SS: I'm terribly sorry this chapter is about two and a half months late! It wasn't in my original plans for it to be, but unfortunately some sucky things happened offline. Anyway, rest assured, I am not going to drop this fic. Please enjoy chapter four!

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM and I don't make money off of this story. It's purely created out of my love for the characters.

Chapter 4 A Flower For Your Thoughts?

Warmth. Incomprehensible feelings crashing together all at once. And then more heat. His heart was sinking deeply into the same mattress his body was jabbing into at the moment. Hands clumsily did what nature told them to, because he wasn't even quite sure if this was 'doing it right.' Being a bookman, one didn't have much time to, well, you know…

Collapsing into the bed after an overwhelming eight, maybe ten minutes of agonizing pleasure, Lavi was left panting and dazed, trying to recall what the hell he was just doing in the first place. Oh, yeah. He was thinking of Kanda. And then… this happened. Embarrassed, he shoved his face into the pillow and tried his best to not think about that older Japanese man anymore. If simply thinking about him training was going to lead to this, Lavi would prefer avoiding it to prevent such messes.

But damn, he could smell it… He could still smell the remaining traces of Kanda's scent, and that was enough to make the sleepiness overcoming him produce pretty images of a nice toned body and gorgeous long hair moving in surprisingly graceful manners to nothing but the wind's call. Lavi wasn't quite sure of it, but he figured he was probably drooling, and that he'd murmured 'strike' in a lazy tone at least once.

He had to stop thinking about him, seriously. Sure, he could not deny how handsome Kanda turned out to be in only three years, but he knew it was an exceedingly bad idea for a bookman to ever like someone like this. Lavi couldn't remember, even with his amazing memory, how many times Bookman had scolded him as a child about that, because little Lavi always found himself curious about such things and read a lot of books he shouldn't have. So liking Kanda was definitely a bad idea.

Not to mention how Kanda would hate his guts even more than he already did if he ever found out what Lavi had been doing to the mental pictures of him. Oh how Lavi dreaded those bitter thoughts to the bottom of his heart and hoped for better. Not like Yu was the type to pay mercy; he'd snap at Lavi, try to decapitate him, then curse him out in every disrespectful and bad word he knew in both English and Japanese. This thought was enough to push a sigh through the tired mongrel's lips.

Now he had a new problem at hand, though… How the hell was he going to clean up and make it back to his own room? He was far too sleepy to force himself up, and even with knowing what Kanda would do if he saw him on his bed like this, Lavi couldn't work up the strength to leave. Perhaps it had something to do with wanting to leave or not wanting to leave. Of course, that would mean Lavi didn't want to leave. Quite frankly, when thinking about it, he didn't care.

Recalling the events of yesterday as they flooded his already swelling brain, Lavi let his eye drift shut, and the soft wind and crickets from outside became his lullaby. He'd done that more than once in his life, letting nature be a lullaby, and came to enjoy it a lot. Before falling asleep completely, though, he asked himself, very, very quietly, "From violent, twisted anger… to innocent, confused kiss attempts… Yu's really sick, isn't he…?" And that was the end of his being awake.

By the door of the room, the sound of wood being gripped creaked and floorboards, too. Lavi could hear it somehow, but he only thought it was a dream, so he didn't bother moving or trying to wake. Whoever was there didn't seem to want to attack the helpless redhead, because instead the sound of the door closing then light footsteps toward the bed said they were taking it cool he was there.

The shades of dark gray cast by the dim reflected rays of the moon hitting objects showed the shadows of another figure, another human figure, just standing by the bed as if watching him sleep. It was strange… Lavi could see it, but he knew he was still asleep. Maybe this was a dream? The figure then shifted, moving their hands down to place something over the slumbering Lavi's head. A flower? It certainly looked like one, and the hands soon tucked the stem into locks of red hair before moving back and leaving the room.

