K.K: Well, Kanda dear…it's the moment you've been dreading. I have you in my literary clutches now. Mwahahahahaha.

Kanda: Che. You honestly think I'm scared of you?

K.K.: Oh, if you only knew…

Kanda: Whatever, just get on with the story woman.

K.K.: Mind your manners…before I throw every Cheap Plot Device in the book at you.

Kanda: Go ahead.

K.K.: You asked for it. You know, you should be grateful that I saw fit to come up with a girlfriend for you.

Kanda: Listen baka – wait…what?

K.K.: Oh yeah, disclaimer. Ahem…I don't own D. Gray Man or any of the characters therein…but I do own Ayame – so hands off her.

Kanda: Who's Ayame?

K.K.: You're woman…now shut up and read the story.

Fire and Ice

Unforeseen Kindness

Ayame blocked the powerful sword stroke with the blade that ran the length of her right arm, rolling away from the blow. She was barely on her feet before Kanda came at her again pushing her back with a combination of slashes in rapid succession. She was finally able to catch his blade in between the blades on both her arms with a scissor vice grip. She leaned forward till she could feel his hot breath on her face – his cold gray eyes glowing with deadly intent. She had seen this look many times before, usually directed at Akuma or members of the Noah clan…and occasionally at her. She remembered the first time she had seen that look.

Ayame was unsure if who these men were, but she knew one thing – she didn't like the one with the ponytail. Judging from the glare he was fixing on her, he felt the same. The one called General Teidoll was very kind though. When he told her that she had "Innocence" and the capability of fighting monsters, she barely knew what to think. She was an accomplished martial artist, as she had lived in a dojo since she had been orphaned as a child. But martial arts was a far cry from monster-fighting. When Teidoll was explaining more about the Black Order, they were attacked by a band of Akuma. Ayame watched in awe as Kanda drew his own Innocence sworn – Mugen – and slew every single monster with precision and speed.

"I'm in," she told them.

Several weeks later, she was trained and ready to go out on missions. Ironically, Kanda was her first partner. And she was pretty sure that bastard Kamui did it on purpose, knowing they didn't like each other. In fact, she didn't think Kanda liked anybody. Still, after a few missions together, she had to admit his skill was impressive, and she would do well to pay attention. Together, they made a lethal team. Sure, they hurdled insults at each other, but they had grown to respect one another enough to spare together back at Headquarters. The weeks had gradually turned into months. Ayame had grown close to some of the other members of the Black Order. Lenalee, Lavi, and Alan had become close friends and she felt as though she could trust them all with anything. Still, she had to admit – her favorite pastime was training with that handsome bastard with a perpetually crappy attitude.

"Are you ready to give up yet?" he taunted.

"Funny…I was about to ask you the same thing."

She shoved against him will all her might and they began their dance anew. Kanda was a ruthless sparing partner. He never cut her, but he'd sent her flying on several occasions. She saw an opening, however small, and took a chance – throwing them both into a dangerous roll with their blades locked between them. It was a risky maneuver, but she was a reckless and unpredictable fighter. Kanda had once commented that she was like fire…consuming anything in her path without fear. She managed to come out on top of the roll and caught Mugen once more between her blades. She bore down on him with all her weight – sitting on his stomach; but she hooked her feet over his thighs in an attempt to keep him from getting his feet under him. Kanda held his sword just above his chest, bracing it with his other hand. His hair had come out of its tie and splayed out over the mats. It had always annoyed her that he wore his hair in a high ponytail – just like hers. In fact, their hairstyles were so similar that they were often teased about it. But she really didn't have time to ponder Kanda's hair, as the man was about two seconds from throwing her off him. Just as she felt his muscles tense beneath her, the door to the training room swung open. Lavi stood in the doorway, greeting by a surprised look from Ayame and a snarl from Kanda. Ayame watched as Lavi's expression warped – his eyes bugging and jaw dropping simultaneously. He slowly backed out of the room, making incomprehensible sounds in his throat.

"Sorry guys, I'll uh…leave ya to it…"

"Lavi, c'mon, this is not what it look like," Ayame shouted.

"Can you see the weapons between us, you idiot?" Kanda yelled, but Lavi had already run off, slamming the door behind him.

Ayame felt him tense again, but she mistook it as just plain annoyance at the situation, so she relaxed her muscles and slumped forward in defeat. Mistake. Kanda pushed up suddenly with his whole body, giving him enough room to get his leg under her. His movements were so sudden Ayame didn't even have time to brace herself. His foot contacted her lower stomach with enough force to slam her into the opposite wall. The blade on her left arm stuck in the wall, twisting her shoulder hard. She slumped down to her knees, suspended by one arm, her vision blurring.

