Lenalee takes me too my room, seeing as I'm nearly passing out and it's too late to give me a tour. I flop onto the bed, and Lenalee giggles a bit. "I'm going to drop off your uniform later today, so look forward to seeing it. They're designing it to work with your innocence, so you don't end up destroying the uniform each time you activate your powers."

I sit up, crossing my legs and giving her an appreciative smile. "Thank you, Lenalee. Oh, before you leave, could you tell me if that tall teenage boy was the one who caught me? And if so, what's his name?"

"Him? His name is Kanda, and yeah, he was the one who caught you."

I ponder this thought for a moment then ask her. "Could you ask him to show me around tomorrow?"

She furrows her eyebrows and gives me a wry smile. "I'm not sure if he would like to do that. He's a bit snappish and cruel sometimes."

I smack my hands together and scrunch my eyes up, saying, "Pleeeeeeease!" through my teeth.

"Oh, alright I'll try!" Lenalee agrees, rolling her eyes.

"Thank you!" I cheer.

As she exits the room she questions me, "why do you want him to show you around anyway?"

I shrug as I lay down in the bed. "I want to thank him for catching me. He could have just let me fall, I was a suspicious person." I hear the door close as I throw my arm over my eyes. "I wonder what he'd act like towards me. I wonder if he'll actually come…" is my last thought before passing out. I wake up to a tapping noise on my door. I look out the window of my room and find that the sun is high in the sky. "Oh crap!" I exclaim, throwing off my covers. My foot gets caught in the blanket as I try and escape my bed, and I trip and fall against the door. "Ow…" I groan. I move my head around jocularly; looking for the uniform Lenalee said would be in my room. I spot it, crumpled up in the blankets I tossed.

Moving to pick up my uniform, I catch myself in the bathroom mirror and make a, "yikes" face when I see my hair. I figure I'll be taking a while, so I start to unravel my bandages and walk towards the bathroom at the same time. "Sorry! I might take a while so just come in and sit on the bed, okay?"

The door opens with a creek, and a voice that I didn't expect hit my ears.

"Che, hurry up, would you?"

I nearly smash my head into the bathroom sink as I charge in there and fumble with the door and my bandages to conceal my body. The last thing I see is a glimpse of Kanda's surprised face.

I let out a shriek inside my head as I grab my hair. "What the heck! I didn't expect him! Well I know I asked for him but still, I didn't think he'd do it!"

As fast as possible, I rinse myself off and brush my hair and teeth. As I rub the extra water out of my hair, I look around for my uniform. Panic surges throughout my body when I realize, "Oh God! My uniform is outside where Kanda is!" Covering my body with a small towel, I slowly open the door, trying to hide my body behind the door as well. I stutter, "H-hey… Kanda was it?"

His arms are crossed and his sitting on my bed. When he sees me, he stands up and grabs my wrist. "Are you done? It's already noon, let's go." He tugs on my wrist, pulling me out of the bathroom.

"Wait, Kanda!" I shout, a bit of a growl coming through my voice.

Obviously irritated, he whips his head around to glare at me. "What?"

.:Kanda's POV:.

This girl was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

Last night, Lenalee begged me to show the new girl around since apparently, Lenalee was "busy."

I couldn't say no because Komui threatened to lock away Mugen if I didn't listen to his beloved younger sister. I came around early in the morning to take her, but she was fast asleep. Periodically, I knocked on her door to see if she was there. Until now, which is about twelve o'clock, there was no response.

"What?" I snap, turning to face her.

She squeals and pulls back, dropping the small towel that she was covering her body with. She looks at me like a wet little puppy out in the rain, shivering and embarrassed.

I feel my face heat up as I look at her. I've never seen a girl's body before, and that expression on her face would have made Lavi bellow, "Strike!" louder than anyone could imagine.

I let go of her wrist and avert my gaze to the door. I push my hand on my mouth, unable to forget her face right then. I hear the rapid ruffling of clothing, then a loud thump. Involuntarily, I turn around to see if she's alright.

"Don't look!" She commands.

I stop and cross my arms as if I didn't have the slightest thought about turning. "Why would I turn around, idiot?"

After a while, I hear the bed creak and she announces in a much calmer tone, "Alright, I just need to tie up my hair and we can go."

I turn around and get a good look at her in her new uniform.

The skirt of the uniform is as short as Lenalee's, and she's wearing tall black combat boots that stop just below her knees. She's wearing long black socks that cover her knees under the boots, though.

She's taking an irritable amount of time, fiddling with her hair and hair band, so I get impatient and snatch the thing out of her hand.

"Just let me do it, dammit!" I run my fingers through her damp hair, checking for tangles. The cool brush of wet hair across my fingers feels very smooth, and her hair is already silky on its own.

