Author's words: This is inspired by the pic of Kanda falling asleep in the canteen with his cheek on his wrist. (Manga chapter 94) He's my favourite character even though he is uncouth and uncaring, but hey, he's cute. (And has long, luxuriant, smooth black hair.)

Disclaimer: Own not, hence sue not.

Chapter 1: A tired boy, some soba, and a bunch of what he will not call-friends

From the midst of the storm, a solitary figure emerged. His gaze was cold, and nearly lifeless. A flash of the sword, the few abominations fell dead, sinews and body matter littered the floor around the figure. Fountain of blood and other body fluids mixed with the rainwater, falling down upon the young swordsman, sieving through his dark hair and draining down his fatigued body; over skin that was marred by battle scars. He allowed himself to be baptized by the blood of demons almost uncaringly as he re-sheathed his sword.

When he was sure that no more were following, he walked on.

Kanda Yuu just returned to the black order, he is tired, hungry, cold, soaked and utterly grumpy. Of course, no one could tell. Firstly because there are less than 20 persons in the whole of the order who actually dares look at him in the face. Secondly, all who dared look at him in the face knew his temperaments enough to know that he was by default, grumpy.

There was nothing overtly wrong with his life that contributes to his general cheerlessness. Maybe just a few issues that no body else seemed to encounter or have problems with. Some examples being having a curse that enables him to do what The First exorcist cannot do-and hence sent to more missions than every other exorcist in the order.

Komui expresses concern. (It is irritating when he does), but he has got to do what a supervisor has got to do.

Generally, he did not mind. Going solo meant that he will not be weighted down by his so-called friends, Kanda Yuu had no friends, he did not need them. He did not want companionship; he wanted to finish his work fast.

He was not human, and will not be bounded by the weakness of mere mortal.

Fighting Akuma is within his job scope, it also enables him to travel more and narrow down his search.

His feet stopped at this point, and felt his blood pressure rise.

He had to find that person soon, he might not have enough time left.

By now he knew himself, he understood what was tired, he knew what was fatigue, but he had also tasted what it was like to go beyond tired and fatigue. It was a terrible feeling that will settle in like a mist over the dawning land; covering over him, shrouding him, encompassing him.

Killing him.

He knew, the wounds he sustained are no longer healing as fast as they used to. What would be left in the wake of a rapid healing should have been smooth, unmarked skin; but are now gradually being replaced by fine, discreet scars. At times, he could feel his own heart pumping a little harder just after minor exertion, and he wondered when the muscle will finally give out; and go on strike as a protest against its owner who worked it liked a slave driver.

He shook himself at this point, knowing that there is no point thinking about it. Death will come to any of the exorcist at any time, and he was no exception. Death is not to be feared, only failure. Dying is not too bad, it is regret that he did not want to live with.

His stomach rumbled, reminding him that his physical body was still very much alive and demanding nourishment. It had not had any for days.

He was still tired and hungry, but after so long on the road, his desire to get clean overrode the dissatisfied sounds made by his stomach.

In the common bathroom he realized he was alone, and he removed his torn, weathered and grimy attire and went for a quick warm, shower, washing the dirt off from his person and hair. Then swiftly went for a change of a simple white shirt and pants, his uniform was pretty much beyond repair.

He was surprised to see that there were still many people in the canteen grabbing a bite, but he did not care, it was not the people he missed. (And he was not so surprise to see Allen with a huge pile of food in front of him.)

Jeryy appeared happy to see him. And wordlessly handed him a large portion of the usual. When grunted his noncommited word of thanks. Jeryy gave a huge, warm, 'Welcome!' and threatened to hug him. He walked off quickly and guessed something or someone clearly made the man very happy. Once he settled down on an empty table behind Allen, he remembered what he missed most about being perpetually on missions.

Soba.

Those noodles are the only thing that reminded him he was still human; or maybe he was not. For nothing could compare to sinking one's teeth into the longitudinal bodies of the chilled, smooth, tender noodles dipped in mildly salted, fragant sauce. After the initial outburst of flavour, it will be followed by an aftertaste that is bitter yet sweet at the same time. And the whole cycles starts anew upon the next mouthful. Eating soba was an experience that was virtually, the only thing he considered close to enjoyment if he actually had any inkling of what that word meant.

Before he knew it, he was done. Now, clean and well-fed, he found himself relaxing for the first time in weeks. He leaned his cheek on the base of his palm as he took a sip of green tea, and allowed himself to close his eyes for a bit.

The world around him settled, and in his relaxed state he found his attention scattering, though still keen and sharpened, they focused on everything and nothing. Allen was slurping very loudly on his noodle soup, Tim was sinking its teeth into something soft, probably dango. Johnny and Tapp was muttering something about food bills. In a distance he heard Lenalee and Lavi chattering as they entered the canteen, Lavi's footfalls were heavy and careless, whereas Lenalee's were light and graceful, as if she was merely gliding on the floor and did not quite belong there.

For some reason, doing a headcount -checking whether they were still alive-felt like the right thing to do. It confirmed that all was well, even just for the moment.

He slipped further, knowing that there was no danger, no demon lurking behind or beneath him and waiting to finish the job of killing him. Maybe the next of Komui's inventions should give him some pause; but he shrugged those off as if they were flies, knowing that Lenalee will do something about it...

With those thoughts drifting around in his head, Kanda Yuu fell asleep.

Ooo

"Hey, is that Yuu-chan!?" Lavi thrilled as jogged towards the familiar figure, "He's back! It's really him!" Lavi exclaimed, Lenalee shushed Lavi, then stated, "I think he's asleep." And added as an afterthought while touching her shortened bangs, "And who else has nice hair like that in the Order?"

