BMA: Yay, chapter three! I'm going to start asking for reviews before I go any further starting now. There's really no point in writing this if no one's interested, right? XD I've already gotten quite a few favorites/story alerts for this, but reviews are something I'm seeking more. Reviews are the things others see, and if a story has, say, 10 chapters and only 3 reviews, people will assume it's not very good and skip over it. Thanks! I'm seeking five more reviews for this, so please review away! Even the tiniest comment makes me feel like writing. ^^

"Arashi-san, please stay still!" Scolded a middle-aged female, looking down at the girl with discontent. Amidst Arashi's wincing and flinching, two nurses collaborated on healing her foot. Their faces were anything but eager and they seemed to be working as quick as possible to get this drama over with.

"Are you guys done yet?" Stuttered the female, holding one eye closed due to the stinging sensation in her foot.

"W-We're putting the bandages on now, exorcist-sama," replied the younger-looking black-haired nurse. "It'll be ready in just a moment, so please stay still!"

Arashi closed her eyes completely, intent on ridding her mind of the painful thoughts that had been running savage throughout her body. Much to her surprise, it did help quite a bit: she found herself settling down rather quickly. Although Arashi wasn't the type of person who thrashed about during doctor visits anymore, she still couldn't quite keep back the wincing when seeing the disgusting view of the patient room. Who'd be able to take that after being introduced to needles the size of tunnel drills?

It's not that the foot pain was too painful. It was simply her body trying to make it seem so because of the gruesome scene she had to endure.

"That's much better, Arashi-san," said the head nurse in a calm tone. "Though settling down isn't exactly useful when the nurses are already finished."

Arashi blinked, not really wanting to argue. She sat up slowly to test her body's reaction and, much to her surprise, felt very miniscule pain. Albeit being in the nurse's office for a good week, she expected her wound to take longer to heal. Not really questioning it, she slowly made her way off of the bed and stood on her own two feet for the first time in what felt like years. The nurses smiled, moving out of her way to give the female room to walk around.

"Well, seems you're doing fine, so you're free to go," one of the girls commented. "Just don't stress your foot out too much."

Arashi bowed, throwing a warm smile right back at them. She was very happy inside because Komui had been too busy to make visits to her infirmary room; who knows what he would've suggested they do if he HAD went.

"Thank you muchly," Arashi gave a belated reply, proceeding towards the door. "I'm going to go rest in my room before Komui realizes I'm 'in perfect condition' and sends me on another craptastic mission." She sighed and received nothing but sweatdrops as a response.

Exiting the infirmary, she slowly made her way right and took the elevator to the proper destination: the 21st floor. Much to her dismay, it seemed like a rather unusual situation was happening right on the same area she had needed to cross in order to get to her comfort zone.

"Oh god, it's Komui," Arashi whispered, backing away into a corner. A robot stood next to him, glowing brightly as if it were made a mere second ago; on top of that, a few people from the Science Department crowded around the man, apparently pleading.

"Supervisor, p-please! We don't need another Komurin!" Begged Reever, one of his subordinates.

'Another Komurin? He's still making those things?'

"But, but, but, but, but! Kanda-kun got a little angry and broke some glass earlier, so I built this robot to help us clean it! I was on my way to ask him if he needed help!"

Yeah, sometimes it sucked to live on the same floor as Kanda.*

"Wouldn't it be easier to just send someone? You're so into your machines, supervisor!" Scolded another member of the Science Department, trying to grab the controller of this enormous robot from his hands. No luck. "And besides, Kanda hates these things! It already tried to eat his soba before, remember? That's a taboo! A taboo, I say!"

"But this one's an improvement! It has better combat, strategy, and cleanliness ability!" Komui cheered himself on, hearts floating around him. "At least let me try it out!"

"Things have never ended well when you tried them out before, so why do you think this time'll be different? Let's see… Komurin 1," began Reever as he pulled out a file from his labcoat. "Sliced when it tried to eat Kanda's soba. Komurin 2: Went berserk and chased Allen all around HQ before he finally destroyed it in Paris. The recent Komurin 3: Nearly annihilated Paris and was destroyed before things got too out of hand by Lenalee."

