Chapter 12: Sketchbook Waltz

In terms of love and romance, Lenalee had little experience.

She'd seen many people, including exorcists, in love in the past, and had seen multiple different kinds of love. Man and woman. Male and male, female and female. Affection of the casual nature, devoted intimacy, even individuals who remained faithful even when their partners were no longer of this world. Once, when she was six or seven years old, she watched two exorcists, man and woman, sparring together in the training hall. The woman was short and rather diminutive compared to her taller, broad-shouldered comrade. He was a good fighter even before he became an exorcist, a former mercenary if Lenalee remembered right, but the woman had been with the Order since she was a child. The fight had been pretty even matched between them until the woman suddenly grabbed him by his coat and wrestled him to the ground. There'd been a startled yell, some desperate scuffling, and by the end of it, he was kissing her.

At the time, she remembered calling such a display, "Yucky!" But Marie, then still able to see, simply smiled at her and placed his large hand over her hair. He told her she would understand when she was older, but Lenalee had vehemently shook her head and declared, "No, I won't!" Looking back on it now, she did of course understand, even going so far as to say she envied those two. They had a companionship sort of love. Entirely loyal to each other and no interest in marriage, much to the Central Administration's chagrin about 'sinful accommodators.' That was fine. It was just their way.

Lenalee loved her brother, of course. She loved Allen, Kanda, and Lavi like brothers, too. Daisya had been her and Kanda's best friend. All the exorcists were like family. The same went for countless staff members throughout the Order.

But regarding what those two sparring exorcists shared, that was something Lenalee knew was entirely different.

"Are you going to talk to him soon, Lenalee?" The young woman jumped at the voice behind her, and she whirled around to see General Tiedoll's smiling face. "Sorry, dear, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just noticing you've been staring at our resident Inspector for a while now and it was starting to get unsettling."

Lenalee glanced across the mess hall where Allen and Link were seated over dinner, surrounded by a mountain of paperwork they were trying to work through by tomorrow morning. She'd thought it best not to bother them and opted to sit by herself, as everyone else she normally ate with was either on assignment, sleeping off an assignment, or recovering in the infirmary. As for Komui, he was in a similar paperwork predicament, held in check by the relentless Bridget Fay.

A scrape of chair legs against the floor alerted her to Tiedoll's presence again as he sat down beside her. Absently, Lenalee offered him one of the biscuits on her plate, and the General politely declined. She grinned. Tiedoll was always her favorite General, if not Kevin Yeegar. "How are you today, sir?"

"Oh, I'm fine." The man laughed as he took out his sketchbook, always working on some project even during meals. "And yourself?"

"The same." She nodded. "The cuts on my arm have healed up. I can take off the bandages soon."

"Good. So are you?"

Lenalee frowned at the sudden question. "Am I what?"

General Tiedoll pointed his charcoal pencil in the direction of Allen and Link. "Are you going to go talk to him soon? You've been staring so long, I'm surprised that boy hasn't noticed yet. Those Crow youngsters are usually so observant."

Immediately, the girl reddened in embarrassment and turned back to her dinner, cutting her potatoes with renewed enthusiasm. "It's just a little infatuation. And how did you know I was looking at Link and not Allen?"

He arched an eyebrow as he looked at her, then wordlessly turned the pages in his sketchbook. Lenalee caught glimpses of mountain landscapes, city skylines, a river winding its way through a village, a surreptitious portrait of Miranda, a still life of the clutter on her brother's desk, until the General stopped at a page that made her heart stop. It was of the snowy courtyard when she'd asked Link to dance with her. Tiedoll had drawn them mid-waltz, her black coat billowing like a ball gown, a grin on her face as she gazed up at her partner. The Inspector, in turn, was smiling at her. Had he really been smiling at her that day? Or had he just been stone-faced as usual? Uninterested and reserved. A part of her wanted to ask the General if he knew, or if he'd just drawn the smile on his face because it looked artistically better. But then the other part of her preferred not to know.

She felt Tiedoll's hand on her shoulder. "So are you going to talk to him now?"

"I…I do like him, sir, but…" She trailed off, setting her fork down.

"But?" He gently prompted.

"But he's a Crow." Without meaning to, tears welled up in her eyes. "He's loyal to Central. Besides, he might not even like me at all. I mean, I hit him once."

"Yes. I heard about that." The General frowned in contemplation. "Are you worried he resents you for that?"

"Maybe." She shook her head in frustration. "I don't know. Even if he doesn't…I'm an exorcist. And he's a Crow. Has any exorcist ever loved a Crow before?"

Tiedoll chuckled at her. "The Order has been around for a century, Lenalee. I'm sure dozens of accommodators have loved and been loved by Crows. And even if somehow there haven't been, there's no reason why you can't be the first." He gently pinched her cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, just as he used to when she was a child, then turned back to the fresh page to his sketchbook, doodling a still life of his coffee mug.

Lenalee returned her gaze to Allen and Link across the mess hall. Her younger brother was pointing at one of the forms he was filling out, and the Inspector appeared to be doing his best to explain something she couldn't hear. Allen nodded in understanding and spoke once more, but in the middle of his sentence, Link suddenly raised his head, his red eyes meeting her deep violet ones. Lenalee started and almost shot out of her seat, fearing reprimand for her impolite staring, but the Inspector offered a small, almost warm smile and raised his hand in greeting. The girl paused in surprise, then carefully returned the smile and waved herself before sheepishly turning back to her meal.

"Link?" Allen tipped his head to the side. "You still there?"

The Crow shook himself. "I apologize, Walker, my mind suddenly wandered. Would you care to repeat yourself?"

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Author's Notes: Big shout out to Guest Reviewer 'hurryup' for their review and reminding me to work on this story. Thank you so much. This wasn't a very long update, but I hope you like it all the same.

D. Gray Man is owned by Katsura Hoshino.