A/N: In honor of 8-8-08, a little bit of love for the East Asia Branch.

The Assignment

Chapter 1 - Bak Chang's Little Problem

"Lou Fa, what the heck are you doing?" The voice of Bak Chang, Director of the Black Order's Asia Branch, boomed out of the intercom and echoed around the lab.

Lou Fa went rigid at the sound, dropping her pen. It bounced against the desk and landed on the piece of paper she had been using. The nib leaked slow drops of black ink, ruining her composition.

"No- nothing, Director. Just w- writing some… Umm… D- did you need something, Director?"

"Yes, Lou Fa. Come to my office right this instant." The intercom clicked off, but the sound of Bak's voice continued to ring in her ears.

With fear twisting her stomach in knots, Lou Fa left her lab and ascended the stairs to the Director's office. She knocked hesitantly and jumped as Wong pulled the door open.

"There you are, Lou Fa!" The Director was sitting in his cushioned chair behind a long mahogany desk that, as always, was covered with reports from different departments of the Asia Branch Office. "Come over here. I have a project I want you to help me with. Wong, could you please see that our preparations are in order for the exorcists' arrival? I don't think I'll need your services for the next… oh… say three hours?"

Wong folded his arms and bowed. "Yes sir, Master Bak." He slipped from the room silently, pulling the door shut behind him.

Lou Fa walked to the desk, still nervous. In the pale glow of the security screens that lined the room, everything seemed ethereal and washed-out. The unnatural light did nothing to calm her stomach.

"Well, Lou Fa, I don't know if you're aware, but we have a party of exorcists coming to visit our headquarters for a few days. They're here to investigate what may be an innocence sighting in Shangdong province."

Exorcists? Lou Fa pressed her hands to her stomach to keep it from roiling. "Do you… do you know who will be coming, Director?"

"Yes, actually. Komui Lee called me this morning and gave me all the details. We're going to have three of them: a new exorcist named Chaoji Han, Allen Walker…" Her heart skipped a beat. "…and Lenalee Lee."

There was a droning noise, but Lou Fa's mind was racing. Oh, what am I going to do? When does he get here? Will he want to see me? Does he even remember me? Where are they going to be sleeping? Are they all going to be sharing a room together, or… She blushed as she realized where her thoughts were heading.

"Lou Fa? Have you been listening to anything I've said?"

"Oh… Um… Sir?"

Bak sighed, his face falling melodramatically. "I said that we've only got a little time here, and that I need your help."

"My help, Director? With what?" Why couldn't something reassuring happen to Lou Fa? Why did everything just seem to make her nervous. What could Bak Chang possibly want from a new recruit like her?

"Two things. And you must never speak to anyone else about the things I'm about to tell you. Can you promise me that?"

Lou Fa opened her mouth to respond, but found that her teeth were starting to chatter. She clamped her jaw shut and nodded in the affirmative.

"Well, Lou Fa… I saw the way you act around Allen Walker the last time he was here. I saw those little scribbles you put on your lab reports, too. I've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually – you know it's really not proper to draw pictures like that on official Black Order documents."

Lou Fa felt light-headed. She wasn't sure whether she was blushing or whether all color had just drained from her face. Bak Chang looked at her and coughed in surprise, turning his eyes back to the papers on his desk.

"Yes, well. I know how you feel about him, Lou Fa. It just happens that… um… Oh God, not the hives again…" Bak began to scratch at his arms, his voice coming out in a rush. "Well it just happens that I feel the same way about Lenalee, and you must never ever ever tell anyone, because if you do…" He pressed both hands to the desk, panting, trying to calm himself. "I… I need your help."

The Director felt the same way about Lenalee that she herself did about Allen? Somehow the thought that Bak Chang was human, just like her, finally did manage to calm her nerves a little.

"You see, Lou Fa, in all the new pictures I've… I mean… I've started hearing reports that maybe Allen Walker is taking advan… that maybe Allen Walker is also interested in Lenalee. Well, that's just not… I can't let him… I mean, I want you to..."

All the words seemed to catch in Bak's throat. Lou Fa took another step toward the desk. "Director, if there's anything I can-"

Bak Chang lurched to his feet, hardly appearing to notice her. His eyes were closed, and his voice boomed around the office. "Lou Fa, this is your new assignment, to last as long as the exorcists are stationed in Asia Branch: you are to do everything in your power to seduce Allen Walker and make sure that he has no interest whatsoever in Lenalee!"

Oh, no. How could she sed… sedu… seduce…? She opened her mouth to respond – she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to say – but as her lips parted, all the breath seemed to leave her body. Lou Fa's eyes rolled upward, and she fainted dead away.

Two eyes stared out from the darkness behind the Bak's chair. Baka Bak hadn't seen her. He never saw her when she didn't want to be seen.

Lou Fa would seduce Allen Walker? Fou wanted to laugh. How could a girl like Lou Fa seduce a man like Allen Walker? The exorcist belonged to Fou. Not Lou Fa. Not Lenalee Lee. Allen Walker belonged to Fou.

She phased back into the wall, leaving Bak alone to try reviving his pitiful little helper.