Of all people he would have to come across to in the hallway of the Church of the Black Order, he saw the very person he had been trying to avoid for more than a week.

Lavi.

Yes, he was trying, because the redhead had always managed to find him for some reason. And usually, for no reason at all, Lavi would just start a pointless conversation - in Kanda's opinion - or just annoy him all day.

"Yu!"

His struggle to avoid the redhead started when he returned from a mission and was greeted by Lavi with his usual cheerful demeanor, calling him by his first name which earned the Bookman-in-Training a good beating. After he kicked off the annoying rabbit, he accidentally heard two Finders conversing about him. He would usually shrug them off but he heard something that caught his attention.

"Maybe he likes him?" One of the few girl Finders said to the older male Finder.

"What? How did you come up with that?" The other blurted out but quickly covered his mouth and looked around to make sure no one had heard. But it was too late; Yu Kanda had his full attention to the two Finders.

The two clueless Finders were standing at a corner behind the pillar that connected the bricked walls of the building. Kanda on the other hand, was standing behind them near the next path leading to the stairs.

"Haven't you noticed? Kanda allows Lavi-kun to call him by his first name." The girl Finder loud enough to be heard by the Japanese teen.

'I do not!' Kanda snorted in his thoughts.

"Allows? He does not; he always threatens to kill the boy when he does that."

The samurai nods in agreement.

"Yeah, but he hasn't killed him yet, has he?"

'...' He snapped his eyes open thinking why hadn't he killed that rabbit.

"And among other Exorcists, Lavi is the only one who can have a normal conversation with him."

Kanda realized that he couldn't argue with that comment. Lavi was the only person who could get him out of his refined attitude when it comes to conversation and fights. He could really bare with Lavi sometimes, unless the rabbit got attacked by his hyperactive condition.

"You're over analyzing them."

"Well Lavi is pretty adorable; nobody can deny that he's good looking."

"What are you trying to say? That Kanda-san likes Lavi because..."

Kanda's brow twitched at what he heard. 'What the f*ck are they thinking?' He thought holding the hilt of his sword.

"I didn't say that." The girl Finder said grinning. "Maybe he just likes Lavi as a friend."

'...' Kanda crossed his arms on his chest with a sigh. He stepped towards the stairs deciding he no longer needed to hear what they were talking about and hell, he shouldn't have listened to them in the first place. But before he could take another step, he felt them move towards the corner where he was hiding. Retracting his foot he stepped backwards and slumped his back on the wall beside the very pillar the two were talking. He was trapped. The two could easily spot him if he tried to move from his place.

Kanda saw the shoulder of the girl Finder at the end of the pillar in his view. Thank God they stopped before they could turn to the hiding Exorcist. They would have faced death if they hadn't. Kanda decided a few missing Finders would not affect the war, he would rather sacrifice them than expose himself from eavesdropping.

"But oh! If Lavi acted towards me like that, I would love to return it back to him." The girl suddenly jumps and giggles.

"You're the one who likes him. " The other commented in neutral tone.

"Why? Can't you see how gorgeous he is? His soft, unruly hair, his fair skin... Oh and his green eyes. I could melt from his stare~" the girl continued.

"You're crazy." The other stated flatly.

'Why do I have to listen to this stupid shit?' Kanda started to get pissed off, but the girl continued to rant about Lavi's this and that. And Kanda couldn't help but listen, and imagine what the girl had said. It was all about Lavi being so attractive. Kanda snorted at every comment, and acted smugly at how he could compete and get the upper hand over every characteristic she mentioned. But as the time went, it became more sensual to the point that Kanda felt the heat on his cheeks. They were at the physical aspects by then.

'How could these imbeciles discuss such an obscene topic as this about another person?' Kanda thought, biting his lips. He wanted to tell them to stop and to teach them manners. It's like verbally harassing a person; without him knowing of course. Kanda almost jumped from where he was standing when another person shouted.

"Stop slacking off you two! The meeting is about to start!"

"We're sorry, Sir!"

The two Finders got smacked before the three of them were gone.

Kanda couldn't believe he wasted his time for such a stupid thing and regretted it even more as he became affected by that event. By the time he went to bed, he realized that Lavi kept popping into his head and the worst had happened when he dreamed about the redhead. It was not a big deal to him at first but when he had a mission with Lavi the next day, he couldn't stop looking at his fellow Exorcist the way the girl Finder had said.

He noticed his bright emerald eye, his warm smile, and his unruly but soft hair that he wanted to touch for some reason. He didn't know when it occurred to him but he was curious. And his voice, now Kanda could tell when he was speaking truthfully to himself or not at times when he had to be neutral. Hell, he could see the sweat streaming from Lavi's temple down to his neck and it sent him goosebumps.

"Yu?"

His dark eyes trailed from the scarf hanging loosely on his neck up to his face.

"YU!" Lavi yelled louder shaking Kanda's shoulders with his hands, his face a few inches away from him. Kanda didn't budge and stared at the redhead. After three seconds Kanda's doll face scowled even more as his fist flew to Lavi's face. The punch wasn't that hard but enough to surprise and threw Lavi away from him.

"Baka Usagi!" He snarled, quickly turning around to hide the uncontrollable flush on his cheeks.

"What was that for?" Lavi whined, shuffling back on his feet.

"Stop calling me by my first name, idiot!" Kanda tried to subside the redness of his face as he walked past the dumbfounded Bookman Junior. Kanda was not sure what had come over him, but he always had that reaction whenever he was near Lavi. And he had decided to avoid the Usagi until he could fix this whatever-illness he was suffering.

"What's wrong with him?" The redhead mumbled to himself pressing the swollen flesh of his face as he watched the Japanese Exorcist stormed out of the corridor.