I have been inspired by lovely messages, reviews and a surprising number of followers to turn this into a series! For those of you who had this story on your alert list - sorry! Initially, I had only planned for this to be a one-shot, but I've really had a great response and ta-da, here you have it. Wish me luck for the following chapters!

Back at headquarters, Komui received the news that the pair of exorcists had gone missing and were not, in fact, on their way to Paris.
"How could this happen?" he wailed. "Paris! The city of romance! But how can the magic happen if they didn't even go there? Ohhh, how could they do this?"
His dramatic sobbing could be heard throughout headquarters all day until Lenalee came to hit him over the head with her clipboard.
"Brother, maybe you need to rethink this."
"But my calculations must be correct! There's no way I can be mistaken! With the right atmosphere there's no question about it – the two of them will finally realise!" His eyes became dreamy as he continued, "Nervously at first, but more confidently as they accept each other, finally, they will - "
Whack.
"How about you have some coffee, supervisor Lee, and then sign these papers instead of worrying about them," Reever said, dumping a pile of papers on Komui's desk. God, it was turning out to be a long day for the science department.

Meanwhile, in a tiny train compartment, Kanda was already regretting his actions. What the hell was he doing? Touching her, kissing her – all of that was fine, but they had only just entered Belgium and they would be on the train for at least two hours. He couldn't just kiss her for two hours, could he? That would just be ridiculous. After a while, it would just become annoying. Che. And if he stopped, he'd have to talk – and what would he say? She'd probably want him to say some disgusting crap about how much he loved her. He couldn't conceal a shudder as he thought about that. Disgusting. Soon, he knew the kiss would fizz out, they'd break apart and she'd be waiting for it. She'd want an explanation, at least.
Suddenly he realised that he was just staring directly into her silver eyes. His brow creased into a severe frown. Wait – if he was looking at her, that meant -
His thoughts had side-tracked him and he'd stopped. Now he was in real shit.

Her expression however, was not as questioning as he'd worried. In fact, her head was turned and now she was deliberately looking away so he couldn't even see her reaction, hiding behind a curtain of blonde curls. Secretly, he hoped she was hiding a blush or any tell-tale sign that she had enjoyed it.
Girls usually got embarrassed and flustered at this sort of thing, didn't they? When Lavi teased the female staff, that's what they'd normally do. But that annoying rabbit was such an idiot! Did this make him an idiot too?

"Kanda." Her voice was anything but shaky and she sounded anything but embarrassed. She sighed, showing her irritation. "This is so typical of you Kanda."
"What?" How was it typical of him to ruthlessly kiss his colleagues? His naturally severe features folded into a more intense frown.
"You're always doing this!" Her voice was slowly raising now.
Well, as far as he was aware this was the first time he'd ever -
"You're always rushing ahead, ploughing onwards without any regard for the rest of us or what the consequences will be. Kanda, have you even thought about this?"
"Are you my fucking conscience?" he snapped. This was even more annoying than he'd anticipated. A lecture was the last thing he'd expected from her. What right did she have to lecture him? To criticise him?
"I don't know how your mind works, but why did you ever think this was a good idea!"
Never. And especially not right now. God, he never thought she would be this annoying! Even the Beansprout wouldn't have been this annoying if it'd been him instead. Kanda frowned in disgust. Why had he even thought of something so revolting?
"They were following us. I hate people meddling in my business," he explained dismissively. He turned away from her with a swish of inky hair.

She suddenly found herself transfixed by the way it seemed to float around him, the way reflected light rippled through it. It wasn't something she usually saw because his hair was always tied up. Then she remembered dragging her fingers through those silky tresses. She remembered how it felt cool and gentle to her touch, like dipping her fingers in a shallow stream.

He lowered himself onto the bench, closing his eyes; shutting her out. She perched on the bench opposite him. This was his entire fault. Why couldn't he just think ahead? Then again, he was always stubborn and his spontaneity – well, it had been sexy. Was this the scene she'd been trying to stop herself imaging since the incident? So, he hadn't so much swept her off her feet as dragged her there and it wasn't exactly a romantic sunset view: Belgian countryside was hurtling past them at a hundred miles an hour, and somehow, she wasn't content with his touch because she was now preoccupied with worrying about how they would avoid suspicious questioning from their colleagues or torture courtesy of the latest Komourin model…

"I can't sleep if I'm being watched." He didn't even open his eyes.
She bashfully diverted her gaze to her lap. And that's when she noticed it, looped around her wrist - his hair tie – evidence that she too was guilty; evidence that she had released her emotions. "Kanda," she said, quietly.
"What?"
"Um, this is yours," she said, holding the thin band out to him.
He opened one eye just a slit to see what it was. "Che," he spat, snatching it from her hand. He silently cursed her. Why couldn't she just admit that she'd liked it?

"I think once we stop, we'll need to go back to the Order," she said. Her voice was now completely flat and showed no sign of her previous anger or embarrassment. He showed no sign that he was paying attention. "Otherwise Komui will spin some crazy story about how we practically eloped," she continued. "We just need to say we got on the wrong train by accident."
"Why do you care so much?" he asked, taking her by surprise.
"Because I have a reputation! And I know that you don't usually take Komui's teasing any more lightly that I do."
"Hm."
"Besides, I don't like the idea of letting Komui and the entire Order know that he was right."
Kanda opened his eyes, fully alert now. "Right about what?"
Her eyes widened too - in shock.
"I – I mean - that's not what I meant! Of course Komui isn't right. I just think this situation could lead to a misunderstanding about how I feel - how we feel. About each other." She coughed awkwardly but stared daringly into his eyes, determined that he would at least try and cooperate with her. The loud rattling of the train was the only sound to fill the silence.
"Fine," he finally hissed. "It's not like I want everyone to think something so disgusting about me anyway."
"I know. Frankly, I find it disturbing," she drawled, rolling her eyes.
"Hn."
"So, are we talking now?"
"What else are we doing?" he demanded incredulously, taking her question literally.
"You idiot. Are we now on speaking terms?" she elaborated.
"Hn."
"Good. Because as stupid as Komui is, we both know he's a genius," she explained, her voice darkened by the shadow of troubles to come. "And to defeat him, we're going to need to work together."

So..?