If it was true it'd been a dream, Lavi wouldn't be surprised. It was just, how often did he have dreams that felt real? Not very, especially with his incredible memory where he could memorize every single tiny detail of real life things, which often meant dreams were not so fun. Such a strange dream was nothing compared to yesterday's, though, and he quickly found himself ignoring it as his mind moved on to showing luscious images of a very attractive samurai.

xoxoxox

"Nn." Shifting to his side, Lavi slowly opened his eye to the brightness of a rising sun, and he couldn't stop the awaiting groan from escaping his lips in response. Morning already? But he was still so tired! Of course, he knew the reason for this sleepiness was thanks to what he'd done last night, but he didn't care. Ignoring the fact that today they'd all agreed to deepen their investigation for the Innocence possibly hidden here, Lavi let his body take control and pull him back toward sleep.

And if it wasn't for what just crossed his mind, he probably would've gone back into a peaceful slumber, too. Emerald orb snapping back open, the redhead practically jumped up in bed, the sight of a familiar sword leaning against the nightstand startling him. What the hell was Mugen doing right there? Hadn't Kanda been training with that thing last night? Further panicked by the realization that it meant Kanda had been here, Lavi attempted to calm himself down before he had a heart attack.

Okay, so it was a possibility Kanda had been here, he got that, but Yu wouldn't just leave his precious sword in a room without its owner, would he? No, definitely not. The other man wasn't so careless of his anti-akuma weapon. Did that mean something was wrong? Had something happened to Kanda? The thoughts obviously doing no good for his heart, the now frightened boy shuffled around in bed, trying his best to get up without hurting himself. Good grief!

Unfortunately Lavi knew this was no time to be worrying about himself, because if something had happened to Kanda, he had to go get Allen right away. Though, would an akuma really be so stupid as to leave the other exorcist's Innocence here and not bother attacking Lavi, who was a perfect sitting duck through-out the night? The sudden thought made him rethink his worries, but before he could manage to relax himself completely, something else shocked him. In fact, that something else made him gape like an idiot.

Kanda was leaning against the side of the bed, eyes shut, breathing steady and quiet, head tilted down a little. One of his legs was out flat, the left one, the other, the right one, bent up and folded. His left hand was pressed against the floor for support and his right rested on his stomach. He wasn't moving the slightest bit, except for his chest which went up and down in time with his breaths. He was sleeping there, in other words.

Lavi had no complaints of this, of course, because the sight itself was breath-taking, and he instead began to ponder what exactly happened while he was asleep. Kanda didn't look very mad, but then again, it was hard to tell while the other man was out like a light. Actually, Lavi didn't care too much about that right now, he was more interested in staring at the second person his age as he slept, so he shoved the thoughts of how mad Kanda might be out of his mind again.

Peeking around the room, he noticed Kanda's boots were laying in a messy manner, meaning he'd kicked them off more than likely at some point. His jacket was over his shoulders as if someone had draped it there like a blanket, and the bottom of his shirt was rolled slightly, revealing his hip bones just a tad. Dark locks of hair were hanging down against the bed and spread over Kanda's chest, the hair tie he liked to use recently laying on the nightstand.

This meant Kanda had, in fact, actually seen Lavi in his bed, but had been possibly too tired at the time to give a rat's ass judging by how sloppy everything was. Kanda was no neat-nick, but he usually kept his things orderly to a degree. This all was why Lavi felt relieved… yet worried more-so. His previous thoughts of Kanda being sick were just re-awoken and before he realized it, he found himself hovering over his Japanese comrade, concern spread across his features from ear to ear.

Yu never got sick, did he? Out of the three years Lavi had spent at the Order, not once did he remember Kanda having even a cold. Perhaps it had something to do with his healing ability, no, Lavi was actually certain that was it. Kanda was always out, even in the cold, training to the point of exhaustion when sweat and dirt stained his skin, and he'd only stop when he thought it was enough, so it was hard to believe there was any other way he could've avoided being sick.

Lavi didn't realize he'd actually gotten closer to his Japanese comrade's face until he felt his own breathe bouncing back in his face. His vision suddenly focused on what was in front of him, instead of his thoughts, and he felt a lump form in his throat. Oh. Shit. A small bit of pink changed the usual color of the redhead's cheeks and he had to close his eye before he ended up doing something stupid - something really stupid. Something so stupid that it'd make Kanda never, ever like him and destroy whatever little hope there was.