"Just let me try it!" He yelled with tears spilling out of his eyes dramatically. Arashi went pale and tried to tiptoe past the group to her room, crossing her fingers that she'd go by unnoticed.

"Oh my, it's Arashi! You're better?" Komui asked with joy, dancing around while giving her Komurin a gentle caress.

'Oh god, what a fetish,' Arashi spoke to herself. Johnny ran up to her and smiled, glad to see the girl was feeling all right so soon.

"I'm fine, guys. But can I please go to my room? I really don't want anything to do with this."

All the members of the Science Department crowding around Komui sighed, as if thinking: "you're not the only one." Arashi blinked, breaking into a small fit of laughter. Everyone looked at her with confusion, wondering about her sudden change in attitude.

"Your subordinates don't seem too happy with you, Komui," she said amidst laughter. "You should listen to what they say more. You're twenty-nine years old, shouldn't you know by now that these robots are no good? Even Bak isn't this crazy!"

"Not true, not true, not true!" Komui flailed his arms around, continuing his whining and complaining amidst dramatic, sparkling tears. Komurin, reacting to its command, had the eye in its core glow red and proceeded to make its way towards Arashi.

"SUPERVISOR! Arashi just got out of the nurse's office, stop Komurin this instant!" The group yelled in unison. Arashi went pale, twitching like a madman.

"Komurin 3.5 reacts to my emotions. Once it's started, I can't stop it," Komui said uncaringly.

"YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!" Arashi yelled out. "I'm making a run for my money, then!" She dashed in the opposite direction, planning on leading it to the direction away from her one-and-only room. It held far too many valuable possessions to risk letting Komurin go anywhere near it.

As hard as she tried to run at mach 2 speed, her injury just wouldn't allow it. Anime tears slid down her face as she continued the wild goose chase.

'And I just got out of the infirmary! Why does this feel like a running theme?'

MEANWHILE…

"Lavi. What are you doing?" Questioned Bookman. "You've been acting strange lately."

"Hm?" Replied Lavi, picking out some books from a shelf. Carefully balancing himself on the ladder, he glanced down towards his elder. "Why do you say that, panda?"

"Stop calling me that!" He yelled, shaking the ladder as a sign of threat. "It's the way you're behaving. You've been running off a lot lately and I'm not very satisfied. Have you forgotten about your role as a Bookman?"

Lavi blinked, expecting something of this nature: everything Bookman ever lectured him about was somehow tied to Lavi's future occupation.

"Yeah, yeah. You really do worry too much, gramps. Everything's under control!" He smiled, flashing an enormous grin. At that very moment, Lavi's foot slid and his body went tumbling downwards; the books he had been carrying decided to follow. Landing on his stomach, he rolled around while cringing in pain. As he tried to get up, books hit him straight on the head, causing the redhead to plop down again.

"Owwww…."

"You imbecile." Bookman rolled his eyes, reading a book he took from the first shelf. "Sometimes I wonder if I need a new apprentice."

"G-Gramps!" Lavi suddenly panicked, waving his hands around worriedly while getting his body up from the cold ground.

Before the two could say any more, a loud rumble was heard. Feeling the small earthquake, Lavi and Bookman were slightly startled, turning their heads around in the direction of the noise.

"What was that, gramps?"

"Let's go, Lavi. It could be danger."

As the two dashed forward, they noticed they weren't the only ones startled by the alarm. A few other workers of the Black Order had come to examine the situation, staring up in disbelief. As Lavi zoomed past the crowd, he looked in the direction others were point at: upwards, where the rooms of all the people living here were.

"G-Gramps, that looks like a robot or something."

Bookman did not give a reply, but simply stared calmly as he watched the scenario unfold.

"Hey! I think that's Arashi!" His eyes went a little wide as he gripped the railing. "She got out of the infirmary already? Crap, it looks like that stupid thing's chasing her, too. It doesn't look like it's an Akuma… if it was, I'm sure there'd be a signal."

