Gray hair fluttered softly in the cold breeze as a scarred eye winced at the sudden dryness. "You're going to catch a damn cold. Get inside." The younger man half smiled at the deep voice but didn't make any movement to obey it. "It's about to snow." A pause and then an angry sigh, "Fucking freeze to death for all I care." And with that the door was slammed to Allen's back. Only then did the smile fade to a deep frown, "Sorry Kanda."

A cold breeze made the issued jacket flutter open and the exorcist pulled the clothing tighter, wincing as a freshly bandaged wound protested sharply against the action. A small fluttering ball appeared in front of him, it was plainly nervous and disoriented, "I'm fine, Tim. Go rest. I'll be up in a minute." The gollem faltered in it's flying then traced a path from the door to the man and back several times before making the decision to rest on the man's head; a soft nuzzle into the white hair and the affectionate creature was asleep. Allen shivered again, he had missed affection from others and Timcampi's action only magnified the reality. Not many people could stand the sight of his cursed arm and fewer could stand the touch of it; as a result, physical affection was a void for him. There were those that had tried to get passed the deformity; but in the end, they all fell short and put up a barrier.

Innocent eyes half closed at the depressing thought; barriers were funny things, he reasoned. They kept everything out but they also imprisoned the very person it was to protect; never knowing exactly what would happen if the gates were opened. Another rough breeze made the man realize exactly how cold he actually was and he quickly retreated to the warmth of the hotel and eventually to the room he shared with the solemn Kanda Yuu.

He smiled at the plate of fruit and sharp knife sitting the bed that was deemed unworthy for the older exorcist and thus was left for his white headed companion; the dark headed man always acted cold and yet every so often, small pieces of humanity would slip through. Allen partially took the credit for that, but most belonged to Lavi and Lenalee and a little bit of Miranda. They would have asked Komui for assistance in warming the cold stone that was Kanda; but most of Komui's help usually involved a robot of some unknown origin that went berserk and ended in someone almost losing an eye or a head. Lavi had loudly objected to the idea of bringing in the mad scientist on their little project as he only had one eye to spare and was not about to put it willingly into harms way. Allen laughed to himself and picked up the plate; slicing the apple and taking a wedge into his mouth; he also noticed the splashing of water and assumed Kanda was in the shower and would be for a while. One of the things he indulged in was a long lengthy and hot shower, most likely to ease his muscles as most exorcists did take extremely hot baths; just another hazard of their current state, he supposed.

Slowly, he undressed down to his white boxer shorts, careful to avoid his wounded side; and he took a breath in as he removed the bloody bandages around his ribs. He winced as the gauze pulled at his skin, releasing with a sickening pop and squish; immediately he pressed a sticky salve into the opening and applied a significant amount of pressure. Enough pressure to make tears prickle the back of his eyes and a shiver of pain course through his entire body. Allen bit on his lip to stop the scream but a whimper escaped anyway. Timcampi fluttered from his spot and lazily hobbled from the man's head, falling with a thump to the covers beside him and rolled onto one of the pillows, never fully waking from his sleep.

The exorcist half laughed, the gollem could sleep through anything when he really wanted to - which was a little unsettling since the creature was becoming more and more independent. After sloppily redressing his wound, he fell back on the bed completely exhausted. Dimming eyes glanced at the plate of fruit wearily before closing in defeat; he just didn't have the energy to reach for the plate or to even chew a fruit if it was placed in his mouth.

Moments passed before the distant sound of a door opening made Allen slit open his eyes only to meet the death glare of Kanda's dark eyes. "You're an idiot. I told you not to stay outside." The younger man raised a brow in response before feeling warm hands on his side, rolling him to his uninjured hip. "Let me see."

"Hn - worried 'bout me?" He slurred slightly, half sleep ridden and half from weakness.

"Hardly. But if anything happened to you on my watch, Komui would have all of those damned robots on me."

