Chapter 71- Finding Lenalee- Kanda

I was sitting in the training area watching Alma and Daisya train, when Allen came running in. He looked freaked out. Daisya and Alma stopped training, and stared at him.

"What's wrong?" Alma asked.

"Kanda, I need to talk to you," Allen said,

I raised an eyebrow. "Is it about your sister?"
He shook his head. "It's something more important than you kissing you my sister."

"What's it about then?" I asked.

"We really don't have time for questions," He said.

"Well I'm not getting up until I know why you need to talk to me," I said.

Allen groaned and knelt down. He whispered into my ear. "It's about Lenalee."

I jumped to my feet. "What's going on?" Daisya asked.

"It doesn't concern you," I said. I looked at Allen. "Come on."

We ran out of the room ignoring Alma's and Daisya's yelling. "I need to grab Mugen," I said.

We stopped at my room and I opened the door. I grabbed Mugen while saying, "Explain what's going on, Beanprout." I walked passed him and heard his footsteps behind me.

"I was worried about Lenalee," He said. "So I decided to look for her. When I found her, she was scared. She started to cry and explained how some people ran experiments on her when she was younger."

I stopped and the kid ran into me. "Do you know who it was?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "It was Leverrier and some doctors."

I spun to face him. "Those doctors were from Central. What else happened?"
"I… um…" He started to blush. "I wasn't thinking and I kissed her."

I grabbed Mugen's hilt tighter. "You did what?"

"But," Allen said quickly. "I suddenly felt this searing pain in both of my shoulders. When I looked at Lenalee, her eyes were almost a black color, and she had claws."
I cursed under my breath. "Did she run away?"

He nodded. "What happened, Kanda? Is she all right?"

"I don't know," I said. "Lead me to where you found her."

Allen nodded and ran off. I followed.

Allen stopped in the middle of a random place in the forest. He pointed to the base of a tree where a large hole was. "I found her asleep there."

"Which way did she run off?" I asked.

He pointed to the right. "That way. Kanda, what's going on? Do you know what they did to her?"

I nodded. "Lenalee and I made a pact not to tell anyone. Not Komui, Daisya, Arisa, no one. But I think you should know since you saw what happened when she got angry. When Lenalee was little, Leverrier had doctors put DNA from other animals and creatures inside of her. They were cautious of doing so because they did not want to lose an exorcist. However, they thought that what they did to her would increase her power. They were right about that. But what they didn't think about is the idiotic idea of putting the DNA of an akuma into her."

Allen's eyes grew wide. "What? How did I not know that? My eye should have sensed that when we met!"

"Because they only put a little of akuma DNA inside of her," I said. "It hides behind all of the other DNA. I'm fuzzy on the details, but I believe that the DNA all mixed with that of the akuma's. It boosted Lenalee's powers, but it also made her dangerous. Whenever she got scared or angry, she would release that power and attack things. Luckily, she only attacked akuma. But in her eyes, those were people that she was killing. Once Central learned of the monster they created, they decided to make it all disappear. They did this by running more experiments on her- taking some of the DNA out of her, and putting new DNA in.

"But they were never able to get some of it out," I continued. "They left the part of the DNA that the akuma was mixed up in. It was up to Lenalee at that point. She had to learn how to keep her emotions in tact. I was the only one who knew about the experiments, so I helped her. She learned how to calm herself down whenever she got angry. However, every now-and-then, she still loses her temper, or something Leverrier does will frighten her, and she'll set that part of her off."

"Does her eyes always turn black?" Allen asked.

I nodded. "Sometimes it's more noticeable than other times. Have you seen it before?"

"I think so. When we met Miranda, I tried to save an akuma that was self-destructing, and she stopped me. I yelled at her, and she slapped me and yelled back. I didn't realize that her eyes changed to a darker shade until now. The same thing happened in the Ark when she hit Lavi for attacking me."

I sighed. "She seemed to lose her temper with Lavi a lot. I think he was just trying to see what would set her off for research."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Allen said. "Why did they run those experiments on her?"

"Because she was a young girl," I said. "They figured that if they lost a girl, it wouldn't be such a loss." I started to walk. "We need to find her."

I took off running. I stopped when I came across a clearing. I hid behind a bush when I saw Lenalee kneeling on the ground. She was rocking back and forth and rubbing her hands together.

"What is she doing?" Allen asked, joining me.

"I don't know," I said. "Stay here. She'll attack us if she thinks we're out numbering her."

He nodded. I stood and walked around the bush. I slowly approached Lenalee.

"Lenalee," I said. She looked up at me and jumped to her feet. Her eyes were a coal black, and she had claws. Her teeth looked sharp.

"Stay away from me," She said. Her voice was a raspy metal sound.

"I held up my hands. "I'm not going to hurt you," I said. Lenalee glanced at Mugen. I took the sword out of the scabbard and placed it on the ground. "Lenalee, it's Kanda."

I took another step. I stopped when she yelled, "Stay away from me!"

I sighed. She was still rubbing her hands together. "What are you doing?" I asked. "What are you doing with your hands?"

"I'm trying to rub the blood off," She said. "It won't come off."

"That's because there is no blood," I said.

"I killed them," She said. She fell to her knees. "I killed them."

"Those were akuma, Lenalee," I said. I took another step towards her. When she didn't run off, I kept walking. I knelt down in front of her. "Those weren't people."

"You're wrong," She said. "They were. They were human. Once they were."
"Once," I agreed. "But that was before they sold themselves to the Earl. Lenalee, you killed akuma." I grabbed her hands. "Calm down," I said. "There is no need for this to be happening."

Lenalee was crying now. I watched as her claws turned back into fingernails. "I'm scared, Kanda. I'm scared. I'm confused. I've hurt people I'm so close to. I don't know what to do."