Allen turned around while wiping his mouth after his last bowl of Katsu don, and asked in a low voice. "Kanda? He sleeps?"

"Everyone sleeps." Johnny reasoned as he slurped his cola, though attempting to do it softly. "And you exorcist are all youngsters, you guys should sleep more. It's already past twelve!"

"Do you think he can still hear us?" Lavi said as he approached Kanda cautiously, and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Of course he can." Allen said jokily, "Then he'll slice us into sashimi with mugen. Oh crap! It's really right beside him."

"Do you think we can steal it?" Lavi plotted aloud. "Oh, I love to see how Yuu'll react!"

"Cut him some slack," Lenalee rebuked, though she seemed to be considering the prospects, "Stealing a fellow exorcist's innocence while he's asleep is hardly honourable."

"Still, it seems fun." Allen said thoughtfully.

"Allen-kun!"

"Okay, okay." He put up both his hands. "So should we wake him?"

"Yeah." Lavi replied enthusiastically, everyone else nodded.

"So who should wake him?" It was a moment where everyone subconsciously took a step back. All apart from Lenalee who was standing closest, right behind Kanda.

"No…no Lenalee you don't have to do it yourself…" Lavi stuttered as he came forward slightly, one hand stretched out as if toward off Lenalee.

"I remember this one!" Tapp recounted unenthusiastically, "The last time general Tiedoll did and half the canteen blew up."

Allen swallowed, "Really?"

"Nay, its fine. Just get ready to duck." Lenalee replied cheerfully as she gave a short laugh, she did not look like she was kidding.(Nooooooo!!! Tapp and Johnny went to hide behind the next, next bench) She laid her hands on Kanda's shoulder but made no further move.

"Lenalee…is there something wrong?" Allen came forward slightly, afraid that the hot-headed samurai will take up Mugen and chop the girl into half any moment. His finger itched to remove the sword first; for safety reasons of course.

"Hmm." She frowned, "Usually all it takes to wake him up is to touch him, he's a light sleeper you see." She paused, and called while jiggling him gently, "Kanda…Kanda."

"Yuu~~~chan. oh, Yuuuuuhoooooo~~" Lavi made the wolf-whistling noise, but was surprised when there was still no response. "Boy, he's wiped out. How many missions did he finish in a row?"

"Maybe we should just take him to the nurse's office." Lenalee said thoughtfully, "It isn't normal for him to be this tired."

"No no no, we should just leave him here for the finders to admire." Lavi said, "You hardly see him so adorable."

"Adorable?!" Allen exclaimed, the word did not match Kanda Yuu, and he doubted if it ever will.

But Lavi was right, people were bending in to examine Kanda's face, even those from the science department came closer just to have a look at Kanda in his nonthreatening state. Those who where walking past with their supper trays were stopping and stared. (Isn't that one of the exorcist? The pretty one? A boy, no?)

For once, there was no trace of worry, no sign of grumpiness on usually-creased brow. His features, while relaxed, were altogether elegant, and almost beautiful. He has the fair, perfect complexion that many Japanese are blessed with, and long hair that was shiny, smooth and straight, and appeared miraculously well-maintained.

"Actually." Johnny began, having departed from his refuge under the next, next bench, "If we ever have a good-looking competition in the Order, Kanda might just win." He patted Kanda's head gently, then turned to look at Lenalee, "You'll be first, of course."

Lenalee blushed. Allen fanned off the mental picture of Kanda as beauty queen. "Nurse's office then, if we leave him here some of the finders might just kill him."

"Who then?" Lavi asked as their gazes gradually converged on Tapp.

Ooo

Kanda Yuu opened his eyes, he was lying on a mattress that was unfamiliar, and covered with a blanket tucked up to his chin. It was dark, and the clock read 4.26am. He sat up in alarm and gave a short curse, berating himself for drifting off to sleep mid-field. The first thing he did was to look around for Mugen.

It was there, at his bedside, he snatched it off the moment he saw it and was lucid all of a sudden. He realized he was in the hospital wing, not in the wild and surrounded by akuma. The mugen seemed serene in its unactivated mode, quietly reassuring him that it was safe.

He noticed at this point that there was a sticky note taped to the hilt of his sword that is written in various handwritings.

'Tapp piggy-backed you.' Beansprout's ugly penmanship, 'He says 'eat more'.' There was a smiley with its tongue sticking out at him.

'Yuu chan, you're cuter when asleep.' Lavi's elegant bookman cursive.

And beneath those two was a much shorter and tinier sentence.

'Welcome back.' Lenalee's small, shy handwriting.

Kanda Yuu did not know, but he smiled uncharacteristically.

Kanda Yuu did not have any friends...

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm Mingathur, R & R please. Reviews are the currency of fanfiction!

Some points I wanna clarify, firstly I have no idea what timeframe this picture is supposed to depict, I predicted two possibilities, one is before Kanda met Allen for the ghost of martel mission and the other is after they returned from the ark. Then I realized both didn't quite fit. Hmm.

Second, it is true that Kanda seems to have more missions than the rest. He rushed off after the ghost in martel, was still out during the Miranda and sent to look for general Tiedoll straight after.

Thirdly, please don't flame for me saying Kanda is pretty. He is. Hoshino Sensei said it himself on the character intro page in manga bk 2, 'He likes soba, tempura. Hates many foodstuffs. Too pretty, hard to draw.' Initially I thought he and Lenalee will turn out to be siblings.

Hope you liked this fluffy chapter!

Yours

Ming