It was a busy day in the marketplace. The heat pounded down from the African sun like a pestle on chilies in a mortar. It baked everything to a fine crust, even seeming to turn the people flaky, dry, and brittle. Despite their fragile appearance, however, these people barked out orders and prices, haggling and selling with a fine-tuned ear that could only come from years and years of practice. The marketplace was full of sounds and voices, from frying food to vendors hawking their wares, to young mothers shouting for their children who were laughing as they delighted in new toys.

Kanda waded through them all, trying to find a spot, any spot, to get out of the sun. However, shade was as precious as gold and silver. Every single patch of shade he saw was occupied by those smart people who'd come early to take those places they knew would shield them from the unforgiving rays of the sun.

"Kanda! Kanda, I got sohmethin' for yah!" Din shouted, making his way towards the Japanese Exorcist. They'd stayed nearly two weeks in Johannesburg. The church had let them stay in the spare rooms they kept for travelers who'd fallen on hard times or unfortunate circumstances. Both Din and Kanda had been told to wait with Nthanda in Johannesburg for the moment, and that special preparations were being made to move them up north to Cairo. They'd hoped to go by rail, but from what Kanda knew, the church probably had planned some sort of cheaper roundabout way of getting them to Egypt. He wasn't very enthusiastic about the thought of trekking across desert, jungle, and civil unrest, especially with a baby slung around his chest.

Speaking of the baby, he had grown accustomed to Kanda's presence. So much so, in fact, that Kanda no longer could put him down without the child wailing as if someone were trying to kill him. This posed a problem when Kanda needed to do such human things as go to the bathroom, eat, and bathe. Even in his sleep, Nthanda could tell when he was in Kanda's presence or not, and despite the child's sullen facial expression when held by the swordsman, being separated from him induced so much panic Kanda actually began to fear for the child's welfare.

"What is it?" Kanda asked. His voice was crisp and clear, though carrying a slight accent. Nthanda clung to Kanda's white button-up shirt, little hands wrapped in the white cloth. Kanda's face was bright against the white, clean shirt, and he looked much better than he had been. The three days of wear and tear had brought him down and tired him out to the point where he nearly slept the entire day away the first day at the church. He was in much better condition now, and he was slowly beginning to adjust to life in Africa, from the busy, crazy roads to the bizarre foods and hectic markets.

"Here, some sandvichehs, a cohple a' yams, mehbe sohme milk, a few tarts in there sohmewhere. How long we s'posed to wait here?" Din asked as he chewed on a ham and mayonnaise sandwich he'd picked up from the French vendor at the end of the road. Nthanda made gurgling noises, and Kanda shifted Nthanda to his other arm as he answered, "I don't know. They just told us to wait here today. They said they'd get here between three and four. It's four thirty already." Count on Central to be late, he thought to himself as he dug around in a satchel full of baby supplies that Ellis had given him before they'd parted ways. He pulled out a small, green-glass bottle of cold water he'd stuck in the ice chest overnight in the kitchen of the church. It was already melted all the way through. Kanda sighed. There had to be a better way to keep the water cold.

He'd received instructions, at last, to go the government buildings in Market Square and wait there for CROW members to meet him as an escort group up to Cairo. However, they'd been there for the past three hours, and Kanda had yet to see any CROW members at all. He sighed to himself, grumbling to himself. He was sick of this heat, he was sick of this trip, he was sick of carrying around this baby everywhere -

Suddenly, Nthanda looked up at him with a strange expression, one that Kanda could've equated with hurt if babies could hurt that way, and Kanda looked down him. The child's hands were clinging to his neck, and Nthanda withdraw his hands from Kanda. The swordsman hadn't even noticed the unnatural heat radiating off the child, he'd gotten so used to him, but now he felt strangely cold as the baby squirmed away from him.