Allen smirked at the comment. There were very few things that made exorcists tremble in complete and utter fear - Komui was one of those things; especially when he had a robot nearby. Removing the haphazard bandage, dark eyes surveyed the wound surround by heated and bruised flesh, a small frown tugging at the corners of a small mouth, "You did a shitty job of taking care of this."

"Thanks." Allen half laughed but stopped abruptly as the action sent pain radiating from his side to his toes. Silently, Kanda began to clean the open would with alcohol; expecting the younger man to yelp at the sudden application of the stinging liquid. When the smaller man lay perfectly still, no emotion crossing his features; they settled into a lengthy silence with the occasional sticky sound of leaking blood. Normally, both would object to such treatment, Kanda not being a touchy person and Allen being very independent about his wounds; however, if his side became worse it could do some extreme damage to his system and the mission.

He had made enough mistakes on this mission already.

He half closed his eyes as memories assaulted him and stabbed him in the heart until it was hard to breath. The finder had been separated from the group of people they were protecting from the akuma; he had seen the man and ran to him. The pleading in the man's eyes making his feet move faster, the relief that flooded those same eyes as it seemed he would make it to the man's side in time - and then the confusion as a long claw pierced his chest. How they had missed the one Akuma he didn't know; he was sure there had only been four, maybe if he hadn't lingered too long on one of the others, or had skipped a step instead and jumped? He clinched his fist, the rest of his muscles following as he tensed at the memory and scolded himself mentally for not saving the finder.

"Stop that." Kanda's voice was unexpectedly loud in the quiet room and seemed to be a loud growl right in the exorcists ear. "You tense and it bleeds more." The annoyance was clear in the man's voice and a sudden painful prick made the younger man wince and relax, not trusting his voice with any sort of answer or explanation.

Apparently, he didn't relax enough and the older man's agitation rose in his voice, "Do you want me to help or not, idiot? I could just let you die here. It'd be easier for me - fucking relax!" The younger man really tried to relax, but knowing his companion was using death threats and not knowing exactly if he would follow through on those threats made it even harder for his muscles to let go of their tension. A sudden warmth on his stomach made innocent gray eyes fly open and he twisted slightly to look questioningly at the seething exorcist tending to his wound. "Lenalee said if a muscle won't relax - you make it. Normally, you'd do this to yourself but you really can't in your state."

Allen half smiled at the explanation. At least the stoic man was trying to be caring, even if it was an awkward and inappropriate way to go about it. Kanda was a genius, that was obvious; but for all the brains he had no sense of interaction with others, especially with others injuries. He had never tended to another's wounds before; his motto was always that if you got yourself that way you deserved it and should deal with it yourself - deal with your own repercussions. The natural order of the world; and he wasn't one to go back on that order. However, here he was, tending to a wound that was not his own; it was nice gesture even if it was a little painful. His skin prickled under soft pads of the others long fingers and he mused at their silky texture; assuming they would have been calloused with the many hours Kanda spent practicing with Mugen, but the swordsman had none of the signs of any hard training. The fingers moved lower slightly and the younger stiffened, "Ok ok , I'll relax. I'm fine." He said quickly, pushing the warm hand away from his cold skin. The warmth faded slowly as a snort was heard from behind him as an answer; Allen frowned at the loss of heat but didn't linger on the thought too long as the sudden sting of something probing his wound distracted him. "Ah! Shit Kanda! What did you do!" He yelped, arching away from the man only to receive more protests of pain from stretched skin and bruised tissue.

"Damned idiot, stay where you are!" He bellowed inches from the younger exorcists ear and the man twitched before turning accusing eyes toward his clearly cross companion. "Do you want to fucking die you fucking idiot?! Do something right for one damn time and stay where I had you!" Dark eyes were glaring daggers at the injured man, a light flush over normally pale cheeks, small lips pursed into an angry thin line.

