Chapter Four

Lenalee looked away from Kanda shyly. He had been in his meditation room when she walked in and asked if she could talk to him. He had looked at her with the same steely look that he gave everyone and said, "That depends, are you going to give me an explanation for why you lied so blatantly to me earlier? Most people would be annoyed if someone told them that they liked them when it was obvious that they didn't. Or perhaps you're just trying to make the Beansprout jealous? You don't really need to, you know. He already likes you. I thought that you of all people would notice that. You're not an idiot, Lenalee. Don't act like one." At this, Lenalee smiled awkwardly. This was about as close to a compliment as she would ever get from Kanda.

"You don't understand, Kanda. I'm not trying to make Allen jealous. I'd have to tell the story from the beginning for you to get it."

"I have some time. Just try to get to the point," Kanda said shortly. He didn't like long, drawn out stories that never quite made their meanings clear.

"Okay. It happened on the night that Allen cracked. He attacked us all, and you and Lavi subdued him."

"I remember. He gave me some nasty bruises to commemorate the moment."

"Anyway, then he finally came to, and he was about to be arrested when I pulled him off and hid with him. We hid in a storage unit for about fifteen minutes, and he asked me what happened. I explained it to him, which only seemed to upset him further, though I'm not really surprised that it upset him, I suppose that it would upset me, too, if I found out that I had attacked my friends, and…"

"Lenalee!" Kanda said shortly. "The point."

"Right. S-sorry. Anyway, he surrendered himself to the guards and was thrown in the dungeon, and then Road Kamelot showed herself to me and said that she could help."

"Wait, Road Kamelot!? That Noah girl!? How did she get in!? What did she say!?"

"I-I don't know how she got in, b-but she offered me some chocolate and said that she could help Allen. She said that she could remove the memories of the fourteenth from him. But she wanted me to break his heart and then ask you out in a public enough manner that Allen would either see it happening or hear of it later."

"Two things about this make no sense to me. First off, why on earth would she want to help Allen? Second, why the fuck would she want you to 'break his heart'?"

"Well, the answer to both is the same thing. She's had this weird thing for Allen for a while now, and I suppose she thinks that if I hurt him badly enough, he'll be more open to going out with her."

"Hm. Smart girl. She seems to know human nature pretty well."

"But Allen isn't a vindictive person! He's not going to go out with Road just because I hurt him!"

"Lenalee, you're a lot smarter than most girls your age, but you really are clueless," Kanda said, losing his scowl. He almost looked sympathetic. Then he said, "see, you're right. Under normal circumstances, Allen wouldn't ever go out with someone like Road Kamelot. However, now that he's twice been emotionally stabbed by you, he's probably open to anyone who would offer him some comfort. It could just as easily be that scientist girl in the other HQ in China, but she rarely comes into contact with him, so that's out of the question. Now, Road, who will likely have many opportunities to be in contact with Allen, is in a much more favorable position now, to offer sympathy and slowly and subtly manipulate Allen to become more dependent on her, and more hostile toward you and likely, the rest of the order. In other words, she's going to turn him against the Dark Order, and unless you interrupt her plans somehow, there's not much we can do about it. Unfortunately, since Allen has been hurt by you, and then had that belief cemented by seeing you asking me out, he's unlikely to be predisposed to listen to you. Road probably counted on that from the beginning, knowing that you loved him, and were likely to go back on your word after she did whatever it was she did for Allen. Now, she's the one who looks good, and you come out looking like a bowl of soggy Soba noodles. Yes, Road is extremely talented at manipulation. However, it's possible that the Earl also played a role in this."

"No. Road said that the Earl would punish her if he found out."

"Hm. If she did it without the Earl's permission, then she must either be very important to the Earl, or very sure that her plan was going to work. There are several ways that her plan could have gone wrong, unless she has some other aspect of her plan that none of us know about. She may have other members of the Noah Clan in on her plan, and everyone who is in a possible position of trust with Allen right now is suspect. If Road could infiltrate the Dark Order's HQ so simply and so silently, then that means that we really can't trust anyone right now. I would imagine that Road is in the order right now in the guise of another female and is probably going to spend a decent amount of time with Allen right now or in the near future. You should probably make a list of all of the people with whom Allen regularly comes into contact and keep a close eye on them. Speaking of which, when did I join the Order?" he asked demandingly, looking at Lenalee, not fully trusting her at the moment. He had said that anyone could be Road in disguise.

"Um, you've always been in the Order. You were of the second generation exorcists, created from one of their experiments to create people who were compatible with the innocence."

"Okay. You should have some obscure questions ready for any of the members who display suspicious behavior," Kanda said coldly, looking around to see if anyone was watching them. When he was satisfied that nobody was, he turned to Lenalee again.

"Has anything happened lately that makes you suspicious?"

"N-not that I can think of."

"Well, keep an eye out… You can't trust anyone right now."

Allen silently walked through HQ, and headed toward his room, his pace slower than usual. He didn't see any real need to hurry. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Lavi called out to him, but Allen wasn't paying attention, so he passed right by him, until Lavi slapped him hard on the back, causing him to vault over his feet and land flat on his face. It didn't really hurt that much, but it was a little bit annoying. Allen was about to yell at Lavi, when he rethought it. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to start an argument. He wasn't sure if it was really worth it.

"Oh, hey, Lavi," Allen replied dully, standing up and dusting himself as if he had merely tripped, and Lavi hadn't shoved him at all. Lavi looked at him with one eyebrow raised, surprised that this hadn't annoyed Allen in the slightest.