"H-hey! Stop that!" Kanda shouted as Nthanda squirmed to get out of his arms. What was with him! First, he won't let go, and now he won't do anything but? Din caught Nthanda just as he'd gotten free of Kanda's hold, and the little dark baby clung to Din with a fervor that stunned Kanda. He suddenly felt strangely... like something was missing. It was as if a part of him had been removed. He'd become so accustomed the kid that without him hanging on his chest in the sling, it felt as if there was some extension of him cut off. It left him feeling oddly numbed, a limb that was cut off and then the stump frozen.

"Whoa! Here, li'l ohne. You so lively t'day, Nthanda, wha's a mattah witchu?" Din laughed as Nthanda looked over one dark shoulder to stare at Kanda with a dark expression. Kanda crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the baby. He couldn't seriously be miffed about something could he? Could babies even get miffed?

They wandered the market, eating and searching for shade. At last, they managed to find an upper floor cafe with an awning that was currently unoccupied and had a sympathetic owner. Kanda overlooked the market with a sigh. It'd been an hour since the CROW should've arrived. He didn't know what had happened to them, but apparently it hadn't been good or else they wouldn't be late. Nthanda still gave Kanda the cold shoulder, and Kanda didn't mind. He could finally go and pee without standing there holding a baby off to the side.

After staying at the cafe for nearly another hour, the sun began to dip towards the western side. Kanda knew it was time to leave. The CROW weren't coming today. Something was going on. Maybe their train was delayed. He got up, leading Din and Nthanda down to the still-bustling market street. Vendors were still selling their wares - they'd continue until about thirty minutes before sundown. He heard the sound of small children laughing and playing as well as some flute music, and several children flashed past him in a blur of dark skin and pale reed toys. He watched them go with a look of peculiarity.

For just a moment, he'd felt something. It was a feeling of dejavu, a mere split second of something he remembered but had fled the minute he'd attempted to grasp it. He shook his head as if to dislodge the feeling. Still, it lingered, again that sensation of coffee or blood, a strong mental aftertaste that wouldn't fade or disappear.

"Heh, he likes deh moozihk, Kanda. Ent that just the strengest ting?" Din laughed, swaying back and forth with the music that a local instrument maker was playing. Nthanda seemed fascinated and enthralled by the sounds of the drum and the playing of the flute. Kanda glanced back and forth between Nthanda and the man with the instruments. He wondered... The child had never had a toy, as far as Kanda knew. Surely everything he'd had was destroyed when his entire building had fallen. Kanda himself had never held much stock in toys, but he did remember having one, a secret one, when he was in the Order.

It'd been a small thing, practically useless to him. He'd never kept it. It was a small fishing pole made of broken bamboo and a piece of spare string with a fish tied to the end of it. He'd hid that little toy. Only Alma was allowed to see it, because if he shared it with anyone else they'd either take it or break it. His world had been so small those first few months. It exploded as he got older, learned to read, realized that the toy was a childish thing that was no more than trash. But... he remembered that fondness for it.

On impulse, he walked over to the man with the instruments. Din frowned as he followed behind with Nthanda squirming in his arms and beginning to cry again out of spite and annoyance. The man looked up at Kanda with a look of surprise. He hadn't gotten a customer for the past hour, not so much a rarity in itself. Times were tough, and there were more important things to buy than these pretty noise makers, but it was what he was good at and he did it well.

Kanda pointed to small, portable drum. It was just the size for a toddler with chubby, clumsy hands to smack and hit and laugh at.

"How much?" Kanda asked in English, hoping that the man knew enough to understand him. He looked like a jungle man, the type that came down from the outer reaches of the wilderness to make a living in this different world of men in their suits and women in their pantaloons and hoop skirts. He adjusted his headdress, and he coughed into his fist in surprise.

He said something in a language Kanda didn't quite catch, but Din seemed to understand the gist better than Kanda did.

"He say that cost 'bout fifteen shilling, mehbe two more," Din said. He looked skeptical. The man was trying to get more of them than that drum was worth. It couldn't be more than ten shillings. Most definitely not a third of a pound! That was absurd!

