These two were so strange. Why did they not scream and run away like the others? Was my appearance not revolting!? How could they stand to even look at me? The only thing I could come up with was that that they were making fun of me in their thoughts. My eyes were not blind to the truth of human nature. I was aware of how people behaved. After all, there was no stopping the inevitable...
"May we come in?" Lenalee finally managed to ask. I nodded to her and stepped aside to let the two of them through. When I had moved, strands of my hair got in the way of my vision. It was while I was sweeping them away that I actually felt just how uncomfortable it was to be exposed. Where was my hoodie!? It was my safety net that I could not live without! Had I left it in my room!?
I was beginning to panic and turn to rush off to my room when an arm was wrapped around me. Breath that reeked of alcohol and smoke wafted into my nostrils, causing me to cringe. Marian had been leaning onto my shoulder as he started talking to our guests.
"No time no see, buddy!" He slurred.
"Marian..." Komui's mood changed entirely. He had grown serious and wore a foul look of disapproval on his face. It appeared that Komui did not mind my guardian's bad habits around anyone else, but when he was with Lenalee... "I would have appreciated it if you would have restrained from the booze today. After all, Cross, I don't want my Lenalee exposed to such things...!" He spat out the last word.
I could see an older brother naturally being overprotective, but to expect his little sister to be completely oblivious to the outside world was pushing it a bit much if you asked me.
Marian just continued to look at him with that non-focused blur in his eyes before noticing Lenalee and saying, "Oh, I hadn't even seen you there, sweetheart! My, my, aren't you a doll? Never thought I would see such a young girl with such a smokin' body! Especially, those t-!" He grinned and reached his hand out to grope her.
Lenalee stood there speechless. Komui's mouth dropped. And on instinct, my hand shot out and grasped Cross' wrist before he could touch her. A low growl lingered in my throat as I stopped him, and I could feel the dark aura envelope me.
"Enough!" I hissed. Komui immediately grabbed his sister by her shoulders, worry evident in his behavior and speech.
"Lenalee, did he hurt you!?"
"Brother, he never even touched me!" She laughed.
"Don't worry! You're older brother is here to protect you!" He suddenly pulled out a small bottle of some sort from his jacket pocket. He pulled out the cork and threw the contents on Lenalee.
"Brother- what?" She attempted to shake it off, but the effects had already taken place. Her eyes drooped, and her knees buckled. She fell to the floor unconscious, and I immediately panicked.
"What did you do to her?"
"It's a memory wiping potion that erases her memories from the past ten minutes." Memory wiping... what!? "Will you take her upstairs while I handle him?" Komui pointed at Marian, who was slumped against my side and grasping at nothing while mumbling, "grabby, grabby!" and giggling. I shoved him away very hard with my foot and he just laughed. "Just understand this, Allen, if you touch Lenalee in any perverted way what-so-ever, I will take the pleasure in personally castrating you~!" His words were already frightening, but the smile on his face was even more so, sending shivers down my spine. I paled, and Cross gasped over-dramatically while covering his own crotch.
"Sure." I walked over to Lenalee, picked her up bridal style, and headed towards the stairs. As I was leaving the two "supposed" adults in the living room, I overheard the chinese man releasing a sadistic cackle as he took Marian outside for his thrashing. I really was surrounded by insane hooligans...
With a sigh, I clambered up the remainder of the stairs and entered my room. Before placing Lenalee on my bed since it was the only clean one in the house, I took a few seconds to relish in the warmth of having a girl in my arms... a gorgeous one at that. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I placed her on the sheets and covered her with a dark gray blanket, attempting to rid any suggestive images from my head as I did so. It was then that I noticed her dark hair covering a bit of her face. I took a second to swipe it away, but when I reached out I was pulled down!
The girl below me pulled me into a tight embrace as my eyes widened. Her face was but a few centimeters from my own, yet her eyes were still shut. She pulled me closer where I could feel her breath hit my cheek. Incoherent mumbling met my ears as she continued to rest in a deep slumber. Lenalee turned a bit to her right, causing me to hang off of the bed slightly. She tucked her head beneath my chin and remained in her dreams, not knowing at all what she was physically doing. Was this even real!? Was a girl actually this close to me? No; I had to be dreaming! I pinched myself to make sure, and I found out that this experience was definitely real.
