-Cantarella-


Question: Should Kanda buy a new car?

"Yes," the male red head nodded vigorously. "Your black Lambo is screwed, and the Maserati that got smashed by the truck was never replaced."

"No, the black car has been sent for repair," Reiichi corrected. "He still has two other cars and a motorcycle. What's the point in getting another car when he has others to use?"

Lavi just stared at her. "…Because he can afford it?"

She rolled her eyes. "Just because he can, doesn't mean that he should." Truth be told, she didn't really know exactly how rich Kanda really was, but it still didn't warrant unnecessary spending, especially on something that was expensive as hell.

"I think you should get a Jaguar," Lavi suggested, ignoring his cousin. "Or maybe a Lotus. The Lotus Elite is one hell of a sexy car. It'd totally fit your image."

Kanda just slid an eye towards him. "Why the hell are you in my house?" he demanded, pausing in his breakfast food of natto and rice. "Get out."

"But I need my caffeine!" Lavi whined, hugging his cup of coffee protectively to himself. "The old panda went through the entire new bottle of coffee powder I shipped from Vietnam—"

"I don't care. Get out."

"—"

"Shut up."

Lavi huffed, not liking how he was barely even entertained. It seemed as though his best friend was hardly paying attention to him, and his cousin was kind of curt with her answers. He pouted as silence soaked the kitchen of the house, with the occasional shifting of papers from the other two reading the newspapers across each other ignoring him.

"Maybe you should buy your next car for Rei-chan," he interjected, trying to make either of them respond.

"I can't drive," Reiichi replied bluntly, and Kanda just…grunted. Or something to the 'you said something? Oh wait, I don't care' effect.

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Yuu is being so mean today~" he sobbed, throwing his arms around his cousin in a dramatic gesture.

Reiichi just sighed. "He's mean to you every day," she shook her head, trying to make him get off. "Stop that! I'm going to spill the tea!" then she narrowed her eyes when he wasn't relenting. "Lavi," she stated calmly once.

Lavi paused at the dangerous edge in her voice, bringing his face up to scrutinize hers. "You're kind of touchy today too," he observed. "Did something happen between you two?"

"No," she responded, rolling her eyes.

"Okay…" he eyed her cautiously, and then frowned. "Is it that time of the mon—OW!" he stopped at the side long glance she was looking at Kanda with. "What? It's not like Yuu doesn't know about your period cycle—"

At this point, the male model who actually was listening in with one ear promptly choked on his rice.

"—I mean, you do know it right, Yuu?"

"W-what the fuck—"

"Because Rei-chan gets cramps all the time and you should be hugging her or at least distracting her to take the pain away—"

Reiichi wasted no time in kicking him off his seat, and he landed on the floor painfully. "Do you have no shame?" she demanded incredulously. "You and him are guys," she sorely emphasized the fact in case her cousin really forgot his own gender. "Aren't you supposed to drop the subject or at least never bring it up in your life?"

"But it's a natural body cycle, ain't it?" Lavi replied flippantly, rubbing his ass as he clambered back to his chair. He did not understand why his cousin was steadily getting redder in the face. But well, she looked cute either way. "I mean, we learned it all in Biology 101 back in middle school, and PMS happens all the damn time—especially with Yuu."

The male model narrowed his eyes, hissing. "I will kill you—"

"But he's not as bad as Lena-chan," Lavi added in quickly when the chopsticks in Kanda's hand started to glint. "She's becomes a bit bi-polar," he mused. "It's mega easy to track her menstruation cycle. I wonder how much blood she—"

"Stop," Reiichi held up one hand, both of her eyes shut exasperatedly. "Just, stop." She didn't get how Lavi just said that with a straight face, because Kanda looked like he was going to be sick and she herself felt extremely uncomfortable with the way her cousin blabbed on like he was talking about the weather. "I, I'm going to tell Lenalee you said that."

"No!" Lavi cried immediately. "I mean, she'll tell Komui that I said that and I really want to be alive, thank you very much."

"Then shut the fuck up," Kanda interjected, glaring. "Fuck," he groaned, setting down his chopsticks. "You ruined my appetite, loser."