And yet, Kanda paid it without further conflict or haggling. Din frowned, about to say something, but there was something in Kanda's eyes this time, something he wasn't quite sure how to place. It wasn't pity - no, Kanda had no room for pity or sorry feelings for another person's plight. It wasn't mere laziness, either - Kanda wasn't one to give up so easily if he was truly against it. No, what he saw in the other man's eyes was something like a mix of respect and familiarity.

Din was close. Kanda could recognize this man was struggling to keep his way of life without letting go of the fast moving world moving ahead of him. He was here, selling for these whites and their children as well as the poor black men and the few better off blacks as well. Yet, he managed to keep his heritage, here in his music, his trade, his home. He didn't give up his entirety to the world around him, saving something for himself. Kanda knew that he himself had given up his heritage at some point, let the white, Western world overtake him and swallow him up. It hadn't been in this life - he'd never known anything else but the European way of doing things. No, it had been in his last life, the one that followed him in a shadow, without definition and cast by the light of the life lived now. He'd been Japanese, that was true - in this life, though, he was almost purely a mix of European and Chinese cultures, swirled together until he couldn't tell where one started and the other left off.

So he decided it was only right to accept the other man's offer for fifteen shillings. Knowing this place, it'd keep him well stocked on food and transport for the next week or so, depending on the severity of the bombings, the unrest, and the willingness of others to do business. The man smiled, a toothy grin that was missing a few teeth, and looking all the funnier for it. Kanda felt something stir at that jack-o-lantern grin, something he hadn't expected. It wasn't pride. He knew pride too well. This was something much softer and warmer than pride. He'd felt it before - letting that girl touch his hair, saving Allen and Lavi when the two idiots got into a fix, helping Lenalee with her nightmares. He wasn't used to such a profound feeling from strangers.

The man handed Kanda the drum as Kanda handed over the shillings. They glinted in the fading sunlight, and Kanda straightened up, handing Nthanda the drum with an almost careless hand. Of course, nothing Kanda did was ever truly careless, and Nthanda caught the drum with a look of near-smugness at the fact he'd managed to catch the instrument. Kanda nearly let loose a small, shadowed smile. Nthanda banged away on the drum, holding it in one hand while he smashed his other hand into it.

And, for the first time since Kanda had taken the babe from the orphanage nearly a month ago, Nthanda laughed.

He found that he actually liked the sound. It was bubbly and filled the air with substance. Even with the rest of the market going on around them, he could hear Nthanda's high-pitched, little laugh like a gunshot on a cold, quiet night. Kanda took one long, spindly finger and tapped it against Nthanda's drum. Nthanda looked up in surprise, and Nthanda's face nearly went back to being the somber, miffed look he'd had half-the-day-long. However, the enticement of playing with another was too much to resist, and for every one of Kanda's thumps on the drum, he added two more sloppy, arrhythmic hits.

"He really like dat, y'know," Din said, handing Nthanda over to Kanda. At first, Kanda felt a pang of disappointment - he knew that Nthanda would squirm away. However, this time, Nthanda allowed himself to be transferred from man to man, and Kanda held him gingerly as if he'd disappear any moment. He felt oddly sick, as if this strange influx of emotions all at once were making him dizzy. He wasn't used to this sort of emotional turmoil. Everything was in black and white to him, and gray made his head spin.

They walked through the market place back towards the church as the sun began to set and the out-of-town vendors began to leave for the night. As they walked down the street, however, Kanda saw a drum, a much bigger version of the one Nthanda currently slept with in his sling. When they passed by, he gave a few almost playful raps to it, and suddenly he was grabbed by his wrist by a dark man.

He quelled the immediate reaction to punch the man, break his wrist, and take a fighting stance. The man didn't mean harm - his grip was too loose, his face too open, his grin too wide. He motioned to the drum, and he realized that the drum was a part of a band. Was this some sort of joke?

