Author's Notes:

I'm still here! Being in Japan has left me kind of numb because there have been too many visual stimulants and far too few things to read and listen to (caused by my inability to understand Japanese)! Anyway, I've been absolutely unable and unwilling to write or draw. The one thing that could get me back to finish this chapter was actually reading an English book which helped me to get the hang of the language again! :D

Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino

Kapitel 44: Traces of Resistance

Kanda didn't raise his head when he heard the door to the room being opened and closed. He could hear soft, but slightly hurried footsteps. Linali. The girl sat down next to him and didn't say anything. Kanda was used to it; he had heard that some of the Vatican officials were here, among them most likely Leverrier. It was no surprise at all that she came running to him.

"Kanda…," Linali spoke up after a while and he snorted to signal that he was listening. "Leverrier…"

"Yes, I know. You always come running to me when he's here," he commented when Linali didn't finish her sentence.

"But this time I'm not concerned about me," the girl continued after a short moment of hesitation and Kanda risked to open an eye. She was not crying, but she looked rather anxious. "It's about Ellen." Upon hearing that Kanda widened both of his yes, turning his head to the girl in disbelief.

"What? Is something the matter with her?"

"Leverrier is having her supervised. I… I don't really know why," Linali said and lowered her head, "but I'm worried about her. What if they think she's doing something bad simply because she was able to save us when we were on the Ark?" Kanda didn't say anything for a while, silently listening to Linali, "of course it was strange that she could, but Ellen's not doing anything bad! Ellen is a good person! I don't want them to harm her!" Kanda got up wordlessly and Linali looked up at him in wonder. When he turned to leave the room she also got to her feet and hurried after him.

"Where are you going now?" She wondered, walking a few steps after him.

"I'm going to look for her and find out for myself why she's being supervised," Kanda answered. He was angry, that was sure, but Linali could see that he was also worried. And it made her feel slightly good to know that Kanda was concerned over Ellen.

"Kanda?"

"What?" He asked rather unfriendly, but Linali was quite used to it.

"I already asked Ellen quite a few times, but she is so evasive… What do you say? Are you and Ellen a couple?"

"Yes," he replied without hesitating and continued making his way to the dining hall, which was always the first place to look if one needed to find someone, Ellen with her big appetite included. Linali smiled gently.

"You love her, don't you?" She asked and Kanda slowed down, then he stopped and turned around, looking at Linali with a suspicious expression. Linali could keep herself from laughing, despite the gloomy feeling that Leverrier's arrival had aroused in her, and just looked up at him expectantly.

"Why the hell do you want to know?" Linali replied by widening her smile and Kanda wrinkled his nose in irritation, "Tch, always so annoying… I do," he answered honestly after a while.

"That's good to hear! Ellen always makes it sound so difficult, but at least you are sure. I really want you to be happy! But just so you know, if you hurt her I will kick you!" Linali threatened, not really serious about it, but she still grinned at him, "but I doubt that will happen, if you take such good care of her." Kanda snorted.

"Tch. I consider this topic to be over now," the young man said and turned around, walking away so as to free himself of useless, girly talk. Linali sighed and shook her head, but she still had a smile on her lips. If Kanda was there to make sure that no harm would befall her friend then Linali was a bit more at ease. Of course, the fact that Leverrier was here prevented her from calming down, but there wasn't much that she could do about it for the moment. And apart from that she had her own problems to be concerned about. She just hoped that this storm would soon pass.

-

Ellen let her eyes wander for a bit, inspecting the room Howard Link had taken her to. It was one of the less frequented studies. It only had a small window and after Link drew the curtains it was considerably dark, despite the light bulb over her head. The bookshelf behind her was dusty and so was the table. Link switched on the reading light without saying a word and then he put a heavy stack of papers on the table, whirling up a bit of dust, forcing Ellen to keep herself from sneezing.

"Now that we are not very likely to be disturbed, be so kind as to reply to some questions, Miss Walker," Link said calmly and took some papers from the tower, scanning over them attentively.