Lavi only snickered. "Scared of a little female blood, Yuu? One day, you'll have the task of going to the store to get tampons—"

"If you really want to know," Reiichi yanked her cousin's arm to get his attention. She lowered her voice, hissing. "Then yes, I am absolutely dying with the cramps I'm having and if you insist on talking about this supremely awkward topic, I will castrate you," she finished off threateningly.

He just paused for a moment. "…Are you having mood swings too?"

She drew a clenched fist back.

"I'm kidding," Lavi grinned, ruffling up her hair affectionately, before placing his hand over her raised fist. "Put it down the fist down, you don't want to make more movements than necessary, yes?"

"Hit him in the good eye," Kanda suggested, snorting.

"No! I have to take photos today! I need my eye!" the male redhead frantically insisted when he saw that Reiichi wasn't lowering her fist. "Sheesh, you're such a bad influence on Rei-chan!" he grumbled at Kanda.

"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you tried to get me and him together," Reiichi deadpanned.

"Well, I thought Yuu would rub off you instead," Lavi admitted, frowning. "Er wait, or is it 'you rub off Yuu'? This is kind of confusing—"

"It doesn't fucking matter," Kanda snapped. "Quick, hit him and let's go. We're going to be late."

"We're like thirty minutes early!" Lavi whined. "Rei—Rei-chan—I love you remember?" he pleaded, pouting. "I love you more than Yuu ever will so please don't hit me?"

Reiichi paused thinking. "Only if you keep quiet until we reach the office."

"Done," Lavi agreed immediately, only because his legs were still hurting like crap from the abuse two days ago, and also his cousin could really hurt him when she wanted to.

And then he spotted Reiichi giving his best friend a light smile as they all stood up to leave—and Kanda smirked slightly back in response.

"Wha—hey!" he cried indignantly behind both their turned backs. "You guys plotted this!"

Both of them only shrugged.


As per agreed, Lavi kept his mouth shut throughout the car ride. It just wasn't fair, because he had a ton of things to tell them, but he wasn't allowed to or else he'd have a bruised eye for the day. They were all seated in an Audi R8 in white, the last remaining car of Kanda's besides the Ferrari. In Lavi's opinion, he was all for using the Ferrari, but his best friend just seemed to never take the red car out unless it was a weekend.

Stupid routine-orientated bastard.

In any case, he was the one sitting with Reiichi at the back—and he was hugging her from the side as she zoned out leaning on his shoulder. He smirked towards Kanda through the rear view mirror, and totally snickered at how Kanda's hands tightened noticeably on the steering wheel.

Way too easy.

"It's better to keep your eyes on the road, Yuu," he commented nonchalantly. "You're kind of cutting into the other lane."

Kanda snapped his eyes back to the road, glaring. "Keep that mouth shut."

Lavi hid his victory smirk and shuffled even closer to Reiichi, leaning his head on top of hers as she snuggled deeper against his body. The car jerked suddenly and he yelped, but Reiichi only gave a disinterested glance towards the front before settling her gaze out of the window, like she was used to the crazy driving of the famed male model. And he kind of bet that she was—considering how they totally went on dates together and never told him!

"Are you feeling alright there?" he murmured into her ear when he noticed her clutching her abdomen at certain times.

"I forgot to take panadol," she answered softly with a wince.

"I've got some in the basement," he replied. "Just take some before you go up to the rest."

"Thanks," she smiled slightly, moving her hand to squeeze his wrist once.

He hummed, lifting his other hand to pat her head. It was a fairly peaceful car ride if he did say so himself, especially since he wasn't trying to tease them both mercilessly—but the silence in the car was truthfully unnerving him a bit. For some totally not understandable reason, his best friend just never played the radio or any music in the car, and now with him not talking, the entire vehicle was just silent save for the occasional brushing of Kanda's palms against the steering wheel.

He didn't know how the other two in the car stood that kind of silence but it seemed like they were perfectly okay with it—Kanda was just driving with a neutral expression, though his eyes always narrowed when it caught gaze with his—and Reiichi was just staring blankly out of the window like she was lost in thought.