"Ha! Ya goht caught, Mistuh Kanda! They lohve seein' deh white man try 'n play deh drum while dey play. Go, go on. It not hurt anythin', 'n we not goin' nohwhere for 'while," Din said, shooing Kanda towards the band of men readying their instruments. Several of the street vendors and shoppers began to gather around in curiosity as to what the band was doing, and those that were experienced in the ways of the market place already knew what was going to happen and waited with much glee. Kanda found himself in the center of the spotlight, so to say, as the band struck up a tune, playing with several flutes, drums, and other instruments.

Kanda cautiously felt for a beat. Nthanda woke up at the sound of such concentrated noise, and he waved his arms towards the drum. Kanda's hands hovered over it curiously, almost tentatively as he tried to catch up with the rest of the sound that the band was putting out. Finally, he found a place to come in, and he made a hesitant rhythm on the drum. He began to actually play, then, feeling for the rhythm in the music the same way he found rhythm in a fight, using more than just his ears, but his body as well.

He found himself entranced by the music that was being played and the drumbeats he was turning into actual music. He was actually... enjoying himself? This thought threw him off beat, and the crowd groaned as Kanda quit playing all of a sudden. They'd actually been cheering on the man who was surprisingly good at playing the drum and following the beat, much better than the last white man, who'd just hammered at the drum willy-nilly without a thought to rhythm and cadence. Nthanda slapped the drum as the band quit, a single lone beat repeating over and over. The leader of the band smiled at the little boy playing with the drum, and he said in faintly accented English, "You're good, man. Never thought we'd find someone in a crowd who plays the drum like that. You're rough, but you know what you're doing." Kanda blinked. He hadn't expected anyone to comment on the drumming. This was a strange anomaly.

This entire day was an anomaly. He sighed to himself and muttered, "Thanks." The crowd began to disperse as the impromptu band looked for their next victim. Din hurried over with a wide grin on his face, and he said, "I din' know ya played deh drums." Kanda frowned as he looked back.

"That's the weird part - I don't play drums. I don't play anything at all." He remembered taking violin lessons for a while - until he'd gotten frustrated at the notes and broke the violin. The Chinese Science Branch decided that musical enrichment wasn't the best course of action and turned him to something more productive - sword fighting lessons.

That entire time, Nthanda had kept a hold of Kanda's hair or his neck, standing in his sling. He held his drum in his other arm as he hung on to Kanda with his free hand. Nthanda watched the band leave with a pang of sadness that only a baby could feel - a lingering, but not strong, feeling of loss that dissipated slowly. He liked those drums. He really had. Nthanda felt tired, suddenly, and he settled back against Kanda's chest in his sling, making himself comfortable as he curled himself around his drum. Kanda patted the bundle that was falling asleep at his chest, and they began, once more, towards the church.

"Wait! WAIT! KANDA, DIN!" The two spun around, one with his hand on his sword hilt and the other with a hand over his knife on his belt. They realized that there was nothing to fear when, out of the crowd, Ellis trotted with a red and puffed face from running in pantaloons and several layers of skirt. They walked towards her quickly as she leaned against a pole to catch her breath.

"What are you doing here?" Kanda asked in confusion. She was supposed to be back in East London. Why did she -

"I'm... here to... help as an... escort... CROW members were... delayed by a bombing... two dead, one still alive. She's on her way here right now, and she's somewhere in the marketplace. Central contacted me, and they told me - " Her face blanched, and she licked her lips as she weighed her words carefully.

"- to help you at all costs. I'm the only other Central member in this nick of the woods, so I decided I'd better do my part," she said, and Kanda could tell she wasn't giving them the entire truth. However, she also looked like she was about to have a heartattack right there on the steps of the government plaza, so he let it go. He'd get the truth eventually.