But damn, did Kanda even realize how hot he looked when he slept? No, of course he didn't, Kanda wasn't stuck on himself nor did he care much for how he or anyone else looked. Actually, scratch that. Kanda loved seeing Allen's disgruntled and distressed face whenever the Asian was 'beating' him at something, sparring, argument, you name it. Because of this, Lavi almost wanted to punch himself; some jealousy was creeping its way up into his chest at the memories.

"That's nothing to be jealous about…" he muttered almost inaudibly, trying to reassure himself while taking a deep breath to stay calm. It wasn't like Kanda loved Allen and was a sadist who enjoyed tormenting people he had feelings for, right? Biting his bottom lip, Lavi forced himself back up onto the bed to sit straight. Yeah, that's right, or else he'd treat his childhood friend Lenalee like shit.

But wait… he wasn't feeling 'friendly' things toward Kanda anymore. He wanted to do waaaaaay more than what friends would do with Kanda, and he couldn't get rid of the awkward aura surrounding him whenever he was near the other man. So yeah, no, this wasn't about friendship. This was about something much more than that, something Lavi was unfamiliar with because he'd only ever had simple crushes on people before.

Trying his best to get his brain to process everything proved to be a useless act, so Lavi instead focused on resisting his urge to take advantage of Kanda while he was sleeping. Surely he'd get 'Mugenized' for such a thing, and he wasn't really willing to risk it right now. Not when he still had the slimmest chance of getting through to Kanda and explaining everything so they could kiss and make up, then have things back to the way they used to be.

Too late Lavi realized that was a bad choice of words to have echoing through his head at the moment. All of his logic faded altogether as he leaned back down, his face close enough to the other's this time that he could hear Kanda's light breaths and even feel them just as he'd felt his own before. Leaning closer, fingers digging into the bed, heart racing, breathing slowing, Lavi let himself be guided by the simple desire of actually tasting and feeling those other lips just once. Only once would be enough…

For a bit, Lavi's brain left the building and he kept his balance as best as he could while brushing his lips against Kanda's nose gently, careful not to wake him. Then he moved his mouth down ever so slowly, feeling, for the first time when thinking about a kiss, nervous. Maybe part of it was because of what Kanda'd do if he woke up, but for the most part Lavi figured it was because of wanting to kiss Kanda himself in the first place. Not only was the samurai another man, but he was also someone Lavi'd known for three whole years as a 'friend,' which definitely added to the awkwardness.

If Kanda did wake up now, everything would go downhill and Lavi would've successfully completely destroyed whatever tiny sliver of friendship the two of them had before this mixed up mess occurred. Yes, then he'd tell himself, 'Congrats, dickhead. You screwed up big time!' The thought made Lavi stall a bit, but he swallowed and quickly damned it before cupping a hand under Kanda's chin and leaning close once more, not willing to stop.

Kanda's breath tickling his face felt good, and so did the other's chest rising and falling to make it happen; Lavi had just realized his second hand had dropped to feel around there at one point and that was the reason he knew. For a moment he felt he couldn't breathe as locks of red hair met with bluish black, and Lavi's mind went blank as heat spread through his entire body all in an instant. So close, so…

"Kanda! I can't find Lavi anywhere! Do you know where he is?" …far away. Gasping as the door flung open, Lavi ended up losing his balance and slipping off the mattress, landing in probably the most awkward position in his entire life - and that was saying a lot, considering how he landed awkwardly many, many times. "Kanda, are you even awake - eh…?" The young bookman didn't need to look over at the doorway to tell what kind of expression was now on Allen's face, the boy's tone of voice and word of bewilderment were enough to implant a mental image inside his head.

Lavi was frozen, his face implanted into Kanda's crotch, his own lower body lightly brushing against the older's torso and head. Right at this moment, he wanted to die out of embarrassment. The impact had surely woken Kanda up and there was no way he was going to get out of this. Yeah, Yu was going to detest him with a burning passion for sure. At least - that's what he thought.

Lavi's cheeks turned a vivid pink and he squirmed to get out of this position as fast as possible. Luckily Kanda was still asleep, but no matter why Kanda was still asleep, this position was not good for Lavi's face, which meant the position was definitely not good for his composure.

