Well, here's another chapter – if this one is too rushed, please tell me which parts are, so I can work on it some more. I've gotten a couple of reviews stating the fact. ^^;
Chapter 3
About half-way through their journey, he felt Lenalee stir on his shoulder. He was currently in the middle of writing down another song, but he glanced down as the girl opened her eyes blearily and looked up at him. He smiled at her.
At first her eyes didn't register who it was she was seeing, but as her brain finally processed the scene taking place, her eyes widened, and she instantly got into a sitting position, apologizing profusely to Allen for sleeping on his shoulder the way she obviously had.
He gave her an amused smile. "Don't worry about it; I didn't mind it all that much, anyway." He returned to the paper he was working on.
Lenalee leaned closer, trying to catch a glimpse of what he was working on without being in the way. "What are you doing?"
Allen blinked and glanced at her in surprise, before his normal smile returned. "I'm writing a song." He held the paper out to her, and she took it, looking at it carefully.
"I don't really understand the symbols," she admitted. "But the words of the song are beautiful. When you finish it, could you sing it to me?" She looked at him hopefully.
Seeing no reason not to, Allen shrugged, and said, "Sure. Why not? And I'm almost finished with it anyway, so I can sing it for you in probably a couple of minutes." Lenalee's face shone with delight at this, and she impatiently waited as several minutes went by.
"Done." Allen put down his pen, and looked over the song once more. He nodded, and glanced at Lenalee, who was smiling in anticipation. Taking a deep breath, he began.
---
Somewhere out there,
Somewhere far away,
You are waiting
Waiting for the day
When all your dreams come true
I await you
Somewhere out there
Somewhere far away
You listen to the wind roll past
And wish it to come and
Take you off and far away
I await you
I await the day that I can see you
See you once again
I await the day that I can hear you
Hear your lovely voice begin
To melt my heart away.
I'm frozen in time,
Not moving, can't speak,
I'm frozen inside
Oh, why won't it break?
I can't see anything anymore,
The darkness is thick
I can't hear you at all
And I wish that I could find
A way out to the light
Please save me
A way out to the light
Please help me
A way out of this darkness is all I want
And you're the only one
that can save me through it all
I await you.
---
Allen stopped singing, and noticed that both Lenalee and Kanda were staring at him in shock. Kanda was the first to return to normal, but from the very, very slight smile on his face, Allen could tell that he had liked the song. He was still shocked by the smile, though.
"That was beautiful..." Lenalee said quietly. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, and quickly moved to wipe it away, but before she could, Allen gently wiped if off with his thumb. The gesture was casual enough, but it made her blush nonetheless.
Seeing this, Allen thought dryly I think I'm just making this worse by doing little things like that... In which case, I'm in a bit of a bind, aren't I? If I want to be able to keep up my gentleman façade, then it's best I keep doing this kind of thing. But I can't have anyone getting to close to me... for various reasons... He didn't bother continuing the trail of thought.
"Are you going to be singing that song for anyone, like at a concert or something?" Lenalee asked. She tilted her head to the side and smiled up at him. That innocent smile... why did that smile of hers make him feel so incredibly... happy? No, he couldn't start falling in love with anyone at a time like this.
He couldn't stop himself from answering her question, though: "I'm probably not going to do anything with it, really, at least not yet, anyway. Maybe once I see my manager again, I might, I don't really know." Allen looked thoughtfully out the window, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'm not going to worry too much about it."
"Well, this is just a thought, but... maybe you could sing it for some of the people at Headquarters? I'm sure everyone would love to hear it, Allen-kun," Lenalee suggested tentatively.
"I agree." Both Allen and Lenalee looked at Kanda in shock, but he didn't say anything else, instead just going back to staring out the window. After a moment, Allen turned back to look at Lenalee, who smiled up at him reassuringly.
"Well, I guess I could... but wouldn't we have to ask permission?" Allen asked uncertainly.
"Probably. But I'm sure if I just ask my brother, he'll say you can." Lenalee gazed confidently at him, and he smiled in slight amusement.
"Well, if you get permission, then I'll do it, but we'll have to get there for you to ask, first, won't we?"
"Yeah, you're right. Won't be long now, though – at least I don't think it will." She looked at Kanda, who nodded silently in response.
"Mind if I take a nap until we get there, then?" Allen asked, putting his hands behind his head, leaning back, and closing his eyes. Lenalee looked at him in surprise, then yawned and realized that she was still sleepy as well. With much trepidation, she rested her head carefully against his shoulder, and closed her eyes. Kanda watched as the two people's breathing slowed and deepened, then turned away with a grunt and muttered, "Lovebirds."
"Leeenaaaleeeee!!!" Komui cried, throwing his arms around his sister. "Welcome back!"
"Thanks, nii-san, but, um, could you get off of me now?" Lenalee asked, blushing as she quickly glanced at Allen. He just smiled and looked away. Lenalee breathed a sigh of relief when her brother let go of her.
"So," Komui said, turning to Allen. "You must be the exorcist with the Innocence 'Crown Clown', right?"
"That would be me."
"And your name would be?"
"Allen. Allen Walker. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Allen held his hand out, and Komui shook it.
"I'm Komui Lee, the supervisor of this place. Glad to have you with us, Allen-kun." Komui turned to Lenalee. "Lenalee, if you don't mind, do you think you could show Mr. Walker to his room? It's #24 on floor 3 – three to the left of your room."
"Sure, no problem!" Lenalee took Allen's hand and pulled him after her. "Come on Allen-kun – I'll give you a tour of this place, if you want."
"That'd be great," Allen said. He hurried after Lenalee, who was still holding his hand, out the door.