She looked up at me, and her eyes were their normal color. Her teeth were no longer sharp fangs. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. I hugged her.

"You don't need to do anything right now," I whispered. "You do not have to do anything."

"I'm sorry," She whispered.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I promised I wouldn't let this happen again."

"You promised that you would try to not let it happen. And you did. Lenalee, this hasn't happened for seven years. You were able to keep that promise, and what Leverrier did set you off. He knew what would happen, and yet he still took the risk. This is not your fault."

She looked up at me again. I wiped the tears off of her cheeks and kissed her nose like I had done many times when we were little. I hugged her again. This time, she hugged me back.

"Thank you," She whispered.

I nodded. "Make sure to thank that Beansprout when you see him. He was the one who told me about you."

I felt her nod. Reluctantly, I slipped a syringe out of my pocket, and stuck it into her arm. She tensed but then fell limp. I lifted her up bridal style.

Allen came running out. "What did you do?" He asked.

"She's asleep," I said. "She needed to rest and recover her strength. This is going to be the only way she can get rest without waking up from nightmares. Come on, we should be getting back. Get Mugen for me, will you?"

Allen nodded and grabbed my sword. We started to walk through the forest.

When we got back into the Order, I handed Lenalee to Allen and took Mugen from him. "Get her to the infirmary," I said. "If the head nurse asks what happened, tell her that it happened again. She'll understand what that means. If she asks anything else, tell her to talk to me."

Allen nodded and walked off. I walked off the other way anger bowling inside of me. When I saw Leverrier, I stopped.

I waited until he was alone and then walked up to him. Grabbing his shirt I pinned him against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"You knew exactly what was going to happen to her, and yet you still did it," I said. "You put Lenalee through that pain and suffering because you knew it would upset her. You know just how dangerous she can be, and yet you still took the risk!"

Leverrier smiled. "So, she did lose her temper, eh? Well, then, I guess Central ought to know. They won't like to hear that."

I grabbed Mugen, and put the tip to his throat. "Central will kill her if they learn about that. That was the deal they made with her. If she does not keep that creature inside of her under control, then she will die. If you tell them about this, then I will run you through with my sword and toss your body into the ocean. I will not let Lenalee die because you hate her."

"Why do you even care?" He asked. "You're always the one who will kill someone if they displease you."

I gripped the hilt of my sword tighter. "I care because I've been through similar things. You and your buddies from Central think that you can just use us as your toys. We're like ponds on a chessboard, putting ourselves on the line to save you and your stupid friends who don't even care for other humans! I should just run you through right now!"

"Then how will you save Lenalee?" He asked. "You kill me, and they'll blame her for losing control. They'll kill her."

"How about this," I said. "I'll let you live if you don't tell Central about tonight. You need all the exorcists you can get, Leverrier; and if you kill Lenalee, then you'll lose all respect. She's liked by almost every sponsor we have, and if they learn that she died- that you killed her- they'll be angry as hell. The best thing for you to do is stay quiet about her, and you'll be liked and respected."

I saw that the inspector was actually thinking about what I was saying. He nodded. "You're right. Very well, I'll let her live."

"Good," I said. I put Mugen away and walked away from the pathetic inspector.

I rounded the corner, and Alma jumped at me. I yelped, and we both fell to the ground.

"I don't think I've ever heard you yelp," He said.

I glared at him. "I was thinking."

Alma stood up and brushed himself off. "Thinking about what?"

"Many different things," I said. I stood up. "What's up?"

"I was looking for you," He said.

"Why?" I started to walk away, and he followed.

"No one knew where you were, so I grew worried," Alma explained. "The others said that you would be fine, but I couldn't shake the feeling that you were in danger. It seemed like you were near a dangerous were you?"

I wondered what he would do if I told him. I knew that he wouldn't tell anyone if that happened, but I didn't know if he would start to fret over the fact that I had snuck out. I didn't get a chance to say anything before Daisya ran up to us.

"They found Lenalee," He said. "She's in the infirmary."

"That's great!" Alma exclaimed. "That they found her… not that she's in the infirmary. Do they know what happened?"

Daisya shook his head. "If someone knows something, then they're keeping it a secret. She asleep right now, but the nurse says she should wake up soon."

"I wonder where she went," Alma muttered.

"We're all wondering that," Daisya said. He looked at me. "You're quiet."

"I'm always quiet," I said.

"I thought you would be happy that she's back," Daisya said.

"What makes you think I'm not happy?" I asked.

"You seem angry," Alma said.

"I've had a lot on my mind," I said. I walked off.

"What sort of things?" Alma asked.

Without answering, I walked into my room and shut the door in my friend's face. I went over to the bed and sat down.

I sighed and took Mugen out of its sheath. The metal reflected the light from outside around the room. I looked at myself in the smooth surface. I ran my hand over the blade and saw the lotus flowers that I despised. I looked around the room to see them all around me. However, there was something different about them. They seemed to glow with a black aura. I looked closer at one and saw shapes take place on the petals.

The first thin I saw was Mana and Allen in the forest outside the Order. It was night, and they both looked angry. Allen was talking. I couldn't hear anything, but I figured that whatever the white haired kid was saying was a threat. It looked like he started to yell. He stopped and the imaged flipped to the Fourteenth walking out of the shadows.

The second image I saw was of two Noah holding Lenalee and Arisa. The girls were struggling and fighting and then they were thrown into a body of dark purple water.

I closed my eyes not wanting to see anything else. "Stop this," I whispered. "Stop showing me these!" When I opened my eyes again there were no lotus flower anywhere.

I fell onto my back on the bed and sighed again. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.