The red-haired exorcist took this as his cue. He grabbed his weapon, pointing it upwards and calling out the command:

"Odzuchi Kodzuchi! Shin!" [Big Hammer, Little Hammer! Extend!]

And with that said, Lavi was now zooming up to the scene of the crime, other members of the Black Order watching with immense curiosity. Upon arrival, he jumped hastily onto the ground while retracting his weapon. Before he could fully turn around, Arashi lunged herself into his chest.

"L-Lavi! Help meee!" She whined, brutally frustrated. Lavi laughed as he held her warm body, assuming she didn't realize the position they were in.

"I'm serious, Lavi! Help me get away from that thing!" She cried. "My innocence is in my room so I can't fight it!"

"I was pretty surprised to see you up here. But have no fear, Lavi is here!" He pointed proudly to himself, advancing in front of Arashi protectively with his weapon at its full size in his hands.

"For God's sake, I'm not even going to ask how you were able to see me up at the 21st floor. You and your magical Bookman powers…" She sighed, cowering behind him while watching Komurin finally catch up to the two.

"Instinct."

"I said I wasn't going to ask!"

Komurin fired a laser beam straight at Arashi while Komui sat in the driver's seat and giggled like a schoolgirl. He was apparently very happy with all the damage that's been done; any more could very well mean the destruction of this floor entirely.

"No can do, metal freak!" Lavi called out, shielding the two from the beam with his hammer. While this was helpful, it did have a downside: sending the beam in other directions and allowing it to smash into the surrounding walls.

"No way, Lavi!" Komui finally spoke. "You'll be tasting defeat by Komurin 3.5 right here, right now!"

Lavi twitched as he watched Komui press a button on his beloved robot. The robot shook for a few moments before growing in size, now at least two times taller than the two pint-sized exorcists. It hurled its arm straight for Lavi and Arashi, and then…

Smash!

Komurin fell apart before it could finish its attack. Komui, devastated by the sudden change in events, slid down his robot with anime tears running down his face. He pounded the ground sadly.

"My Komurin! My Komurin!" He whined.

"Hip hip hooray for Allen!" Chanted the group of scientists huddled in a corner for protection.

"Komui-san, are you ever going to stop this?" Came the voice of a certain young gray-haired exorcist, his anti-Akuma weapon activated. "It's really dangerous! Look at what you did!"

"A-Allen!" Arashi said with joy, running up to the boy and giving her thanks. "You saved me. I thought I was going to die there."

"H-Hey," Lavi walked up to the two. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Oh yeah. Thanks to you too, Lavi… even though you didn't really do anything helpful." She eyed the damaged wall as she spoke.

"Ouch," Lavi said out loud in a faint whisper. Allen laughed softly, smiling at his two friends while deactivating his innocence.

"I'm glad you're safe, Arashi. All the noise made me drop my mitarashi dango, so I had to come up here and see what it was." He scratched the back of his head as Arashi sweatdropped.

"So food's the reason he's here, huh… figures. Allen is a demon when his food's been taken," she said, sighing.

The group sighed, knowing full well the day wasn't even half over.

ABOUT 10 MINUTES LATER LATER:

"Lavi, why're you tailing me? I just want to take a nap. I'm really tired, you know. Didn't even have a chance to go rest in my room before Komurin attacked me," muttered Arashi as she plopped down onto her bed.

"I know, I know," Lavi replied, following suit. "I just missed ya! Is that really that bad?" He said with a large grin, putting his hands on his hips.

"I missed you too, but can you please get out? I need my beauty sleep."

"You're already beautiful~" He said goofily, flailing his arms about as he examined her room. "Geez, you've become so mean over the past few years! Where's the cute, sweet girl I used to know? !" Lavi promptly sat down next to Arashi and put his chin on her shoulder. She felt her stomach tighten.

"Right next to you," Arashi joked, giving him a harmless smack on the head with her fist. He laughed, rubbing the back of his head with his usual trademark smile as the brown-haired girl's gaze bore into the side of his face. "I guess I'll be like you and say, 'Where's that distant, mysterious Lavi I used to know? !'"