Komui watched this spectacle in silence, then cocked his head to the side, blinked and said, "What was that about?"
"Who knows? They seem to be quite close, especially after sitting next to each other during the entire train ride here," Kanda muttered.
"Hmm? They didn't do anything weird, though, did they, Yu?" Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Other than taking a nap? No, they didn't – and don't call me Yu unless you want to die, BakaUsagi," Kanda snapped.
"Okay, okay, calm down you two – so, Kanda, they both took a nap? Together?" Komui interrupted.
"Yes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my room." Kanda stormed out.
"Well, that settles that, I suppose," Lavi said resignedly.
"Oh, I forgot! Lavi, could you go tell Lenalee that when she's finished giving our new recruit a tour of the place, that I want to see him again? I forgot to ask him some questions," Komui said.
"Sorry, Komui, but I have my own things to do," Lavi replied, smiling apologetically.
"I'll go," Miranda said suddenly.
"Thanks, Miranda."
Miranda nodded, and left the room.
"And this is the dining area," Lenalee said.
"Wow... it's so... big," Allen said, somewhat lamely. He grinned at her.
"That's true," Lenalee laughed. "Are you hungry right now?"
"I'm always hungry." Allen smiled. "But I don't think there will be anyone there to – "
"Don't be silly, Jerry's always there – he looks forward to feeding people his great cooking," Lenalee laughed, and pulled Allen towards the counter.
"A man with braids and an apron on appeared and said, "What's this? Someone new? What can I get for you, boy?"
"This is Allen – Allen, this is Jerry, our head chief," Lenalee said.
"That would be me! Ask me for whatever kind of food you want!" Jerry grinned.
"Umm... okay, then. I want pot roast, chicken, salami, lasagna and potatoes, dry curry, ma-po tofu, beef stew, meet pie, and calpaccho, a nashigoren, chicken and potato salad, corn, a kuppa, tomyank and rice, then for dessert I want a mango pudding and twenty mitarashi dangos." Allen listed them off on his fingers while both Jerry and Lenalee looked on in amazement.
Finally, Jerry said, "You can eat all that?"
"Yep." Allen smiled sheepishly. "I believe it comes with having a parasitic Innocence – at least, that's what I've heard, anyway."
Lenalee stared at him for a moment, then began to laugh.
"What?" Allen asked defensively. It took her a few moments to reply.
"It – it's nothing," she said, catching her breath. "It's just somewhat funny to me that you seem almost ashamed of eating so much."
"Oh, well." Allen looked away in embarrassment. "Many is the time that I've asked for that much food and been told that I can't have that much."
"Well, Jerry's probably delighted to have someone with such a big appetite." Lenalee smiled reassuringly.
"You bet I am! You two just go find a good spot to eat – I'll have all this food brought to you!" came a voice from the kitchen. Jerry poked his head out and gave a thumbs-up sign.
Allen grinned sheepishly, and together, he and Lenalee made their way to one of the tables. Sitting down, Allen said, "How long have you been an exorcist, Lenalee?"
"Hmm..." Lenalee thought for a bit. "I forget. It's been too many years." She shrugged. "What about you, Allen?"
"Hmm... about five or six years, I suppose. I've had this Innocence since the day I was born, but I only really started going after akuma around the time Mana died..." Allen shrugged a bit.
"Mana?" Lenalee asked, cocking her head.
"My foster father – because of my arm, my birth parents refused to take me in. That's when Mana came. He taught me the things I needed to know to live on my own in the world. But, when he died, I didn't know what to do. It was around that time that my master came and took me in. And while I appreciated it at first, I soon came to realize that life with my master wasn't going to be easy."
"Who was your master?"
"Well... let's just say that he's not the kind of man you would willingly work for if you knew the guy well," Allen said, avoiding Lenalee's eyes. He gave a nervous laugh.
"Hmm... well, alright then." Lenalee shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
Right then, a procession from the kitchen came, carrying the food Allen ordered. About eight people came and set down the food they were carrying on the table in front of Allen, then went back to the kitchen. Allen stopped one of them and asked, "Could you tell Jerry-san that I said thank you?" The man smiled and nodded, then headed back.
While Allen ate, Lenalee watched with a hidden smile, and thought, I want to hear him sing again... His voice was... so beautiful...
Miranda, meanwhile, was looking for them. The first place she had tried was the dining area, but when she hadn't found them there, she had tried Allen's room, the hospital, and several other places. Finally, she tried the dining room again, not so much because she expected to find them there as that she was hungry herself. She walked in, and immediately saw them sitting together. Allen had just finished eating, obviously, and the two were getting up from their seats. Miranda caught them on their way towards the door.
"Komui wants to see you, Allen-kun, after Lenalee-chan is done showing you around this place."
"Ah, thank you Miranda-san," Allen said, smiling at her. Lenalee smiled as well, then turned to Allen.
"I don't really have anything else to show you at the moment, so why don't I take you to see my brother now?"
"Well, alright then," Allen replied, to which Lenalee grabbed his hand and pulled him after her. He smiled apologetically at Miranda as he was rushed past, though why he did so was beyond the woman.
I guess it doesn't really matter much, she thought, shrugging her shoulders. With that thought, she ordered some food from Jerry and sat down to eat.
There's chapter three. It might take me a bit longer to post the next chapter up, seeing as how I'll have school tomorrow and although I don't normally have homework, I have another story that I'm writing (which isn't a fan fiction), so I have to write some more of that as well. I'll do my best to make the updates quick, though.
I've been thinking of putting a little dialogue like thing down here, between me, Yume, and my evil side, Yume-ka. I'll do it on the next update, and you can tell me what you think. :)
PS - Mind dropping a review? ;]
- Yume no Yume