My arms were held in the air for a good minute or two before they began to grow tired and my only place to put them was around Lenalee. I sighed and just put them down already because really had no other choice in the matter. It felt quite nice to be with a girl like this, and the proximity between us was unconsciously making me blush. It was then that I took notice of her lips. So soft and delicate... just like her. I felt the urge to lean forward, but then footsteps could be heard from downstairs.
The spell was broken and I quickly pried myself from Lenalee's arms. Once I was standing up, I put a plush pillow in front of her to hug in my stead. Luckily, she took to it right away. My eyes landed on the chair for my desk, that had my hoodie draped across it. I grabbed it and at the speed of light pulled it over my head and put my hood up.
Komui then entered the room, his eyes landing on Lenalee then myself. "Thank you, Allen, that was very kind of you. But may I ask why you're wearing that? It's not like it's going to be raining or anything in the house..." He pointed to my head.
"Oh, well... I was getting a bit cold." He nodded then went back to looking at the still sleeping Lenalee. The man all of a sudden... cooed? He down right cooed!? What kind of sibling does that!?
"Isn't my sweet Lenalee the cutest? She's so adorable when she's sleeping! Isn't she?" He looked at me, and I shrugged. "Say she's cute!" Komui suddenly grew angry.
"She's adorable." He smiled and continued to coo over his little sister. ****; what was this guy's problem!? It was then that the girl's eyes opened. She blinked and twitched a few times before fully awakening.
"W-Where am I?" Lenalee sat up and looked around the room then at me. "Who are you?"
"Lenalee, dear, we're in my friend, Marian Cross', house. Right when we stepped in the door, you said you felt weak and had to rest." Komui smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. What a blatant liar this man was. It was un-telling how many times he had already done this to the poor girl. "Why don't we all go downstairs?" He suddenly suggested; to this, I agreed. Komui put an arm around his sister's shoulders and led her to the first floor with me in tow. As I was walking down the stairs, I was actually thankful for the so-called memory wiping potion. It had kept my secret safe, and for that I was ever grateful.
The three of us sat in the living room, with Lenalee and Komui each in an armchair and me sitting next to a sleeping Cross on the couch. It was silent for a few minutes. Lenalee was busy scanning the room, still slightly dazed. On the other hand, her brother just smiled at me while I tried to think of something to say.
"So, Allen,... how has the new school been treating you?" Komui's words brought me out of the almost trance-like state I was currently under.
"Um... well. I've been trying to remain under the radar as much as possible..."
"Any friends?"
"Well, maybe a few." That was a lie.
"You must know Lavi Bookman then. Both of you have the same period of English? At least, that is what he told me."
"Yeah; we do. Are you close to his family?" Komui looked away with a bit of a grim smile.
"I'm good friends with the boy's guardian." Guardian? "They live in the same apartment complex as us. Moved in when Lenalee was just ten years old. Her and Lavi have been best friends ever since. As for Mr. Bookman, he and I work in the same building, he in the research/archival department and myself as the branch chief." I leaned forward, suddenly interested.
"Pardon me for asking, but what is it that you do in your like of work necessarily?"
"Oh, we're a scientific facility, currently working on the experimentation of plant life!" He grinned and chuckled.
"So, you're something like a botanist?"
"Well, not really. That's more in the criteria of our research department."
"Hmmm..." From then on, we spoke about different things. The two of us made small talk until late into the night. Lenalee spoke very little, barely getting more than a few words out at a time. She had to have been still in a fog even then, either that or she was just shy... And with the way she behaved earlier, I doubted it was the last option. Again, I blushed.