Lavi was a little surprised to hear this, but sighed as he laid himself down onto Arashi's soft bed. She looked down at him, still sitting, wondering what the boy was thinking.

"I still remember that day, you know," came Lavi's voice as his head tilted to the right, allowing his bangs to cover his eyes. His bandana was no longer on, which Arashi liked a lot: it made him look even more charming.

"Hm? Oh… you mean the time we truly became friends."

FLASHBACK:

"Arashi-chan! Can you help me carry this to brother's room? He's been neglecting his work, so the science department asked me to help straighten him up," Lenalee said whilst carrying an enormous stack of papers, obvious suffering in her voice.

"Comin', Lenalee! Don't even try carrying all of that by yourself!" Arashi replied from her side of the hallway, rushing to her good friend's side. She smiled as Lenalee handed her half of the stack of paperwork, taking the lead as the two walked towards Komui's office. Arashi stared at the female exorcist's straight, black-green hair, envying its qualities. She had always loved Lenalee's hair – enough to even ask what shampoo she used.

"It'll be a few minutes before we get there. Sorry for troubling you," Lenalee apologized. "Oh, have you seen the new exorcists yet? Apparently they're a group of Bookmen who arrived about two days ago. I met one of them yesterday. He was pretty nice. Quiet, but nice."

"New exorcists? Nope, I don't remember seeing anyone I didn't recognize. Doesn't Komui always have parties welcoming new exorcists, anyway? You'd assume he'd have done one by now…" Arashi muttered, shaking her head to get her bangs out of her view.

"Oh, I asked brother why he didn't schedule one, and it turns out they requested not to have a party. Usually we make sure not to tell the exorcists about the party we throw for them, but they somehow knew ahead of time. It's a little strange, but I'm sure they have their reasons," Lenalee giggled.

"Guess you're right, Lenalee…"

With that said, the group arrived to the office of Black Order's European Branch supervisor, Komui Lee. Lenalee thanked Arashi as she placed the paperwork onto the man's desk and waved goodbye. As much as the brown-haired exorcist would've loved to help out more, she was intent on doing her own duties. She had a mission to go to in a few hours and it was never too early to start preparing.

"Guess I better get going." She hopped onto the elevator, ready to ascend to her room. This mission shouldn't take long as it was in an area not too far away, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Upon getting off, Arashi noticed a group of two walking around the halls. One looked to be a boy around her age and the other was much, much older.

Mesmerized with the arrival of newcomers, Arashi didn't even realize she was about to bump into the group. Lucky for her, the two noticed her presence and managed to avoid the collision.

"S-Sorry about that," Arashi apologized, giving a bow. "I'm Arashi. Are you the two new exorcists? I'm sorry to ask, but why are you on this floor? Is this where your rooms are?" She questioned curiously.

"Good to meet you, Arashi-san," the elderly man replied. "Please do not hesitate to ask us anything; we are here to fight as soldiers for the Order and owe you a lot for accepting us as exorcists. At the moment, we are examining every floor of the Black Order as it is a requirement for our job. I have no name, so call me Bookman - the one here is Lavi." Lavi blinked at the girl before him, hands stuffed in his pockets. He gave a small smile.

"Hi there, Arashi-chan. Nice to meet you."

'They have to patrol this entire building for their job? I'd hate to be working as whatever they are,' she thought to herself.

"Ah…" Arashi said quietly, a bit dumbfounded. "I see. Well, I've got a mission to prepare for, so please excuse me. If there's anything you need, feel free to ask! I hope to get to know you better."

And since then, Arashi had ended up seeing the two on a daily basis, moreso Lavi. Be it in the cafeteria, in the halls, on missions, in the library… they had frequented many places and gotten to know their surroundings very quickly. Arashi never failed to greet Lavi; he was quite gentle, but there was something she didn't quite like about him.