"Is that why they were late?" Kanda wondered to himself, and Ellis rolled her eyes. She gave him a playful snap to the head with her hand, and she stated, "Yes, my dear bunglehead, that is the reason they are late." Kanda found himself surprised at the soft hit to the head. That woman had guts. If anyone else had done that, he would've probably shoved them over, but seeing as Ellis was an old woman... He shook his head infinitesimally. He'd never cared about age when it came to that sort of thing. What was going on with him?

"Where are you staying?" Ellis asked, brushing back a strand of graying brown hair. She adjusted her glasses on her lined face, surveying the two men. They looked fairly cleaned up, if a bit rumpled. Nthanda looked much healthier now. He was much plumper than he'd been when Kanda had first picked him up, and his skin was a shiny dark ebony, so dark he was almost a pure black. The circle in the middle of his chest glinted in the light of the setting sun, turning the burnished metal into a reddened gold color. It winked at her as Kanda turned to look over his shoulder at something that had caught his attention.

And suddenly, Kanda had caught a harpoon, the tip only three inches from Ellis' nose. She stood there, completely in shock, for a few moments as Kanda ripped the barbed rod from his hand. The flesh steamed and slowly, right before her eyes, grew right back into place as if nothing had happened.

Ellis put a hand over her heart as she backed up, realizing what was happening. She grabbed Din, and she began to drag him underneath an alcove as people began to scream.

"Akuma?" Din breathed.

"What else?" Ellis grumbled sarcastically. "Unless you know some stranger who enjoys shooting harpoons into crowds at random." They watched and waited, their eyes anxious as several people screamed in pain. One of the men from the band leaned against a wall with a steaming harpoon in his arm. Kanda, amidst all the chaos, stared up at the sky with a nonchalant gaze as if this were an unexpected rain rather than poisoned harpoons. Faster than they could see, his sword sliced straight through a harpoon headed towards two people behind him. Each of the separate pieces made their own way into the ground around the three people, the two behind Kanda cowering as they ran for cover.

An Akuma hovered over one of the buildings, wielding a massive harpoon gun. Kanda sighed to himself. He hated the ones that had big ammunition. At least there weren't -

RATATATATATATATATATATATATATA-

-machine guns.

He hated machine guns. Machine guns hurt. It was like being stung by bees a thousand times over in quick succession. It was survivable (at least, in Kanda's case), but he preferred not having to deal with them. The Akuma screeched its maniacal glee, and Kanda groaned. He hated the ones that laughed and screamed the entire time. Only Level Ones were quiet enough for him, even if they had Gatlings attached to them.

He climbed a building with ease, and Nthanda woke up in confusion. The baby started to grumble, almost, making noises of annoyance at having his nap suddenly interrupted. The baby poked his head out, and Kanda quickly pushed the baby's head back into its sling as a bullet ripped a hole in the flesh where it had just been previously. Kanda grunted as the impact sliced through several organs, but it wasn't long before the long bullet forced its way back out. He deflected the rest of the bullets with intense precision, keeping the Akuma busy. It was rare to only find one, but then again, this Level Two could've eaten the other Akuma in the area in order to keep the humans to itself.

Finally, at last, Kanda managed to get near enough to give a good slice towards the Akuma, but it blocked with the harpoon gun, giving another barrage of shots. It was very tall, with spindly legs and a pack of harpoons on its back. The machine gun was attached to its wrist, thicker than the entirety of the arm. Its face was that of a lizard, long teeth and dry eyes that stared. Its mask was on the back of its head. Kanda suddenly wondered who this person would've been if they'd never been turned into an Akuma by the person they'd called back to the world of the living. He knew that Allen could see the souls -

Suddenly, Kanda was shoved backwards by another hail of bullets. His mind had been too occupied. He looked down, making sure the baby was safe. Nthanda was more than safe. The kid was leaning up out of his sling, refusing to say still. Miraculously, the baby hadn't been touched by the bullets.