"Yes, of course. I will try to reply as best as I can," Ellen said politely even though she was very reluctant to actually be here. If he planned on questioning her about the incident in the Ark – and it was very likely that he did – then she would not be able to give him answers that would satisfy him – or her for that matter. She herself didn't know much, even less understand what has happened. But the things she thought she had realized were of such a nature that she would rather lie than actually talk to a complete stranger about it.

"First, it might be beneficial to inform you of what you might be accused of," Link started in a dry tone and Ellen widened her eyes, but she found it rude to interrupt, so she let him talk first and would argue later. "Considering the fact that you were able to manipulate the Ark, we came to the conclusion that you must have inherited the right to be a "Player" of the Ark from the person we call "Musician"…"

"Yes, I can follow that, even though I do not know exactly what you are talking about or how I should have inherited that. However," Ellen said after Link stopped talking to look at her waiting for some sort of remark, "how exactly is that a bad thing? Why accuse me of being able to save my friends from death?"

"Well," Link started, folding his hands on top of the papers in front of him, looking at Ellen with narrow and suspicious, sharp eyes. "There are two sides to it, Miss Walker. Of course you were able to perform something which we consider highly beneficial. You both stopped the Ark from being destroyed and you made it available to us. The fact that you are now the Player also means that through you we have gained the ability to control a tool of the Earl, making it ours in turn. With this we also could steal the Akuma plant. However, you certainly must be aware that the Ark is closely connected to the Earl and the Noah. Would you not worry if suddenly an ally is able to control a weapon of the enemy?" Ellen balled her hands into fists and looked down, glaring at the table. "Of course you thought about it and what it could signify yourself."

"So, you mean to tell me that I am being accused of treason?"

"The correct term in this matter would be heresy," Link corrected and Ellen raised her head, not making her glare disappear when she faced the young man in front of her. "And no, Miss Walker, you are not accused of heresy, however, we suspect that something unsettling is happening with you." Ellen sighed in frustration and leant back in her chair, looking at Link.

"So what exactly do you think is happening?" She asked him, almost daring him.

"That is a question I would like to ask you," Link said and Ellen snorted slightly, having expected an answer of that kind, "The only way for you to be able to receive such a power is if the Musician passed it on to you. It is a very central concern of ours though to find out how that happened and on what occasion. Anyway, this man is better known as the Fourteenth. I guess it is needless to say that the Fourteenth was a Noah."

"The fourteenth…," Ellen repeated thoughtfully and not very much at ease, "and you think I allied myself with him? I do not even know that person," she argued but didn't receive much of a reaction from the man sitting opposite her.

"For the moment let us settle on the assumption that this did not happen to your knowing and that you are being manipulated," Link said, "it takes some of the charges off you, however, you still are in danger if the fact that you have received the powers of a Noah becomes known," he told her and Ellen just shook her head, unable to form any words. "But you must not worry, for I have been charged with supervising you, Miss Walker. As long as you are cooperative you should not need to be unnecessarily concerned." Ellen put her face into her palms for a short while, then she looked up and stared at Link with a rather dark expression. She did not want to be rude to anybody, but she felt that the way she was being treated at the moment was not one she should approve of. Her? The daughter of the prosperous Bermont family, accused of allying herself with the enemy? She, now a married woman, being constantly followed by a man not even familiar to her? They were trying to make her cooperate, they were threatening her, controlling her. And on top of the unsettling indignation she felt, the anxiety of not knowing what exactly had happened in the Ark made it all the worse. However, she was kept from throwing an uncalled for, minor temper tantrum by the door opening quite suddenly.

"Beansprout, there you are!" Ellen widened her eyes, feeling how relief immediately overcame her when she spotted Kanda standing in the door frame.

"Kanda! What are you doing here?" She asked with surprise and joy in her voice.

"That is exactly my question," Link said, standing up, "we are in the middle of a conversation. Be so kind as to leave now."