Kanda got up slowly, cocking his head a little when he noticed she wasn't moving much. He hadn't meant to kick her so hard – she relaxed at the same moment he had lashed out. She should have felt him tense and put up her guards, but she had relaxed instead. He should have been fast enough to realize she wasn't ready to continue fighting and held back. Cursing under his breath, he quickly closed the distance between them.

"Ayame?" he rarely called her by her first name.

She stirred, wincing at the pain in her wrenched shoulder.

"Don't move…I'll help you," he said, his voice a little softer.

He reached one arm around her, lifting her up slightly as he carefully pried her left arm out of the wall. She slumped forward, her head falling to his shoulder. He carefully let her arm down – feeling around the socket to confirm that it was not broken. He groaned a little at his touch, but he could feel no dislocation.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "I shouldn't have let my guard down."

"You're damn right," he paused, not wanting to yell at her. "But I should have been able to pull back when I realized you did. So, I'm…sorry…too."

She chuckled; then had a coughing fit, "I've never heard you apologize for anything Kanda," she commented, as she deactivated her Innocence, the blades melding back into the gauntlets on her forearms.

"Che," was his only reply, but he carefully stood as she leaned on him. "Can you stand?"

"Of course," she said lightly, pulling away from him and promptly stumbling from the pain in her abdomen.

His hand shot out and caught her and she found herself leaning on him again. This was just embarrassing. She sighed, and tried to push away from him to stand up again, but he kept an iron grip around her waist.

"I'll take you to Kamui," he said.

She lifted her head, her expression one of absolute terror, "No Kanda. Please…please just take me to my room. Anything but Kamui!"

Kanda for once sympathized with her. He carefully lifted her in his arms, causing her to blush. It wasn't that she liked him or anything – cause he was a jerk – but it was just awkward and humiliating to have him carry her. He apparently wasn't enjoying this either, because he was scowling worse than ever and he refused to even look at her. He got her to her room in record time without being seen by anyone. Ayame was grateful for that because Lavi certainly didn't need any more ammunition against them. He dropped her gently on the bed, but she couldn't bite back the little hiss of pain at the change in position. She could have sworn a look of concern flashed across his face as he frowned at her. Very carefully, he reached down to place a hand on her stomach, where he'd kicked her. He fixed a narrowed gaze at her face as he gently prodded the area. When she winced, he hazarded to lift up her shirt a little to inspect her injury.

"It's fine," she protested, now more embarrassed than ever.

He said nothing, but ground his teeth when he saw the bright purple bruise beneath her belly button. For a moment, he just stared at it; then closed his eyes. Ayame regarded him thoughtfully – was he remorseful for hurting her? They had always played rough when they spared. In all that time, he had never even looked remotely sorry – not once. Now he looked like he wanted to punch something…well, more than usual. His hand was hovering above her skin still, and she brushed her fingers against his. The tiny touch seemed to snap him out of it, and he turned back to regard her coolly.

"If you're blaming yourself, then don't. I've been sparing with you long enough to know better than to drop my guard just because I'm worried about Lavi running his mouth about us. I felt you tense and I stupidly assumed you were just mad about the same thing."

"I was," he said flatly. "And in my anger I lashed out at you much harder than I should have and that is the result of my inability to control my emotions," he snarled.

"Would you knock it off – it's not your fault," she protested, but stopped short when he slammed his fist into the brick wall behind her bed, cracking it.

All she could do was stare at him wide-eyed. He hung his head, his hair falling around his face like a curtain – but she could still see his bared teeth. She had seen him angry many times (hell, it was his most common emotion)…but she had never seen him angry at himself. She tried to sit up and reach him again, but didn't have the strength.

"Kanda," she whispered his name so softly she wondered if he heard her.

But his eyes flickered over to her momentarily, and he reached over to pull her shirt back down and lift the covers up.

"Rest," he commanded, his voice almost soft. "I'll be back later to check on you."

She didn't know what to say to him, his behavior left her speechless. But he was gone before she could rack her brain further. So instead of letting it bother her, she decided to take his advice and rest. She kept thinking about his actions earlier though; they perplexed her so much it made it hard to fall asleep. He was always so cold and distant…Iceman she sometimes called him. But as she was drifting off, she thought about how carefully he had held her. Her stomach did a little flip-flop when she caught his scent lingering on her clothes. It was deep and masculine, with traces of something sweet and vaguely familiar. She shook her head, forbidding herself to think of him in any other way than she did before. But as sleep claimed her, her dreams had different ideas.

