Chapter 4

Two days later, just before noon, the group sat on a train. Lenalee was beaming, talking franticly about this morning. She was so happy that she had learned the basics of swimming, At least enough to keep herself afloat and maybe even propel herself to the side of a pool if she was thrown in again. Though Kanda refused to let Allen and Lavi test that theory.

After a few minutes of listening to Lenalee go on and on, Lavi announced he was going to the dining car. Allen quickly agreed to accompany him.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Kanda and Lenalee slapped high-fives. "Worked like a charm." Lenalee said slyly. "Take that beansprout, rabbit." Hissed Kanda, an evil aura surrounding him; Lenalee sweat-dropped watching him.

"Wow that girl can talk." Lavi said as they made their way through the almost-empty hallway. "yeah." Answered Allen, looking exhausted. Lavi chuckled. Lavi, walking with his arms behind his head, almost stepped on a guy sitting on the floor. "What you doing, man?" he asked. "Shh!" the guy answered, "This is intense." The guy leaned forward, Allen and Lavi fallowing his line of sight.

There sat two guys and what looked like a boy. They were in the middle of a, like the man had said, INTENSE match of poker. The boy was doing good, but had started falling short. They could already see him sweating. Taking a closer look, Allen saw the boy cheating. With a wicked smile, Dark Allen came out, and sat down. "Deal me." He said, still smileing. Lavi leaned back, looking ready to run. He had gone completely white and his face was pulled into a grimace.

The three poker players stared at him for a minute. "We're almost done with hand, Man, sorry." The skinnier of the two men said. Allen chuckled evilly, causeing the boy next to him to sweat-drop. "I can come in now, go easy, and STILL beat all your asses." He claimed, waving his hand as if the challenge was nothing. The fatter of the two men smiled. "Alright, lets make a bet."

. . . . . . . . . .

All three competitors were pure white, their jaws hanging to the ground. Allen pulled his loot to him, smiling sweetly, just as the train pulled to a stop. "Thank you." He said. Just then, the kid jumped up angrily. He threw his hat to the ground, revealing that he was not actually a he. Her hair fell to her shoulders, her fist raised in anger.

Two other kids appeared behind Lavi, and the girl shook off her anger and ran off with them. The two men stood up and walked away, while Allen just shrugged. They made their way back to their cabin to find Kanda taking down his bag from the shelf and Lenalee passed out on the seat. Lavi laughed, more like a giggle, and advanced toward her with a marker from his pocket.

Kanda swatted him on the head with the sheath of Mugen, as he passed by to leave room, while Allen snickered. "Do you ALWAYS carry this with you?" he asked, picking up the marker that Lavi had dropped. With a guilty smile, Lavi plucked the marker from Allen's fingers. "Of course not." He said, smiling guiltily. The white haired boy knelt down by Lenalee, shaking her. "Time to get up, Lenalee. Come on." She refused to wake up, turning over to avoid his attempts. Kanda walked back in, looking even more annoyed. "What the hell is taking so long?!" he growled. Allen and Lavi pointed at the sleeping girl in unison.

"She won't wake you, Yuu!" Lavi whined. Kanda glared at him, a silent threat to NEVER call him Yuu again. "Cake." He said, slowly. Allen and Lavi were completely confused, both asking a drawn out "Whaaat?" Behind them they heard a "Where?" Turning they saw an awake Lenalee.

"How'd you do that?" Allen asked, as Lavi was desperately trying to get permission to draw on her. Kanda shrugged, and walked out into the hall.

Half an hour later, Kanda dragged Allen and Lavi to the front of their hotel. Lenalee sighed, "I can't believe you two got us lost twice!" Groaning, she went to check them in. A few minutes later, a bell hop came to get them. "Right this way, exorsists." The man bowed. The manager awaited them at the door to their room.

"Because of a mistake, I have to sincerely apologize. There has only been one room reserved for you." Kanda was furious. "Komui!" he growled, stalking off to use the phone in the lobby for a call to their unfortunate chief.

. . .

"How the hell are we going to all fit in here?" Lavi said, not really mad. "I don't know. I guess I can sleep on the couch and two of you will have to sleep in one bed." Lenalee said, putting her bad in the wardrobe. She never bothered to unpack on any of her missions. She turned to see Allen and Lavi's disgusted faces. "Guys don't really share beds." Allen explained nicely. "Ok. Then I'll share a bed with someone. You guys can figure that out while I go take a bath at the communal bath downstairs."

By the time Kanda came back to the room, he could hear Allen and Lavi's argument from down the hall. "What the hell is going on?" he asked, walking in. Allen turned toward the samurai and started to explain. "Since we only have two beds, Lenalee decided that one of us will have to take the couch while she'll share the second bed with the other!" He proclaimed.

Kanda raised his eyebrow. "So who's doing what? I'm sleeping in a bed." He said, not really caring. "Well then I'll share with Lenalee and Allen can have the couch." Lavi said, as if that settled things. "No way!" Allen yelled, throwing a pillow at him before running out. "I'm going to take a bath." Muttered Lavi. Kanda hadn't been listening and was already meditating on the floor.

Allen was dragging his feet towards the bath when he heard Lenalee's voice. "Yes, it's a lot of fun." He heard her say, but she sounded ready to cry. He sneakily peered around the corner, seeing her on the phone with her forehead against the wall. "It really is fun, Brother. I just wish, that my first real experience at life would have you in it." Allen knew he shouldn't ease drop, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Lenalee's face, as a sad smile appeared on it. "Yes you're right." She said. "I do have HIM."

A part of dark Allen appeared, causing him to listen more intently. "Okay, you're right. At least I get to spend this time with my friends." He wished he could have heard Komui's reply, because Lenalee laughed suddenly. "Yes, thank you Brother." She said sarcastically. "Even when you are so overly obsessed with me, you set it up so that I could come with him. Okay, talk to you soon. Love you, bye."

Allen pressed his back to the wall as he heard her walk away. He new the ten year thing was about how she had gotten to be in the order, which he had heard only bits and pieces of. But who was HE? Obviously it was either him, Lavi, or Kanda. But which one and what about him? Did she LOVE him; did she hate him. Crap, now he wanted to find out.

"No, no, Allen." He said to himself as he headed to the bath. "You can't just go snooping into Lenalee's personal life like that." He argued with himself all the way until he saw that Lavi was also in the communal bath. Then, he quickly forgot about Lenalee's phone call and started arguing with Lavi about the bedding arrangements again. It was dark when the returned to the room, still arguing.

Lenalee had a pounding headache, and had just finished brushing her hair when they came in. It now reached below the bottom of her ears, and though no one had noticed (even now she wanted them to with all her heart) she was so happy it was growing fast she could cry. Because of their loudness, coupled with her headache, she screamed at them to shut up because SHE would choose who slept where.