Falling onto his back, smacking against Kanda's legs, Lavi let out a sigh of relief despite the bones of Kanda's knees digging into his shoulder blades. At least he'd managed to get himself out of that horribly awkward position that sent not only chills up his spine, but heat up elsewhere. Now it was time to face the new problem at hand and clear his mind of that, though.

Allen's mouth was hanging open a little and his eyes were wide as if he'd seen something he could not comprehend or believe really happened. The 16-year-old probably wasn't expecting to open Kanda's door and find Lavi in there, needless to say the two in such a weird pose, so it was only natural for him to be that way and Lavi had no arguments. "Lavi," the more than confused Allen started, "just what was going on in here?"

A time when he needed his brain working most, it wasn't, and Lavi had no idea how to explain the current situation. He could always tell Allen the truth, that he wanted to kiss Kanda, but then, how the heck would the kid react to that? Lavi was certain Allen would be more than suspicious that the redhead was after something further than a kiss judging from what he'd just seen.

"I, uh, fell asleep here last night," Lavi said softly, his voice shaking slightly from nervousness. If the truth was a bad idea, wasn't lying worse? Oh, screw it. "I was worried about Yu-san, so I wanted to check on him. He wasn't here, though. And…" Hesitating, he glanced up at Kanda's face. "I came in here without Yu's permission, so when I woke up, I panicked. That's all…" Wow, weird, Kanda was still sleeping! Even after all that noise, the other man seemed to still be in the world of dreams, which made Lavi feel all the more relieved.

To add to his relief, Allen laughed softly and shook his head. "You and your awkward landing positions kill me. I'm surprised you didn't wake Kanda up." A smile rested on the teenager's lips after he finished and he waved a hand. "Relax a bit, we'll all get back to work after breakfast. Just… you might want to get out of there before Kanda does wake up."

That would be a good idea, wouldn't it? Sitting up, Lavi heaved a sigh and finally managed to get his brain to work a little - only a little. It was still apparently stuck on how this would be a good chance to steal a kiss, or… or maybe more. The embarrassment showed clear on Lavi's face; his cheeks burned a bit, his expression shifted to an uncomfortable one, and he had to bite his lip to prevent himself from making any stupid noises.

Damn you. The words repeated in his head over and over again, and he began to blame Kanda for this whole mess. Well, it was partially his fault, anyway, actually. He'd been acting so weird since the whole thing started, and to make matters worse, he'd tried to… Recalling that did not help Lavi in getting up and leaving the room, so he quickly tried to think of something else that would.

Apparently he was incapable of doing so, because by the time he'd given up due to a headache, he had turned all the way around, now sitting in front of Kanda simply staring at him as he slept. Wow, he looked just as pretty as when he was outside training, Lavi found to his own enjoyment. Maybe one kiss really wouldn't matter. After all, Kanda was the one who wanted to initiate it in the first place. Yeah, Lavi reassured himself, Yu wanted this, so I'll just…

"What, for the fucking love of Earth, are you doing, rabbit?" A gasp slipped past Lavi's lips when he realized he was hovering an inch from Kanda's face and the other man was now wide-awake, eyes narrowed into a glare, just not a full-fledged 'I'm going to murder you' one. That alone was surprising all in itself.

Lavi was at a loss for words and his mouth hung open in a gaping manner before he clamped it shut and glanced down, unable to look Kanda in the eyes. What he saw when he did so was enough to make him feel trapped in a very, very bad situation. One of the Japanese's hands was wrapped tightly around Lavi's right wrist, which was pressed against one of Kanda's thighs. With that iron grip there was no way Lavi would manage to get out of here without an explanation for sure.

Seeing as there was currently no way out of this, Lavi tried his reasoning skills. "Ah, Yu. Were you really awake all this time? I thought you were sick with how deeply you were sleeping. Ahahaha." Tipping his head back up, he faced the other once more, who had a very impatient look stamped on his face. "I guess I was being stupid, right? Hahaha, just stupid…"

"You're avoiding my question." Kanda wasn't in the mood for excuses as he never was. Lavi swallowed when the grip on his wrist got tighter. "Huh, you look kind of nervous." A cold smirk worked itself onto the Asian's face, he seemed to find the way Lavi appeared amusing. "Is there something you're trying to hide? The truth can't hurt you too, too bad, you know. I won't cut your head off or anything, I promise."