"I won't," Kanda hissed in annoyance and stepped into the room, something Link commented with an irritated glare. He walked up to Ellen and pulled her out of her chair. "I take my eyes off you for just one second and you get yourself into trouble again?!"

"It was not in my intention to get into trouble," Ellen told him, not minding the harsh tone Kanda spoke with because she knew that he was just worried and probably also trying to tease her a bit.

"I heard Leverrier forced some kind of supervisor on you," Kanda started, then he looked over to Link, "must be him."

"Yes. Kanda, allow me to introduce you. This is inspector Howard Link. Mister Link, this is Yu Kanda," she said and Link nodded.

"Very well. Mister Kanda, I must ask you to leave, for we are not done talking," the inspector said, but Kanda stubbornly glared at him. "If you do not leave I will have to remove you from this room!"

"If you have to interrogate her then be my guest, but I will not leave this room without her coming with me. Either you ask her when I'm here or you don't ask her at all. It's your choice!" Link seemed quite outraged to have his superiority questioned by a mere exorcist, but he was not one to search a fight, therefore he calmed down again.

"I think that you are in no position to make demands, Mister Kanda. Maybe it has crossed your mind already, but let me inform you that this is a very delicate matter," Link said. Kanda snorted upon hearing that.

"Tch. I actually was there in the Ark. I know what happened. But that's no reason to force a watchdog on her!" Kanda argued and Link furrowed his brow.

"How rude!" He commented, but kept his cool, "You must be grateful that Miss Walker is only being supervised by me. She has not been officially accused of anything, but the fact remains that she is able to control something belonging to the enemy! If you stand in my way of having very pressing questions answered, then you are acting against what is also best for you." Kanda opened his mouth to argue right back, but Ellen extended her hand, stopping him. He looked at her in slight irritation, but Ellen tried smiling at him.

"Do not be angry, please," she said and then turned to look at Link, "I also feel quite unsettled by what has happened, but I doubt that I will be able to give you satisfactory information. I am not aware of what is going on behind the scenes. I do not willingly interact with Noah and there is nothing that the Earl of Millennium is doing that I could remotely support." Link didn't say anything so Ellen continued, "I honestly do not want to cause any trouble to my uncle, I would tell him everything I know, even though it is not much. And please understand that I too am affected by my current position. I am confused, Mister Link… I should be allowed to talk to my Master about it. I believe that he could help me understand." She avoided saying that he was the one that had urged her to play the piano in the Ark. Of course, it was very probable that the Vatican was aware of Cross' role in all of this, but Ellen did not really know. She was sure that only through him would she find the right answers to her questions, so she would have to talk to him, no matter what. Link seemed to think about that for a while, but just by looking at his facial expression it was quite apparent that he was not fond of the idea. Kanda took this opportunity to turn his face to Ellen, frowning.

"Uncle? Who are you talking about?" He wondered and Ellen sighed slightly.

"Mister Leverrier is my god-father," Ellen said and was not surprised to find an expression of bewilderment on Kanda's face, "I have already drawn the conclusion that all of you do not have a good opinion of him… But he is still my uncle…"

"Tch. And you're still a box full of surprises…," was all that Kanda could come up with and Ellen smiled apologetically.

"Eherm." Ellen turned her head back to Link, "Inspector Leverrier does not think that it is a good idea to let you talk to General Cross at the moment. It is needless to say that General Cross is also suspected to know more of this than he lets on. However, I think it might be beneficial to have you talk to your uncle again." Here, Link shot an angry glare at Kanda, "and to make you, Mister Kanda, see that it is unnecessary for you to interfere…" Kanda didn't reply, he merely smirked at Link, then he put his hand on Ellen's head.

"Let's go," he said and Ellen nodded, following Link and Kanda out of the room.

-

The three of them found Leverrier sitting in his temporary office and he was not in the best of moods. However, when he saw Ellen enter after Link he put a smile on his face. Kanda thought it to be rather fake, but Ellen didn't seem to mind one bit.