He wanted to ask what she was thinking about, but it didn't seem like she would answer him truthfully just yet.

After a while they reached the office, and Kanda pulled up in front of the porch to drop Reiichi off, only because he and the rabbit had to do a RUSS-K shoot at another location. Personally, he'd rather stay in the office too—preferably without the rabbit.

Reiichi made way to open the door to let herself out, only to be stopped by her one and only cousin.

"Aren't you going to give Yuu a goodbye kiss?"

She jerked in surprise for a moment, flushing slightly, and then she narrowed her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to keep quiet?" she demanded back.

"You only said till we reach the office," Lavi grinned. "And we have. So, are ya?"

"N-no!" she protested perhaps too quickly, and she blushed even harder at the thought because it was just…kind of cheesy and in front of her cousin—erase that thought immediately.

"I can't believe you two," Lavi groaned like he was exasperated. "Are you guys even dating?" he pulled his cousin closer by the arm and practically pushed her into the small space between the front two seats. "Come on, I bet Yuu is just too shy to ask you for it, so you have to do it for him!"

"Usagi…" Kanda hissed, unbuckling his seatbelt so that he could turn around with more ease.

Unfortunately he wasn't prepared for Reiichi's face so close to his. He clearly saw her own eyes widen in panic, and the pink tint on her cheeks got noticeably darker as she averted her eyes away quickly. He really wanted to say something in response—perhaps shout at Lavi or something—but his mouth just felt kind of dry and actually, he didn't really know what to say.

"U-um," Reiichi spoke up after a moment of awkward staring. "Thanks for…the ride," she licked her lips nervously.

He half nodded dumbly upon reflex.

"Good, that was good," an annoying voice interjected and both of them remembered they weren't alone. "Now kiss him on the mouth—or the cheek, if you're still too shy about this—"

"Lavi," Reiichi sighed, wriggling her hands that were pressed stuck against the two seats. "Let me go now!"

"No, I won't," the male redhead replied firmly. "I'm serious about this, guys."

Kanda frowned, wondering how Lavi suddenly got them both trapped in the car. "Why the fuck are you so concerned—"

"You two have got to start somewhere," his best friend insisted. "I'm not going to tease you guys about this, come on!" then after another few seconds of silence, "Fine, I won't look! God," he muttered to himself, grumbling under his breath.

Seeing that she really had no choice—Lavi had somehow effectively made her stuck in that small space unless he moved away which he wasn't going to (she was going to strangle him later)—and the thought of doing it wasn't actually that… bad…just…

Reiichi gave once quick glance towards her cousin who was pointedly staring out the window not looking at them. She let out a breath nervously, turning back to face Kanda. Before Kanda even realised she was going to accede to Lavi's request/demand, he felt her lips gently brushing against his cheek before she pulled back quickly, pressing her own lips together trying to stop smiling.

He just stared—like an idiot—until Reiichi stumbled when two arms wrapped around her torso from the back squealing in delight.

"Happy now?" she huffed, face red.

"Extremely," Lavi laughed, squeezing her tightly once more before moving aside to let her exit the vehicle. "Now, you've got to go or else you'll be late!"

She glanced at her watch and realised they had delayed—whose fault was it anyway—more than she thought they did. Scrambling out of the car, she paused when she was about to shut the door. Lavi was looking almost high and Kanda was looking away from her direction but he glanced back at her anyway.

"See you at home," she smiled shyly, still blushing before closing the door.

Lavi watched his cousin walk off towards the glass doors with an almost skip in her step like she was happy.

He was proud.

"Saa, Yuu," he hummed contentedly, waving when Reiichi turned to glance at them once last them before she entered the building. "Don't you feel happy?"

Happy? Kanda wouldn't exactly call it happiness, but he was feeling slightly warm and the place where she kissed him was tingling. He unconsciously raised a hand to touch that part, but promptly dropped it when he realised Lavi was observing him from the back.

It was…nice.

Maybe.

"It'd be good to start off everyday like that," Lavi continued, watching with triumph at how the normal cold model started to colour. "Just saying."