"I…" That smirk was not good for his composure, Lavi realized. For the first time he found himself thinking it was incredibly hot, and he struggled to keep himself calm. "I, um… thought you were sick, really. I wanted to see if you were okay." Please, please accept it, please. Lavi was begging the other in his head by now, somehow hoping it would raise the chances, however small they be.

Obviously not buying it, Kanda raised his other hand. "You…" Fearing the worst, Lavi braced himself - only to be flicked on the nose. His eye went wide in confusion and he rubbed the spot where he was hit by the finger. "…are really stupid." Sighing, Kanda let go of the joint he'd been grabbing tightly and rose to his feet, stretching a little. "I don't care why you were here, just go. We have a mission to finish."

Not bothering to argue, far too shocked and confused all at once, Lavi nodded slowly and practically jumped to his feet. If Kanda was giving him an open invitation to leave without anything gruesome being done to him for intruding, then by all means, Lavi was going to gladly accept his offer - even if that meant he couldn't get the kiss he'd so badly wanted. At least he'd be in one piece, which was good enough to try again in the future.

Try again? Lavi couldn't help another sigh from emerging from him. These thoughts and feelings had to go and fast. But to get rid of something, finding the source of it from the beginning helps to clear confusion, and that's what he was still determined to do. At least, after he got this cursed mission over with. Distractions would make the trip never-ending. Lavi damned his thoughts and heart all over again for now.

Kanda stood in place for a little while, making damn well sure Lavi really left and didn't dawdle, then ran a hand through his hair as if pondering something that had been bothering him. As pieces of his bangs slipped and fell back over his forehead, he glanced at the floor and blinked a few times fast. "Huh…?" Bending over, he reached for something laying there, then picked it up.

It wasn't everyday you find a small odd-looking flower laying on your floor, so Kanda was certainly bemused after realizing what it was. "Must've been the rabbit…" he muttered as he came to a quick conclusion, twiddling the small thing in his hand. "That or the wind, but more likely the rabbit." Taking a seat on the bed then letting himself fall back until he was laying there, he turned the flower between his fingers, thinking a little more about what was going through his mind currently.

Glancing at the flower, Kanda practically growled when he was reminded of something that occurred yesterday. His brain forced him to picture the look probably on Lavi's face when he'd crushed the small daisy so similar to this petaled plant in his hand currently, and it made him toss the thing aside with a scowl. Goddamnit, why was he being reminded of that, and why did he even care? "Baka usagi…" The words came out as a sigh.

xoxoxox

Had this whole mess not started, Lavi would probably be harassing Kanda right now about something incredibly stupid. That, or playing with his long hair. But of course, it had happened, and as the two walked down the halls of the mansion continuing their investigation, Lavi couldn't help but stay far behind Kanda, not willing to get close in fear of his emotions distracting him again or angering his comrade.

Unfortunately, his heart wasn't allowing him to forget, and it was causing a great deal of distraction once more already. Lavi couldn't remember the last time he ever felt this strongly - probably because he never had before. It was odd, like some sort of magnetic attraction pulling him in with no way to deflect it. It made him feel a whole mix of things, including confused, awkward and slightly angry. If he had no control over his own feelings, how the hell could he surpass Bookman?

Of course, letting his brain wander off into oblivion to ponder such things proved more than once to be a horrifically bad idea, and the same thinking organ definitely wasn't planning on not proving it yet again, it seemed. So deep in thought, Lavi ended up slamming right into Kanda, who'd apparently stopped short after hearing something. Gasping, the redhead ended up taking a whiff of the other man's scent and clumsily jumped back to avoid doing anything stupid…er.

Kanda simply grumbled to himself, not even turning to look at Lavi and continued down the hallway. But wait, hadn't Yu heard something? Maybe or maybe not, as he was already out of sight down the hall. Either way, Lavi became curious if it'd be better to stay this far away to avoid any more incidents, but at the same time was overcome by the slight fear of being attacked alone.

