A/N: I actually don't think I've seen anything like this before, but then again, I don't look at a lot of Lenalee-centric fanfiction. *smile* Regardless, I hope you like this take on it.

Thank you to Resident of Wonderland, Word eclipse, Candy Crackpot, Yami-The Lord of Darkness, InsanityOwl, Lena-luvs-cats, Relena Duo, and The-Allenfangirl for reviewing!

Title: Conundrum

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship/Angst

Warnings: None

Summary: For the 220th night countdown run by lenaleelee17 on Tumblr.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.

Day 5: BroTP

"You idiot."

Lenalee blinked awake and turned her head to look beside her. Kanda was sitting on a chair, scowling at her crossly, fists clenched and more furious than Lenalee could ever remember seeing him. He was even shaking.

She looked away.

"I can't fucking believe you." Kanda seemed perfectly content to rant at her, voice low and taut with rage. "I can't believe you would… Goddammit, Lenalee, what the fuck were you thinking?"

Lenalee tried to shift, but the restraints pulled at her wrists, and her eyes filled with tears. Her breath hitched dangerously. "I don't want to fight anymore!" she said, trying to sound defiant but just sounding terrified instead.

"So, what?" Yeah, Kanda was pissed. Normally the threat of tears got him to back down at least a little. "You decided you didn't want the akuma to kill you, so you'd do the job yourself?"

She'd tried. It hadn't worked, but she'd tried. Thrown herself off the cliff in front of the Order, but of course, there was no escape. Not in life. Not in death.

Her Innocence was no more ready to let her go than the CROW.

Kanda stood up abruptly. His face was flushed and twisted. "You're so fucking stupid! What did you think was gonna happen, huh? There's no point, Lenalee, you of all people should fucking know that by now! None of us can escape, and this- This!" He pointed at the bed, at her restraints and the tears in her eyes. "Is what happens when you try!"

None of us.

Lenalee looked up at him again. His hand was shaking. His eyes were wild; there was more than just rage in them, there was fear. Kanda was scared.

Of course. Kanda could no more get out than she could, and he couldn't even kill himself to get away. He was trapped here, too, and he wasn't much older than she was. Eleven years old.

And she was one of his only friends.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Her voice cracked miserably. "I'm sorry, Kanda."

"Shut up!" he snarled at her, a nigh-unnoticeable tremor in his voice. "Shut the fuck up!"

Lenalee went quiet, but she didn't take her eyes off Kanda's. After a few moments, he whirled around to face away from her, head dropped, fists still clenched, breathing heavily.

"Don't do that again," he managed, once a long, heavy moment had passed.

"I won't," she whispered, but she didn't sound as sure of herself as she'd have liked.

He huffed, far from oblivious to this, and stormed out, the door swinging shut behind him. Lenalee watched, and then she turned her head away, and let the tears fall.

The aforementioned protective!Kanda... sort of. *rueful smile* I haven't seen anyone talk about how Kanda took her being tied down... of course, I don't think there was any actual confirmation that it was a suicide attempt that led to that, but it makes sense. *frown* Because, you know, Lenalee's backstory, like most of DGM, wasn't angsty enough already. *sigh* Well, thanks for reading, and please review!