Kanda opted not to reply, but instead stepped on the accelerator to get to their destination.


Lavi hadn't said a word after that—and truthfully it was creeping Kanda out more than ever. He was also not okay with the way his best friend was watching him with near stalker like ferocity. Seriously, he was getting eyeballed and it wasn't exactly comfortable when it was a guy doing it and neither did it help when he was starting to feel dirty.

"Will you stop staring at me?" he demanded finally when he couldn't take it anymore.

"What? Just pretend I'm Rei-chan or something—"

"No, seriously," Kanda narrowed his eyes. "Why the fuck are you looking at me for the past damn hour?"

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "It's only been twenty minutes."

"Whatever!" he growled. "And answer the damn question!"

The male redhead didn't reply for a few moments. "Hey Yuu," he started. "Don't cha think something's bothering Rei-chan?"

Kanda frowned, not getting how him getting eye raped was related to Reiichi. "Like what?"

"I dunno," Lavi replied so helpfully. "She was frowning and stuff when she was staring out the window."

"It's probably the pain," Kanda replied.

"Maybe," he nodded slowly. "But then," he frowned at Kanda. "I can't help but have the same feeling about you."

"What?" the male model was not getting where the conversation was going.

"I thought something happened between you guys," Lavi responded. "And I thought maybe the kiss would cheer both of you up, but you're alternating your expression from happy to annoyed and it's kind of…disturbing, actually."

"I'm not happy," Kanda denied immediately. He wasn't even aware he had a happy expression.

Lavi just ignored that statement. "So what gives?"

"Nothing."

"Yuu," his best friend sounded unamused. "How long have I known you for?"

Kanda shrugged, because he honestly couldn't be bothered to count.

"Its nine years, baby. Give me some credit, okay?"

God knows why Kanda hadn't killed himself yet.

"So, you don't know what to say, or you don't want to tell me?" Lavi prodded when the model just kept silent.

Kanda stopped the car, pushing the gear to park and nonchalantly got out of the vehicle, leaving Lavi to scramble out because he hadn't been paying attention to their surroundings.

"Yuu—"

"Later."


They were all at some kind of abandoned factory or something of the sort, but it had been turned into a shooting location with large metal crates making the back drop of the shoot. Kanda was wearing causal street wear, a black shirt with some kind of grey print on it beneath a light brown jacket, plus a white belt with loose black jeans hanging at his hips. His hair was tied up as usual, and a fan was aimed at the set space's direction to create some sort of effect with his hair blowing about.

It was fine—the RUSS-K representative didn't bother him much, and they started off shooting pretty quickly, until Lavi decided to open his mouth.

Again.

"Ashita kara mata nichi getsu ka
Hora sui moku mawatte kin do nichiyou
Yume no hibi wo daiji ni ikimashou

MOU ICCHO! WHOO!"

"USAGI SHUT THE—"

"Ashita kara mata nichi getsu ka
Hora sui moku mawatte kin do nichiyou
Bokura hibi wo tanoshinde ikitekou saa iku zo—"

Kanda stormed off the set towards his photographer with the very intent of disposing of the said person just so that his ears would stop bleeding.

"Wa—wait!" Lavi dodged out of the way just before Kanda could swipe at him. "Woah, calm down buddy!"

"Not until I rip out that thing you call a voice box!" Kanda snarled, lunging for him again.

"But they like it!" the red head defended, gesturing to the other people around them.

Kanda shot a glare at everyone else surrounding who had been clapping along to that god forsaken song. "Do they?" he asked, theoretically, and everyone else hurriedly shook their heads at the murderous aura emitted by the famed model.

"I'll stop singing if you tell me what the deal with you is," Lavi bargained, grinning as he stepped back cautiously to put some space between the dangerous model and his beloved camera.

Kanda scoffed, turning to storm back to his set space. "I already said later, didn't I?"

"Yeah I know," Lavi winked, raising his camera again.

"You—" The camera flashes started again, and Kanda bit down the growl he wanted to emit.