"Y-you mean, you aren't angry, Allen?" he asked, utterly perplexed. Allen gave Lavi one of his patented fake smiles and shook his head.

"No. I'm sure you didn't mean to hit me so hard…" he lied. He knew that Lavi had every intention of knocking him over, but Allen wasn't really in a good mood, and he was afraid of what he would do if he got into a fight. Maybe that was a sign that he was really slipping, or perhaps it was a good thing. Allen didn't know, but at the moment, he did know that a fight wasn't what he wanted.

"Um… O-kaay…" Lavi said slowly, scowling, slightly annoyed that Allen hadn't said anything back.

"So, what's up, Lavi?" Allen asked, more as a nicety than for the reason that he really cared. Lavi shrugged and looked harder at Allen, "Well, you're acting like a grade-A weirdo. What happened? Did Lenalee reject you, or something!?" he asked, laughing a bit, not expecting Allen to really respond.

"Not exactly…"

"What do you mean 'not exactly'!? She either did or she didn't! Did you ask her out or something?"

"It means that I don't wanna talk about it!! Now leave me the fuck alone!" Allen snapped before he could catch himself. Before he could say anything else, though, he looked away and ran off to his room, now in a hurry. Lavi stared after him, his mouth agape for a moment, before shaking his head and stalking off, noticing that several people were looking at him.

As Allen silently walked into his room and shut the door, he noticed that several candles were floating in midair, which could only have meant one thing. Road was there. Allen looked around, not really scared, but surprised, and oddly pleased. He suddenly jumped and ran over to Road, hugging her tightly. She looked across at Allen, their faces practically touching, shocked that he had shown such affection toward her. After she got over her surprise, though, she smiled and hugged him back. It was at that exact moment, though, that Allen realized what he had done, and he pushed himself off of her and jumped back, readying himself to fight if need be.

"S-sorry, Road… I didn't mean to act so rashly." He said, looking at her suspiciously. She smiled and shook her head, showing her hands in a display of peacefulness.

"I come in peace… so to speak. Hehehe…" Road said calmly, not making any quick movements, though she could have easily reached for Lero to distract Allen while she escaped. Level 1 Akuma wouldn't have held Allen for long, especially with his power, but it would have been a good distraction for her to run. She had no intention of leaving, though, until she had gotten what she had come for.

"Yeah? And you're going to leave in pieces if you don't explain yourself immediately!" Allen said coldly. Road's smile faltered slightly, but instead of getting annoyed, she moved so quickly that Allen didn't quite follow and she got behind him, draping her arms sensually over his shoulders and leaning on him, smiling seductively at him. Allen gulped, turning slightly pink.

"Um… R-Road, i-it was one thing to share a hug. Even a kiss is a little out of bounds, but this is k-kinda going t-too far…"

Road giggled and shrugged. "Suit yourself, Allen-kun. I'm just here because I thought you might like the company. Apparently I was right, although right now you seem adamant not to show it…"

"Just leave me alone, Road. I'm not in the mood to be made fun of. I'm not stupid. I know as well as you do that a Noah would never want the company of an Exorcist. They're polar opposites."

"That hurts, Allen-kun… Just because I'm a Noah doesn't mean that I'm heartless. I'm not so cruel that I would pretend to like someone just to mess with them. Your morals and values sure are cute, though. Tell me, does the mere fact that I'm a Noah make me evil? Does the mere fact that you're an exorcist make you good? What about the people who persecuted you when they believed that you were related to a Noah. What about Yu Kanda. He's not a very nice person, and yet the innocence chose him. Does that make him good? What about me? I go to school. I have a uniform, which, by the way, I look quite cute in. I should show it to you sometime. But I do homework just like any other student. Tykki even helps me with my math homework when I don't understand it. Knowing all that, can you still honestly claim that you believe I am evil?"

"I-I don't understand. W-why are you telling me this!?"

"Who can say?" Road asked mysteriously, draping her arms around Allen and holding him gently, allowing him the chance to break free if he wished. Much to Road's delight and surprise, though, he didn't try to push away.

"I guess I just wanted you to know that I've never seen myself as evil. In fact, from the Earl's point of view, you're the bad guys. Try to wrap your head around that one, Allen-kun…"

"I guess it's as I expected. I talked with my church appointed therapist about that. I got the strangest sense of déjà vu around her, though."

"Did you, now? What do you suspect that was all about?" Road asked with a smile, actually enjoying her talk with Allen. She had known that she liked Allen, but she had always suspected that it was sort of a selfish kind of crush. However, this seemed completely different. It was like he actually meant something to her, and she really did want to take away his problems and make him smile again. He was sort of smiling at the moment, but it was a sad smile.

"I-I don't know. Her name was weird, too. Guinevere. It's an uncommon name in this day and age."

"I had a friend named Guinevere once. She died, though, shortly after I awoke to being a Noah."

"That's kinda sad. Were you able to go to her funeral?"

"Are you joking? Of course not. We were busy at the time, and there was no time for anything but work. I even had to skip school for a while."

"I see. I've never been to a normal school. The Dark Order always tutored me, and before that, I was always on the road with my master, and before that, I was on the road with Mana."

"Hm… You might like school. You'll have to try it sometime."

"Haha!" Allen laughed, smiling genuinely for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I doubt that will ever happen."

Road merely shrugged and then said that she had to leave. With that, she kissed Allen on the cheek and then made a gate which she promptly left through.