And just to make that anxiety deepen, the overwhelming feeling of somebody watching him gave the bookman in training chills right down his spine. It was a definite possibly an akuma or two were hiding in here, and with his current situation, being 'emotionally unstable,' Lavi really preferred not being alone. So, without bothering to look around for anyone or anything, he rushed up ahead to look for his Japanese company instead.

The dark halls of the mansion did no good for his composure since such things really freaked him out as it was. Thump, thump, thump. The sound of heavy footsteps other than his own caused him to look around cautiously, hoping they belonged to the very person he was searching for and not something else. "Yu…?" the 19-year-old got himself to call in a quiet voice. "Yu, are you here?"

No answer, but the footsteps did stop. The one thing Lavi hated about winter was how it got darker earlier. The sun had already set by now, so he was having a lot of trouble seeing anything currently, needless to say Kanda. If only he hadn't forgotten to bring a lantern, though he couldn't really blame himself, for his scattered mind wasn't really in the best shape to work properly.

Figuring the only option he had right now, in order to avoid slamming into Kanda or something, was to call out the other's name once more, Lavi did so, this time in a louder voice. "Yu?" Lavi always felt more comfortable talking rather than quietly waiting for replies, so he continued. "Yu, come on, it's not funny. I know I've annoyed you a lot, but that doesn't mean you have to go about getting revenge on me at times like this." As if thinking it would solve everything, he finally shouted, "Yu, I hate hide-and-seek!"

In turn, he felt a kick to one of his shins and he jumped in place. A hand clamped itself over his mouth and Lavi suddenly found he could see Kanda's face pretty clearly in the dark, glaring at him from only inches away. "You're noisy…" the older of the two grumbled softly, and his voice didn't exactly sound lethal. "Hush. You'll make the whole place fall down. Now stay behind me, damnit, and don't loiter. You become a nuisance that way. Got it?" Lavi could only nod. "Good. Let's go." While saying those last words, Kanda's hand dropped and he continued along, Lavi making sure to stick to his statements by following closely behind.

If there was a word to describe how he was feeling right then, Lavi was pretty certain he needed to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, he had no clue, being brain-dead from the events just now and occurring before. Those deep bluish black seeing orbs belonging to Kanda looked surprisingly more attractive in the dark with small bits of dim light reflecting off of them. Lavi shuddered. Oh, damn these emotions to Hell! Why did they only deepen?

xoxoxox

"You can sleep a while, I'll stand guard first." The whole day apparently went by, and it was nearing twelve o'clock midnight, so said the hands of the pocket watch Kanda was holding in his hand. The two exorcists, Kanda and Lavi, were sitting in a fairly large room that contained all sorts of antique looking items such as fine china and glass tea sets, the walls lined with shelves carrying so many of those exact items.

Kanda was mumbling to himself, obviously annoyed about something. Lavi didn't dare ask what as he recalled how many times after that first one he had stopped and gazed off into space, then ended up calling for Kanda again like a lost puppy looking for its owner. He imagined the other had already gotten sick of his constant whining of 'Yu! Yu! Where'd you go?', so he didn't say a word.

"Hey, stupid rabbit, did you hear me?" Slightly startled, Lavi glanced up at the other who only huffed. "You weren't listening to me, were you?" Lavi's mouth shaped into a crooked smile as he shook his head, nervous. Kanda sighed. "I said you can sleep first. I'll stay awake and keep a look-out for akuma. It's why I was training while the rest of you slept yesterday night."

Oddly enough, Lavi found himself gaping, his eye having grown wide. Kanda was training all that night to keep himself awake just to be ready in case he needed to protect the rest of them? Lavi was honestly touched as he forced his gaze down and expression to shift to something more blank. "Well, thank you," he said softly, "but I doubt I can sleep."

"I don't care," Kanda retorted in an angered, defensive voice, surprising Lavi all over again. "Try to. You're starting to look sickly with your lack of sleep and it's no good for a bookworm, especially." Apparently Kanda didn't like being stared at, because when Lavi lifted his gaze to look at him again, the astonishment clear on the mongrel's features, the Japanese turned away. "Stop that and sleep, idiot." He peeked out of the corner of his eye to make certain Lavi did just that.