"Stay down," Kanda growled, though it was more an action of habit than any actual merit. The baby couldn't understand him -

Nthanda, who had been holding on to Kanda's hair, ducked back inside the sling. Kanda blinked... and then he began circling the monster that was waiting for him.

"Exxxxorccisssssst," it breathed, drooling on the tiles of the roof below it. The two accessed each other before the fight really began in earnest.

Kanda ducked underneath another barrage of ammunition, racing forwards as the monster was occupied with shooting at him. He brought his sword underneath himself to the side, aiming a long, upwards slash at the gun. The end of the gun fell away, and Kanda thought he had victory, just another slash, another slash towards the head to finish it off -

Kanda suddenly found himself with a harpoon aimed at his chest where Nthanda was bundled, and his eyes widened. A flash of sudden and deliberate fear overtook him, one he had not been prepared for. As if at a standstill, they remained for all of two seconds, the impasse growing in gravity within Kanda's mind as he realized that, though he would live, Nthanda would most certainly die once the harpoon was sent out of that gun. It would pierce through his small body, ending his life in mere seconds.

He had no choice. It would happen in seconds. His mind blurred for an alternative, but he couldn't move away - could he? He could forgo victory, let it get away at the gain of keeping Nthanda... or he could take out this menace, leaving the child to die.

And then the world, all of a sudden, changed in a blur.

Kanda's eyes widened as he realized he was in a strange world of cold, dark blankness. The world had shrunk to a pinpoint of light in a second, and he was now only in a strange, other place, a place he knew he shouldn't occupy, one he knew in his very being that was impossible and not of his nature. He shivered as he watched things pass him by - impossible things, things like flying machines, massive mushroom clouds sprouting from a decimated ruin, strange devices and inventions, all sorts of things. And then, he saw things from before, things he knew no one could comprehend. He saw a strange race, a race of humans that looked so different yet were the same as the present day people walking the streets. They were dressed strangely, and they talked strangely, but the instances were short.

And then, like a clap of thunder in his ear, he was back in the world he knew. Except, instead of being in front of an Akuma aiming a harpoon at him, he was in the middle of the street with Nthanda and his little hands wound in a strand of his hair. His shock didn't have a chance to live long as he realized he was still in a battle - a battle for Nthanda's life more than his own, but he had a feeling that perhaps Nthanda was not so helpless.

"First Illusion: Ningen." An army of insects suddenly sprouted from the air, ghostly prawn-like locusts that were willing to eat an entire field of Akuma down to nothing. They raced after the Akuma aiming its harpoon at them, breaking off bits and pieces. Kanda watched for several moments before, suddenly, he was lanced through the shoulder by a harpoon. It was fighting off the Hell Insects! This thing didn't give up easy.

A brilliant bright band encased the middle of the Akuma, and it stood at a standstill, trapped. It screeched in horror as it realized it was being restrained and tightened. Kanda took the moment to climb up the side of the building in a few bounds, giving a devastating slash. It fell with a great crash through a stall, the people below screaming as steaming pieces fell on them. Kanda watched the mayhem with the usual detachment, one hand instinctively holding Nthanda towards his chest. He glared at the pieces of Akuma that would've taken him from him -

Kanda was rocked by the realization that he had actually worried, no panicked, when he'd been faced with the realization that he could've accidentally killed Nthanda if... if that... whatever that was... hadn't happened. He had to be more careful. This was his charge - had to take care of it. For... for duty. Only for duty. It would be... dishonorable to let him die. Still, he knew that wasn't all of it.

Now, who was it that had trapped that Akuma? Had Din been holding out on him? Keeping talismans somehow without telling him? Either way, he didn't care as long as he used those things well, but that hadn't looked like any talisman light to him. In fact -

Gah! He was so stupid! He'd know those lights anywhere. Scattered around his feet, he watched spell tags flutter.

CROW.