"Hey…"

Ayame stirred to the sensation of someone shaking her. She slowly opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. Kanda was bending over her, but he wasn't alone. He brought with him the aroma of wonderful noodley goodness. Her stomach gurgled loudly – causing her cheeks to turn pink. She swore she saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

"You're almost as bad as Short Stack," he accused.

"Hey, I haven't eaten since breakfast," she defended.

"I know. Here…" helped her into a sitting position.

He set the tray on her lap, leaving her drink on the stand next to her. She stared at the twin orders of soba and tempura.

"I'm not that hungry," she said.

"Good, because that one's mine," he clarified.

"Oh…you're going to eat with me?"

He frowned, "If you'd rather eat alone…"

"No! I mean…it's fine. I'd uh…like that."

His expression shifted – he looked thoughtful. Ayame lifted the tray and crossed her legs, then balanced it back on her knees. She pointed at the bed in front of her with her chin. He hesitated for a moment, then sat across from her, mirroring her posture. He took his soba off the tray, deftly shoving it into his mouth with chopsticks…not a drop was wasted. Ayame couldn't help but stare at him while he ate. He suddenly looked up at her mid-slurp…a whole string of noodles hanging out of his mouth. She almost blew tea out her nose; he looked so funny. He raised one eyebrow; then sucked in the rest of the soba. She couldn't help the little giggle that escaped her lips.

"Is something funny?" he asked, his voice not as gruff as she thought it would be.

"I'm sorry," she said, hiding her smile. "It's just, I never seen you eat soba before."

"I eat soba all the time."

"I know…but I've never watched you eat it."

"And?"

"Well, you're kinda cute with noodles hanging out of your mouth."

The words were out before she could stop them. He leveled an intense gaze at her that made her ears burn.

"What I meant was – you know – opposed to how you normally look…not that you're bad looking, cause you're not – but with the noodles…uh-"

He went back to eating noodles as she awkwardly back-peddled, "I get it."

She made herself busy stuffing food in her mouth to prevent anything else from stupidly passing her lips. She hadn't meant it the way it sounded…well, actually she did – but he didn't need to know that. She finished and neatly stacked their dishes on the tray, then set it aside on the nightstand. Kanda shifted so that he was sitting on the edge of her bed. She stretched her legs back out and scooted down so that she was almost lying flat. They talked for a few minutes and Ayame got all the information she had missed from an Exorcist's meeting that night. Kanda had some paperwork that was waiting on him, so he had to leave her.

"I'll check on you in the morning," he promised.

"You know…you don't have to do this just because you feel bad," she said.

"I'm not doing it because I feel bad," he said evenly.

"So…when you say 'morning' – do you mean morning for you or morning for me? Cause if you come in here at five, I'll kick your ass – I don't care how injured I am."

He stifled a smirk, "See you in the morning," he repeated.

"Yeah, yeah. You've been warned. Hey Kanda," she called as he opened the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"You're…welcome," he forced the words out awkwardly, and she smiled at his effort.

"Seeya."

And then he was gone and she was alone again with her thoughts. She missed the days when they were just partners on missions and things weren't complicated. She knew it was a bad idea to even consider having feelings for Kanda – that was heartbreak waiting to happen. Still, feelings aren't really something you decide to have – they just happen. She could of course decide not to act on them…it all depended on Kanda really. His kind behavior puzzled her to no end. This wasn't like him. Even if he did regret hurting her, he was far more likely to beat himself up for it than help her get better. Why was he really doing this? She sighed. There was not point in mulling this over further. She would just wait and see what would happen – that's all. An image of him with dripping noodles hanging from his lips flashed before her, causing a smile to play on her lips as she feel asleep.

K.K: Well, that's it for chapter one. Thoughts?

Kanda: I don't slurp.

K.K.: Yes you do. And it is cute when you do it.

Kanda: I am going to…

K.K.: Put that sword down for starters. I'll put you in a naked shower scene if you don't. That's better.

Kanda: I hate you.

K.K.: You'll thank me when all this is over.

Kanda: I'm already thinking up the ways.

K.K.: I like anything with chocolate peanut butter.

Kanda: Bite me.

K.K.: Tempting…but I'll leave that to Ayame. So what'd the rest of ya think? Good? Bad? Reviews…I beg you.

Kanda: Tell her it sucks.

K.K.: One more word and I'll put you and Ayame in hand cuffs with the key sown into the inner hem of her short-shorts. This worked wonders for getting Vincent Valentine out of his shell and trust me he's got way more issues than you do.

Kanda: …

K.K.: Thought so.