"Ah, Ellen! Come in," he said invitingly. When Kanda had closed the door, Leverrier directed his eyes to Link, looking at him expectantly. "And? Why are you here?"

"Miss Walker," Link started, but Ellen stepped forward and interrupted him.

"Uncle, why will you not let me speak to General Cross?" She asked and Leverrier raised an eyebrow, "I am sure he would help me understand what this is all about!"

"I do not think that the General is worth your time. Your mother foolishly gave you into his care and he utterly failed to protect you! You even ended up in this situation, being connected to the Noah side! Do you really think that I would allow you to be exposed to more danger coming from that irresponsible man?"

"But, uncle…"

"Ellen, don't contradict me. I have made this decision and I will not go back on it at the moment," Leverrier said and leant back in his chair. "It is already bad enough that you even became an exorcist…" Ellen was silent for a while; she did not want to talk back to her uncle, but she could not agree with what he said.

"I do not think so… Excuse my insolence, uncle, but I doubt that this could have been avoided. I had my chance to run away and I decided not to take it. And here I am now…," she said gently and Leverrier looked up at her.

"I do not want you to stop being an exorcist, because we need you, but I know what happened could easily turn into a bad direction. Therefore I have charged inspector Link with observing you." Link nodded and shot Kanda a glare. "Please do whatever he tells you. And you'll be fine…" Ellen frowned at this.

"And how is this to work out? Will Mister Link accompany me wherever I go? Will he observe me whatever I am doing? Will he question me about things I do not want to tell strangers? Please do not be offended Mister Link, but I cannot help feeling uncomfortable with this situation."

"I do not feel offended. However, this is my work, I will do it most dutifully," the young man said and Ellen sighed deeply.

"Yes, you can trust the inspector…" Leverrier added, considering the topic to be over now. However, Ellen still wasn't done trying to change the situation.

"Uncle…," Ellen said and looked shortly back to where Kanda was standing. The dark haired exorcist hadn't said anything yet and it seemed unlikely that he would. Leverrier was her uncle, this was her problem, Kanda most likely expected her to try and solve it on her own. "I told you before… I do not need anybody to look after me. I am no longer a child…"

"This again? Ellen… This is not a question of your maturity…"

"I do not think that it is, however, I feel as if you want to put me in the care of another guardian, one of your choice, instead of my mother's. However, I do not need a man to look after me, because there is already one whose guidance I accepted to follow trustfully," Ellen said and even though she was blushing a bit, she found her voice to be surprisingly stable and determined. Leverrier looked a bit taken aback, but then he calmly raised an eyebrow, waiting for his god-child to go on talking. "I am married." Ellen breathed out in relief when she had finally said it (not to her mother, or her friends, but it was a start), but the silence following her words was a bit unsettling. "Therefore…" Leverrier rose, stopping Ellen in mid-sentence. He looked rather grave, but then he sighed.

"Well, I must congratulate you then. I have heard from your mother that you were to be married to a Lord. Whereas I found that already rather rushed, I am a bit surprise that you have already married. Your engagement couldn't have been more than one or two months ago and you've been an exorcist for more…" Ellen bit her lip and looked over to Kanda. The young man wore a frown, probably not really thrilled to hear that his wife had been engaged before, even to a Lord. "Your husband must be okay with you being here I assume, so I will just write a letter to him explaining why another man will be supervising you. You do not need to worry about that. I am sure he will understand, and – as he's no member of the order – he does not need to know how this supervision is being carried out."

"I think you misunderstand, uncle." Leverrier looked at her in wonder, and Ellen lifted her hand, pointing at Kanda. The exorcist seemed a bit surprised to have her point at him, but he didn't say anything. "My husband is an exorcist. I do assume you have seen each other before? His name is Yu Kanda…" Leverrier just looked at Kanda with wide eyes, then he looked back at Ellen.

"What…? You married an exorcist? When? And why?" Ellen was not really surprised that Leverrier seemed to be incredulous, and his reaction probably was not nearly as bad as what she would have to face when telling her mother.