"Well it hurt! Excuse me for not being a stone face bastard!" He yelled back , half surprised at his own outburst and retaliation. A glance down at his right side made his knees turn to jelly and his face become green, "W-what is th-that?" He said weakly as a hand came to the large stick poking out of his side and moved with his every breath. It moved slightly and he jumped, "Shit Kanda! Get it out of me!!! It's moving!!" He frantically tried to pull at the end of the 'stick' only to have his wrist captured in a bone crushing grip and an angry man inches from his face, his thin brows inclined severely towards his nose.
"Don't. Touch. It." Allen nodded quickly, pushing his head back into the flat pillow to get away from the heated glare, worried eyes glancing down at the wiggling stick in his side and his frightened frown turned to a disgusted one. Slowly, the painful grip on his wrists released him and returned to the wound, spreading a liquid around the opening, black eyes not looking up at the exorcist.

"K-Kanda?" He whispered slightly, cringing as he felt whatever it was inside his wound moved in a circle beneath the tissue. "What is that?"

"It's something Komui gave me."

Sudden panic overtook the boy again, "One of Komui's inventions?! And you put it in me?! Are you a damn lunatic! What if it explodes?! What of it shoot out daggers?! What if it's poisoned?!"

"It won't."

"How do you know?! Komui made it!" His eyes widened in complete and utter horror while the other man nearly knelt on the floor watching intently as the 'stick' bobbed up and down and swirled lightly, a picture of calm. But he didn't have some creature inside his body doing god knows what to his flesh, it was easy for him to stay calm. "Get it out now Kanda! Fucking get it out!!"

"Would you stop being a baby." Angry eyes glared at Allen, "I've used it hundreds of times. It's one of a kind and possibly one of Komui's only inventions that actually does what it's supposed to. Lenalee had to take it apart though before it was correct."

The fact that Lenalee had put her stamp of approval on the object did appease the exorcist somewhat, but it was still creepy having some unknown object swirling around inside your ribs and he couldn't bring himself to fully relax as gray eyes watched the moving 'stick'.
"What's it doing?"

"Eating."

"Eating?!" Allen nearly exploded; he wasn't sure how much more he could take of this. "What is it eating?!"

Kanda let out a small sigh that whistled through his partially closed teeth, "Your infection. Did you really think I'd let something eat you?" The thought had crossed his mind, the Mugen wielder wasn't known for his gentle nature and sometimes they had speculated he did things just to see a person writhe; so yes he was a suspect for torturing someone. But the white headed man kept that tidbit to himself as his companion still had a living creature inserted into his side and there was no telling what would happen of Kanda became angry while it was still inside him. Silence, once again, settled over the room, both men watching the pointed end of the creature bob in the bloody flesh; Allen, too worried to keep up a coherent line of speech and Kanda, not being a conversationalist anyway. A white plume popped from the end of the 'stick' and the wounded man jumped slightly; he watched intently as Kanda applied more of the sticky salve around the opening and gently slid the long, thin stick from his skin, a slightly larger tip making a popping sound as it exited. Allen felt his blood drain from him at the site of the dead looking creature, "I-is it….alive?"

"Of course. It's sleeping." The condescending tone didn't go unnoticed, but he couldn't bring himself to answer as the creature wiggled slightly like a worm causing the younger to shiver. Kanda thankfully offered an explanation as he deposited the worm-like creature back into his bag. "You were infected - badly. I couldn't get to it all and it couldn't stay. Obviously." Allen rolled gray eyes at the superior tone of the other man but shrugged it off now that he was alone in his body without foreign creatures. He watched silently as Kanda's silk fingers pressed a healing agent gently into his wound and then began to bandage the area, helping the smaller to sit up to wrap a securing gauze around his ribs. A soft tug and a knot, the job was finished and both men were looking tired. The dark headed swordsman stretched as he stood, his joints popping at the sudden change in posture; a soft moan escaping the frowning lips, dark hair completely dry from his earlier shower. "We'll be leaving at dawn, bean sprout. Don't oversleep."

But the words fell on deaf ears as the even breathing reached the standing man who let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes; crossing the distance to his bed in two steps, he fell with a groan to the mattress and was instantly asleep.

That's it! Next chapter...um whenever. pleeeeeaaase critique. ::puppy eyes:: I'll wuv you forever and a day.