Heaving a small sigh, the hammer-wielding exorcist slumped down on the floor and used a small pillow he'd found on a chair as a cushion for his head. This wasn't nearly half as comfortable as those crappy old beds, but he was used to worse conditions thanks to his travels with Bookman. Even so, he still gave a small complaint. "Eh, Yu, why can't we go back to our rooms?"

Kanda shot a glare at him. "Because, moron, it's easier to continue our investigation this way." He crossed his arms and shifted, seeming uncomfortable suddenly, but Lavi couldn't quite put a finger on why.

"I bet Allen went back to his room with the finder," Lavi added after some seconds passed by, purposely trying to get Kanda to keep talking with him. Not only did it make Lavi feel better to talk with someone, especially in this situation, but he thought maybe it'd give him the chance to get to know his comrade a little better.

"I don't care what the sprout did. Go to sleep." Obviously Kanda didn't want to talk, though, and much to Lavi's dismay, he went quiet. Typical of the mighty and fearsome Yu Kanda to not want to talk about anything except exact mission facts. Lavi apparently should've gone with Allen, at least he'd have some company willing to chat! But nooooo, he ended up with Kanda!

How hypocritical of Lavi to suddenly sour the thought of not having Kanda around, preferring the Asian be there simply because of his stupid heart not knowing when to quit with fake feelings for the samurai. But the question was… was Kanda somehow suffering just as much as he was? It was a possibility, considering how Lavi had been only inches away from being kissed under the front porch by that very man sitting across from him.

Sighing, the bookman in training surrendered his mind and body to the much needed sleep he so badly desired. Shifting, red locks of hair falling down to cover most of his expression, eye shutting, Lavi opened his mouth a little to breathe through there quietly in an attempt to calm himself into slumber, rather than letting all his worries come back to force him awake even longer.

A minute later, he was in a light sleep, actually feeling an overwhelming amount of security knowing Kanda was there. It felt strange to feel so safe, but maybe, despite the Japanese's own hostile persona, it was natural, considering how the other man's words from before struck a chord in Lavi's heart. 'I'll stay awake and keep a look-out for akuma. It's why I was training while the rest of you slept yesterday night.' Those words had certainly become a lullaby for the green-eyed exorcist, and he figured he'd have to return the favor and let Kanda get some sleep himself later on…

By the time Lavi was fast asleep, Kanda had begun to meditate to try to calm his nerves for the rest of the mission. As unlikely as it was to last, he still found it helpful in relaxing for the time being. The rabbit-brat was sleeping, so there was no noisy, annoying person to frustrate him more, and the beansprout was no where in sight along with that idiotic finder. "Yokata…" Kanda muttered in his native tongue, the sound of his voice both a tired and grateful quality.

If it wasn't for Lavi sleeping nearby, Kanda would've probably decided it better to break something to take out his current stress - but the fact was that Lavi was here, sleeping right across from him. He wasn't so cold-hearted as to wake up the exhausted younger male, and besides, Lavi'd only get in the way more if he were some sort of walking zombie.

As he tried to clear his mind with further meditation, the sound of soft, gentle mewling noises could be heard due to how quiet it really was in the room currently. Kanda's shadowy-colored eyes snapped open and he glanced over at the source of the sounds. "Lavi?" No response, apparently he was still asleep. Sighing, Kanda slumped back against a wall and stared into darkness. Damnit, the rabbit had him worried for a bit there, which totally made him feel all the more uncomfortable.

"Yu…" Which was exactly why Kanda hadn't expected the same person to whimper his name in a pained voice. Flinching, Kanda focused his vision on Lavi once more. "Why…" Why what? Almost as if answering his mental question, Lavi continued in a small voice, "…can't you be more honest with me?"

Despite how annoyed he was at the question he'd just been 'asked,' Kanda knew Lavi was asleep and that it'd be pretty pointless to reply. He could basically tell Lavi was in the world of unconsciousness from the way the redhead was speaking and laying, and also from his past experiences with him. He definitely knew the brat fairly well by now. Still, despite those facts, Kanda leaned over and whispered by his comrade's ear in a semi-cold voice, not caring that his breath was probably tickling the cartilage there. "Shut up and sleep… Lavi…"