In order to distract myself, I ask her, "What's your name?"

Not moving an inch, she faces forwards politely and replies, "Rika Saioji. What's your name? I know you're called Kanda, but that's it."

Feeling that I owe her a bit for that little, "episode," we had earlier; I decide to tell her my full name. "Kanda Yu." I tie off the high ponytail and stand up.

She feels the ponytail gently, so as to not ruin it, and she trails her delicate hands down the strands of hair I left out for style. She smiles genuinely at me. "Thank you, Kanda!"

I cross my arms and turn my head away, hoping to hide my emotions like usual. "All I did was tie your hair."

She stands up and smoothes out her skirt. "Not just that," she clarifies, "you caught me when I was falling before, Thank you for that, too."

.:My POV:.

I smile at him again, and his response is only, "Che." I open the door and hold it for him as we walk out of my room.

He walks in front of me, since he's the one showing the way, and I follow him.

I put my hands behind my back and lean forwards while keeping a good pace. "So, where are we going?"

"To the cafeteria," he responds, "since it's almost lunchtime, and I need to eat."

I watch his long black hair, (which is tied up in a high ponytail), like a cat, following its swishing pattern with my eyes. His back looks very muscular, but he, himself, has a small build.

He guides me through the hallways, and makes only one small comment, "You should know that these are just the individual rooms."

I nod simply as he takes me to the elevator, which I already know about.

He presses a few buttons, taking us down to the cafeteria.

There's a really long awkward silence that both of us just can't seem to break. Plus, the only thing that's filling the silence is the recent memories we just made… embarrassing memories.

As if on cue, our faces turn red at the same time. We glance at each other and quickly avert our eyes.

We reach the cafeteria floor, and Kanda walks off the elevator.

I can't help but keep looking at his back. "He looks pretty handsome," I think, my blush fading away as a smile crosses my face.

He turns around and looks at me. "Are you coming?"

I snap out of my daze and giggle, making him raise an eyebrow in confusion. I shake my head and follow him to the cafeteria.

"B set ready!" Someone shouts.

I walk up to the window and look inside.

A man with sunglasses wielding a frying pan is suddenly in my face and smiling. "Oh, hello, you must be Rika Saioji! I'm Jerry!"

I'm a little shocked at his attitude, but I dismiss it and laugh. "It's very nice to meet you, Jerry."

"What would you like to eat?" He asks, returning to his stove.

I think for a moment, and apparently, Kanda is ordering at the same time as I am.

"Soba."

"Somen, please."

We look at each other, surprised that we ordered at the same time, and something pretty similar.

He smiles to himself and looks down as I give a short laugh.

Jerry is grinning at me, crossing his arms when I turn back towards him.

I blush and cross my own arms. "What?" I growl, "I just met him."

He snickers and goes to making my noodles. "I've never seen Kanda act like that to a newcomer."

I blink as the thought swims around in my head. "Never?" When my noodles are ready, I take my lunch and sit next to Kanda.

He's sipping his tea and I start to eat my noodles after saying, "Itadakimasu!"

Kanda puts down the cup and lifts up some noodles before asking me, "Why do you keep following me?"

I'm surprised, but not offended by his question. I slurp up my noodles and swallow before answering him, "You're the only person I know besides Lenalee. So can't I sit with you?"

He points his chopsticks in a direction saying, "There's Lenalee, go sit with her."

I press my lips together and come up with a great idea. I wave my hand and shout out, "Lenalee! Sit over here with me!"

Her face brightens up and she skips over here with her lunch. "Hi, Rika! Did you see around enough yet?"

I laugh nervously. "I woke up too late so Kanda's showing me around after lunch."

She giggles and her eyes trail up to my hair. "Ah, your hair looks really nice!"

I touch the strands of now dry hair next to my face. "Thank you, Kanda put it up for me when he came to show me around."

She blinks. "Huh? Kanda came into your room?"

Simultaneously, our faces get red again at the memory.

A loud voice cuts through the awkward crying, "Strike!"

I look up to see a bright red-haired boy wearing a headband and an eye patch grinning at me.

He winks at me with his good eye and leans on the table. "Who's this cutie?"

I chuckle and introduce myself, "I'm Rika, nice to meet you."

The boy grabs my hand, his whole body lying across the table. "I'm Lavi, it's nice to meet you, Rika-chan!"

Lenalee and Kanda both hit him on the head, but Kanda does it much harder.

Almost instantly, Lavi lets go and throws a puppy-like gaze at Kanda. "Why'd you hit me?" He whimpers.

"You're ruining my meal." Kanda stands up quickly and grabs my wrist. "Come on, I still have to show you around, don't I?"