"We married just yesterday… General Cross decided that it would be best for us to marry as fast as possible… You probably can guess, but my mother does not know yet…"

"She doesn't know?! Ellen! Ellen, what have you been thinking?!" Ellen sighed deeply, lowering her head. "That Cross! Damned shall he be!!"

"Now that you know… It is a bit awkward for me to ask, but my… husband and I have not yet been able to arrange ourselves with our new situation. If you put me under tight surveillance now I doubt that we ever will be able to make a semblance of normality enter our relationship…," Ellen whispered and Leverrier studied her.

"Well… I understand where you are coming from…" he said slowly, "But the inspector will stay here to keep an eye on you nevertheless. Your unexpected marriage is a bit unsettling and seems foolish to me, but I respect and support marriage in itself. But I would still rather have a man I can utterly trust observing both of you," here he looked rather intently at both of the young adults, before nodding at Link, "we will have to arrange ourselves… And that will have to suffice, Ellen…"

"Yes, thank you, uncle," Ellen said with a smile, feeling both relief but also frustration for not being able to talk to Cross. They excused themselves and left the study.

"Miss Walker," Link called and Ellen turned around, "ah, excuse me, Mrs Kanda."

"Ellen is fine…," the girl said, feeling slightly uneasy being addressed like that.

"Fine then, Ellen. Considering the fact that we now need to arrange ourselves, I think it wisest if we put the questioning on hold until we receive further notice from the inspector. However, I have not been freed of my surveillance duties, therefore, I will still need to check on you from time to time…," here he turned to Kanda, "if your husband agrees."

"Tch, it's not as if I'm planning her daily routine. If she agrees then I don't have any right to prevent you from observing her. Just don't overdo it," Kanda warned and Link merely nodded.

"I'll be on my way then. Good day," with these words, Link turned around and left the two rather swiftly. Ellen turned to Kanda, but when she saw the look on his face, the words she wanted to say to him died on her lips. She didn't really understand why she was rewarded by a glare for finally mustering the courage to tell someone about their marriage.

"What…? What is wrong…? Have I done something to displease you?" Ellen wondered and Kanda sighed.

"Come…," he said and started walking. Ellen hesitated, but then she fell into step beside him. "I was surprised that you dared to tell Leverrier… I thought that you would eternally try to keep this a secret," he told her. Ellen lowered her head and shook it.

"No, that is not in my intention… Just give me some time...," Ellen asked and Kanda didn't say anything. They arrived at the door to Kanda's room. When he left the door open after entering, Ellen followed him.

"You never told me that you were engaged…," Kanda said after a while, standing next to the window, refusing to look at his wife.

"I was not engaged… My mother planned to engage me… And I actually, foolish as I was, dared to put quite some hopes into this match. However, I will refuse. And I would also have refused if we had not married," Ellen told him.

"You? You would refuse a Lord?" Kanda asked half mockingly and Ellen frowned at him, "he must be quite a lousy person for you to prefer marrying me…"

"Oh, please Kanda. There is no need to sulk like a little boy now," she said before she could contain her irritation and Kanda snorted, letting himself fall on his chair. Ellen sighed deeply and sat on the bed, hands in her lap. "I am sorry… I did not mean to-"

"Shut up, Ellen. There's no need to apologize all the time. I thought we'd try to behave normally in each other's presence. Just because I'm your husband now doesn't mean that you need to worship me!" Ellen looked at him for a moment, then she laughed lightly.

"I am sorry, Kanda… I am just not sure yet how to deal with this situation… I have learnt quite a bit about how to behave once I am married, but actually finding myself a wife now I cannot help but being quite at a loss…," she explained apologetically.

"It's not as if it's any different for me," Kanda said and Ellen looked up at him. The young man sighed and looked out of the window, "Even though I never thought about it before, now I can't help but wonder what kind of reaction I would have to expect from my parents…"

"Would they not be proud?"