"It's about time you got here," Kanda said, turning around as the last light of day flashed over his face in a reddish glow, making him look bloodied and tired. In fact, much of him was already covered with Akuma oil. His face was splattered, along with his shirt and sling and pants. It'd be a bugger trying to get it all out.

From the shadows, a dark scarlet robed figure stepped out. The robes were long, ending towards the knees, and the pants held half the design of the CROW emblem, a gold double diamond. He wore a turban of blood red, the emblem on the top as well, with a veil over the face. The hair was bound back, completely hidden in the turban, and Kanda suddenly frowned. This CROW member was awfully short, almost half his height practically. The dying light of the day spluttered out like a candle, flashing over the bandages over the tunic-like, sleeveless scarlet robe. The CROW member took off the veil, revealing a young woman's face. He was taken aback a bit, but maybe he shouldn't have been. The CROW had men and women alike - just, there were usually more men than women. She must've been the only one to survive.

"Name?" he asked.

"Vanya," she said, just as taciturn. In the dark, he couldn't really see her face. The voice was deep, an alto voice that could've easily been mistaken for a boy's, albeit a young boy's. He nodded, but then he realized that she couldn't see his face - or, at least he didn't think so.

"Name?" she asked, also.

"Kanda."

"Good."

With that, as if on cue, the both of them began to leave, and Kanda felt the day slowly settle on him like falling debris in water, filtering to the bottom and slowly piling up. He could feel the stress beginning to pound on him, but he knew that with enough meditation, he'd be able to clear it all away and categorize the events of the day into neat piles. Still, he couldn't help but feel strangely detached from every event that had happened, yet at the same time still in the present. He protectively held Nthanda, despite the fact the baby was already settled in his sling. His arms were tight around the baby, subconsciously making sure that Nthanda was in one piece, breathing, abnormally warm as usual.

The gas lights came on as the two of them climbed off the building. The damage to the street wasn't bad - there were a few stalls knocked over, some broken pots, a few bent light poles. Ellis and Din revealed themselves from under the alcove they'd hidden in, and they watched the CROW with wariness. Din rubbed the back of his head, looking away from the scarlet-robed figure, and Ellis fidgeted as they headed towards the two.

"We'll leave to a safehouse. Let's go," Vay said, and Kanda felt a part of him bristle. He was the one who made the decisions. What gave her the right to just tell them what to do? He settled the feeling down - technically, she was in a different jurisdiction, so it was hard to say who was over who in terms of rank. The assumption of power, however, still nagged at him like a hangnail.

They walked down the avenue, shadows of the things they'd done still playing amid the dark spots under the street lamps, always at the back of their minds.

A/N: Shew, it took a while to write this. Still, I don't think it's a bad chapter - chock full of babies, their problems, and Kanda having to deal with them. I'm pretty sure that's what everybody ordered...

So, time for recognition! On Team Review (yes, here we go again with the teams) we have karina001, KAI-Chan94, EXO718, and Solicide! Woooo! That's a good number of people right there, I'd say. Sixteen reviews for only three chapters, geez... You guys are beating CATW by a total of nearly 4 reviews per chapter for their 1 review per chapter. Good job! (Not that I pick sides, of course)

On Team Subscribe, we've got Tintaglia In Flight (who I'm planning on using liberally as a go-to for South African geography - go natives!), XkatarinaXILSB, and Totally CRAZY And Hyper. Oooooh, Team Subscribe and Team Review are neck and neck at 4 to 4.

And finally, Team Favorite. We have one lonely new addition, who, luckily, is also on Team Subscribe: Totally CRAZY And Hyper, way to go you!

And now, the discussion questions. Do you think things are going to get more interesting with this CROW hanging around? How long do you think Kanda will be able to put up with three people and a baby? Do you think they're ever going to end up leaving South Africa any time soon? What's with that weird thing that happened with Kanda?

Anywho, I've eaten enough of your time. Three magic words: review, subscribe, favorite!

Happy Thanksgiving, God bless, and may you always find literate fics to pour over.

-Doctor Yok