I struggle to get out of the bench as fast as Kanda's pulling me, but I end up getting yanked out anyway by his strength. My wrist starts to burn under the pressure he's holding it. "K-kanda, it hurts," I say, cringing.

He doesn't hear me, so I glare and grab his arm and twist that backwards. He lets go almost instantly and spins around angrily at me.

I meet his glare with my own, hoping it's every bit as angry as I feel. "That. Hurt!" I state, enunciating each word clearly and loudly. I'm only a centimeter away from his face, but he finally relents first.

Instead of an apology, all I hear is, "Che." Twitching, I mimic him in my mind, "Che, I'm Kanda Yu and I'm sooo cool. All I say is 'che' when I'm angry and I don't apologize even if I hurt someone."

He's already at the elevator and glaring at me. "Hurry up," he commands.

My face turns pink with anger since I know I can't refuse; I need to know my way around. I walk quickly over there and cross my arms, turning away with a, "hmpf!"

.:Kanda's POV:.

I don't apologize for grabbing her wrist; if she's an exorcist she should be stronger. Either way, she was giving that stupid rabbit the O.K. to flirt with her. And she was completely ignoring me, plus she invited more people over and… "Wait," I think, "I shouldn't care, anyway." As I contemplate why I care, the elevator stops and she walks off.

She turns around, hand on her hip. "Are you coming?"

My vein throbs on my head irritably as I know I can't ignore what she's saying. I walk off the elevator and keep in front of her. "Here's the training area," I say plainly as possible. I try not to let my anger show, so she can get the picture that what she does doesn't affect me.

.:My POV:.

I can feel Kanda's irritation pressing up against his words and aura. Though, it seems like he's desperately trying to hide it.

I know I'm pretty mad at him, but I don't care if it shows or not, I'm kind of preoccupied trying to keep up with Kanda's pace.

We go through almost everything within half an hour, and he drops me off at the individual rooms.

He doesn't hesitate to just leave me and go about his regular business.

"That's it?" I say, aggravated, "Am I seriously so annoying that you just don't care about even talking to me?"

He turns around and is in my face before I know it, seething with rage. "You know what, you ARE annoying! You just prance about and do whatever you want, and you're barely an exorcist! You let that stupid rabbit flirt with you, without even knowing who he was, and you ruined my lunch by bringing so many people over!"

I lean up, pressing my nose against his. "Well, Mr. Sunshine, YOU seem to like dragging people around! This morning I was just going to ask you for my clothes but you just had to be impatient and pull me out of the bathroom! I thought that despite the cold person I saw and heard about, you were pretty nice! I guess I was wrong because you're pretty selfish, getting angry at me for ruining your precious lunch!"

He draws himself up to his full height and shoots me a dirty look. "Fine, you can think that way if you want! Don't bother talking to me otherwise, idiot!" He storms off in the direction of the elevator, and with pent up frustration, I just shout, "Fine!" back at him.

I slam the door when I get into my room and I throw myself onto the bed. I press the pillow to my face, disregarding any filth it may have on it, and I scream, "YOU STUPID, STUPID BOY! YOU'RE A STUPID INSENSITIVE FREAKING JERK, DAMMIT!

The door opens and I see Lenalee lean in. "Having trouble with Kanda I see," she chuckles.

I clutch the pillow tightly as I upright myself. "He's every bit as cold as I thought he was."

She smiles empathetically at me. "He's not what you think. Kanda's been much different since you arrived."

I purse my lips in disbelief. "Oh, really? How so?"

She laughs at my silly face, but continues on, "Even if he's still the irritable guy, he's been pretty civil. He agreed to take you around without that big of a fight, and he was nice enough to do your hair for you."

I lower my face into the pillow. "But still, he's such a jerk," I complain.

Lenalee stands up and puts both hands on her hips, "Well, anyway, you're going on your first mission! Our finders have found innocence somewhere, and it's not too far away, so I think you'll be fine."

"Alright then!" I say cheerfully, "I've had enough of this emotional drama. I'm ready to kick some akuma butt!"

"You're really funny, Rika."

I stick out my tongue, "I know!"

She escorts me to Komui's office, a route that I plan to remember.

Right before I enter, she hands me a folder.

I walk into the room and I see Komui resting on his hands. "Hello, Komui-san," I greet politely.

He returns my kindness and sits up straighter. "Hello, Rika. You're going to be sent on a mission, as you heard from Lenalee."

I nod. "Yes, where is it?"

"Well, before that, please have a seat. Also, you'll be partnered up with Kanda."

My eyes widen slowly and I turn my head fearfully to meet Kanda's own shocked gaze. And I say the only thing anyone should say at this moment.

"What?"