Komui and Lenalee left well past midnight that night. I still remember the night sounds filling my ears and how the moonlight cast shadows across the front yard, like black blotches of paint on a gray canvas. The two bid their fairwells, and I waved as they left in their car down the street, the hum of the engine no longer there and the black Sedan forever disappearing into the night.
xXx
The second day of school was by far worse than the first. Dreadful new year first assignments loomed over student's shoulders. Instructors set both themselves and their classrooms into a routine, making the day seem to drag on even longer. It was after lunch and during Literature that things finally began kicking up, but not in a good way. What this class had against me I would never know...
We were required to begin our short, daily task pertaining to the lesson. Our teacher had stepped out for a moment and returned a few minutes later with two individuals. One was shorter than the other and had long, dark hair. He almost looked like a woman, especially with his hair pulled back the way it was. The only distinct feature that proved he was definitely male was a threatening glare that appeared to never leave his face.
The person who stood beside of him seemed much his opposite, with an almost completely shaven head and a big, warm smile on his face. His skin was much darker than the other boy's, and he had a taller stature. Over all, he seemed extremely friendly and of gentle nature, completely the opposite of his companion.
"Everyone, if I could have your attention!" The class grew silent. "I would like to introduce to you our new transfer students, Kanda and Marie." Except for a few people, including myself, it appeared that everyone shouted out a hello. The girly boy who I now knew as Kanda merely, "tched", and Marie waved. "Kanda, Marie, would you please take your seats in front of Lavi and Walter? Thank you." He turned back to face the board as the two new students walked towards us. Kanda muttered a nearly inaudible "whatever" and sat in front of me. Marie took his seat then turned around to the annoying red head.
"Hey, are you Lavi? My name is Marie. I was just wondering... is this class difficult?" His brows furrowed in worriment.
"From what I can tell, not really... So don't worry; you'll do just fine."
"Thanks." He looked over to Kanda. "Um... will you get my recorder for me?" The usually grumpy boy nodded and fished out a small tape recorder from his bag. Kanda handed it to Marie. "Thank you, Kanda." Again, the boy nodded.
"Do-Do you mind me asking what that is for?" I could not help but wonder and point at the device.
"Oh, it's finally. Actually, I'm-"
"You don't need to explain, Marie." Kanda interrupted. He then glared at me. "A shortstack like him should mind his own business."
"What did you call me, ponytail?" The retort eased through my lips like acid, and their was a sharp crackle of fury that blazed in the air between us. Kanda's glare was menacing, but I could return it just as effectively.
"You heard me, maggot."
"Um... ,guys, calm down; will 'ya? If you two get any more angrier, they might believe that the electricity went out. Get it? Because both of you have such dark auras..." Lavi sweat-dropped and laughed. Kanda and I promptly ignored him. "Guys, come on..."
We finally decided to let it go and ignore each other for the remainder of the period. But as Kanda was turning around to face the front, he knocked my desk very hard with his elbow on purpose. To get him back, I kicked with just as much force on the leg of his chair. Without looking at me, he flipped me the bird, and I ground my teeth. That *******!
***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx*** ***xxxXxxx***
(A.N.) I have been working on this chapter for over two months! TWO MONTHS! And I am SO SORRY! I had half of the chapter already wrote for the longest time, but I just could not figure out how to introduce Kanda. At first, I wanted him to bump into Allen and Lenalee at a festival, and then I was like, "Wait a moment... how can I push a festival into this story!?". So that is why it took so long. But FINALLY it is FINISHED!
Oh, and I also want to say: So far in this story, I have realized that hair swiping can get you in a lot of trouble if you are not careful.
On another note, I wanted to add some Kanda v.s. Allen humor in this! When I was first writing it, I thought, "Oh god! This is utter crap... Ugh! *Pounds head against notebook in frustration*", but when I was reading while typing I actually came to like it. Tell me what you think!
Also, I could not help but laugh at myself for writing such a scene with Cross in it! I do not know where that came from! My only guess would have to be because I love those moments in the manga when he is drunk and Allen wants to beat him into a bloody pulp. *Laughs* XD (Especially, right after Allen has Link assigned as his bodyguard and he goes to talk to his Master in the library. I roll on the floor every time I read that!)
Please review! I greatly appreciate those of you who did last time! And here is your extra long chapter, as requested!
~Ame-chan777