"It's difficult…" Kanda said what Ellen herself had often used as an excuse when things were too uncomfortable to explain. The girl looked at the floor, feeling uneasy with the sudden change of topic. It didn't happen often that Kanda mentioned anything of his past, lest alone his family, but it always felt as if they were fast going into a taboo area and Kanda never seemed to enjoy talking about them. It really made Ellen wonder what exactly had happened in her husband's childhood. He knew about everything there was to know of Ellen; her relatives, her upbringing, her social status, the tragedies. She knew absolutely nothing of him. What kind of family had she married into? Who were the Kandas? Where there even some left? How had he grown up? What values did he hold concerning life as a married couple? "Well…" Kanda started after a long time and Ellen heard how his voice was a bit strained by reluctance, "I'm sure that, in the past where Innocence was out of the picture, they would not have disowned me for marrying a noble girl, they would probably have encourage it greatly."

"Where you rich once?" Ellen dared to ask into the silence that followed his words. Kanda snorted in annoyance. "Exc-"

"I was a spoilt little boy. But even if I had been the richest man in all of Japan, what would it matter now?" He asked and Ellen looked at him with a mixture of wonder and uneasiness. "Here in England I have nothing but a few pounds stored away and this uncalled for allowance that that idiot of a master gives Mari and me," Ellen had to laugh at that even though Kanda seemed rather displeased, "and that's a fact. You married someone who cannot really afford a woman of your calibre." Ellen smiled at him and his honesty.

"I do not want much. And I do not need much. Right now this here is my home, even though I tend to forget it…" Kanda remained silent, but after a while he nodded. Not much of a reaction, Ellen mused. "You do not believe me?"

"You're always awfully optimistic…," he explained after the not unexpected question, "if you tell yourself that you'd be fine, then you believe you'll be…" Kanda sighed and tapped his fingers against the wood of his writing table in a rare nervous manner, "just like when you told yourself that you would be wretched, marrying someone like me, you were." Ellen looked at him silently gazing at her, still tapping his fingers against the wood, until she had to lower her head. He was right of course, even Ellen did not really know what to believe at the moment. Tearing Kanda down into a hole of despair was in no way a good option and crying about what she had done wrong should not be her main concern at the moment. Of course, the poor girl was still painfully aware that she had in fact made a mistake, or several mistakes to be correct. And she felt a chilly nausea coming over her whenever she thought about having to deal with the consequences as soon as she had to face her family and Ellen didn't even want to think about her new family's reaction at the moment. "Luckily," Ellen allowed herself to think for just a split second, "they are very far away, or they don't even exist anymore. They cannot touch me." However, Ellen soon found her thoughts to be awfully selfish and discarded them at once.

"At the moment," Ellen started, recalling Cross' words, "we are exorcists…" Kanda looked up and stopped the nervous movements of his fingers. "And haven't you come to know Ellen Walker as being a naïve and optimistic girl? Well, let me be her again. If I am within the walls of our home I will not let myself be dragged down by concerns of my mother's making." Ellen got up from the bed and smiled at Kanda, "I probably will not be able to avoid my mother from hearing about our marriage, thanks to my uncle, but I shall think about that when I truly have to face her." Kanda didn't say anything. He was in favour of her trying to be cheerful, but he was rather sceptical when it came to her attempting to just ignore her worries. But he did not want to see that unhappy frown on her face again, therefore he chose not to say anything and nodded. However, a simple knock on the door already announced the first test of Ellen's resolve to feel at ease with the current situation:

"Ah, Ellen, you are here! I was looking for you to have some tea!" Linali said when she opened the door. Ellen first looked uneasy, but then she smiled and nodded eagerly.

"Oh yes! Is there cake as well?"

"Of course there is, and-"

"Linali," Kanda interrupted the chatter and both of the girls looked at the young man. He stood up and walked to the door. He reached out over Linali's shoulder and closed it with the usual uninviting look on his face. "There is something Ellen needs to tell you."

-

To be continued

-

Notes:

Oh no! ;3

I will try not to take this long for the next update. *bows apologetically*