"Lavi," Arashi spoke, sitting next to him on his bed. Today was Christmas and she didn't like how he had chosen to spend the day alone. Even Bookman was gone… on an information gathering mission, to be exact. Leaving his pupil alone on such a major holiday knowing he'd choose to spend the day himself was a little upsetting, so the female decided to stay with the redhead for as long as possible on this day. "You sure you don't want to go to the party? It's your first Christmas at the Order."

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not really a party person, Arashi-chan," he replied, staring as his knees as he sat on his bed. "You should go. I feel bad for keeping you here."

"Don't worry, Lavi. I came here of my own free will, so don't feel bad."

He smiled at her. Again, a small hint of sadness seemed to corrode her body as she watched his gestures unfold. She walked up to the boy, looking down at his mysterious figure.

"Lavi, don't push yourself…" She began, hoping not to falter. "I noticed that ever since you came here a few months ago, your smile has not once been genuine."

Lavi froze.

"I know it's not in my place to meddle, but you only get one life. I truly believe people are born into this world to experience pain, love, sadness, happiness, and every other kind of feeling that's out there. You have a family now; Lenalee and the rest of us really care about you. Komui may be an idiot, but he cares more about you all than you can ever imagine. Don't think about what you have to do, think about what you want to do."

Silence engrossed the room for a split second as Arashi took a deep breath.

"I don't know if you're being distant because you want to, or because of being a Bookman, but I want to see your true smile. As an exorcist, as a Bookman, and as my friend…" She paused for a moment. "…you earned that."

Lavi's green eye went wide. He slowly raised his head and looked at Arashi, whom was smiling. She extended a hand to the redhead as a smile crept onto his face, giving off warmth never seen before. He took her hand gently and got himself up.

"So that's what you really look like…" Arashi said. "This way, you're so much more charming. Please don't forget that."

As Arashi's thought process ended, she didn't realize how big the smile on her face was. She sighed, plopping backwards on the bed and ending up a few centimeters away from Lavi's body. The red-haired exorcist was too shy to admit it, but that was the best day of his life. Without those words, Lavi wouldn't have been the kind of person he was at this very moment.

"Like I said, you used to be so nice!"

"Like I said," Arashi mimicked. "I'm only nice to newcomers since I don't want to scare them away. Once I get to know you, you'd see my true self," she laughed. "Because I only open up this much to the ones I'm close to."

"Awww, we're close!" Lavi said with a cat-shaped mouth, rolling back and forth on the bed.

"Hey! I may have a queen-sized bed, but that doesn't mean you can just roll around knowing there's enough room for us both and get it dirty!" Arashi complained.

"Fine," the redhead replied with a slight tint of disappointment. Suddenly, he unzipped his coat and threw it aside, revealing his usual blue-colored undershirt. "Now I'm all tidy~!" He sang.

"Don't you have your own room, stupid rabbit?" The female whined, punching the air above her.

"You're taking after Yu now? I'd better stay away, then," he joked, rolling on top of her on accident. This action caused Arashi to blush like no tomorrow – she was practically as red as a tomato. Lavi didn't seem to notice as he was too busy engrossed by his fantasies. She could only wonder what they were about.

"Ajfjgjyhhiwjavf jughbu!"

"What?" Lavi questioned, tilting his head in confusion.

"Do you not notice the position we're in?"

"….oh," the boy said, finally realizing he had unconsciously done something inappropriate. He laughed uneasily, rolling off of the girl as she breathed heavily from embarrassment.

"Look," she began. "I'm not going to ask about what kind of erotic fantasies you have, but can you please vamoose? Shoo. I'm tired."

"Arashi doesn't like Lavi?" He suddenly spoke in third person. At that moment, Arashi realized just how much she loved hearing the boy say his own name. It was…. music to her ears, in a way. She tried to swallow it down and did not notice the lack of response from her mouth.

"Ne, Arashi-chan?" Lavi questioned, slipping his coat back on.

"N-Nothing…" She mumbled under her breath. "Good night… Lavi."

Star = I'm not sure what floor Kanda lives on, so I just made up a number. If it's been confirmed, feel free to message me so I can correct it!