"Getsuyou hajimatta itsumo no hibi—"

"Stop singing that stupid song!" Kanda threatened, shoving a middle finger towards Lavi's direction for a moment.

"But it's totally appropriate!" Lavi whined. "It was mega popular last year with the commercial, and even Rei-chan likes that song!"

Okay…"So?"

"Maybe you should do it," the red head concluded out of nowhere. "Hey, Suzuki-san!" he gestured towards the RUSS-K representative. "What if Yuu wants to do a remake of your commercial last year? The one with the dancing?"

"We-we'd be extremely honoured," the representative managed eventually. "To have Kanda-san front such a campaign—"

"I never agreed to anything you fucking idiots!" Kanda interjected quite forcefully.

"Come on, you'd look totally sexy dancing, I bet Rei-chan would love it," Lavi said as though it was going to convince him. "I mean, she liked the guy who did it in the previous commercial—"

Who the fuck was that guy? Probably some lamer— "No."

"Who here agrees Yuu should do it?" Lavi called loudly, waving his arms in the air at the people around.

There seemed to be a conflict when they couldn't decide if it was more worth seeing Kanda Yuu dance or having them forever blacklisted in the eyes of Kanda Yuu.

Lavi chuckled. "Okay, last shot for this outfit," he announced, getting into position before he paused. "Eh Yuu, say 'Nani kei demo nai! RUSS-K!', and then smirk towards the camera."

"Why the fuck do I have to say anything?" Kanda frowned, considering it was rather redundant.

"Just do it man!"

"No."

But he did smirk, and there were a few the loud thumps from the lighting crew who had fainted.

What did you expect?

He was Kanda Yuu.


Allen, for the life of him, could not comprehend why Lavi bothered him with other people's problems.

"What should I doooooooooo?" the red head was moaning dramatically to him over the phone, and Allen just let the noise drone on as he flipped a page in his weekly shounen jump as he continued to read.

"You're not even listening to me now, are ya?" Lavi accused, fake sobbing. "Just because I'm not Lena-chan doesn't mean I'm not important!"

The manga in his hands shut with a forceful snap. "What is it?" Allen asked with exasperation.

"I told you already! I can tell something is up with Rei-chan and now Yuu has his family shit but he doesn't want me to help him—"

Allen cocked his eyebrow, peeling open his book again. "Maybe it's time you let them solve their own problems?" he suggested, and blinked at the horrified gasp he got in response. "Reiichi can take care of herself and it's not like Bakanda's aunt will be listening to anything you say."

"But don't you feel like if you couldn't do something for them, then you'd feel like finding out some way that you can?"

"Which is to leave them alone," Allen concluded. "Some problems are better left solved on their own."

"Huh," Lavi sounded skeptical. "You mean like yours?"

"Lavi."

"Sorry, sorry! Don't hang up on me!" the redhead frantically added. "I'm using Yuu's house phone and it's such a rare chance for this to even happen—"

"Let me guess," Allen snorted, grinning. "Bakanda doesn't even know."

"Right again, Brit!" Lavi laughed. "And Rei-chan isn't home yet, so she can't squeal on me either. Man, it's unfair how she takes Yuu's side—"

"Lavi," the British boy suddenly interjected as a thought struck his mind. "Have you let them talk about their problems to each other?"

"I don't think they've talked," Lavi answered carefully. "I asked Yuu about Rei-chan this morning but it seemed like he didn't know what I was talking about. Why?"

"In all seriousness, I think you're crashing on them too much," Allen answered. "If you want them to stay together, you've got to let them be together. Alone."

"It's adorable how much you care for Yuu," Lavi cooed, and Allen faked vomit on his side. "But it's hard, you know?" the photographer sounded oddly forced at this point. "I love them both so much."

"…We did warn you."

"I know," the redhead uncharacteristically mumbled almost sadly, but that could've just been Allen's imagination. "Have you decided what to do about Lena-chan?" Lavi asked enthusiastically, changing the topic.

"I'm hanging up."

"Jokes and teasing aside, Al," the redhead sighed. "I'm dead serious about this. What's the deal with you and Lenalee?"

"There's nothing—"

"I can read people quite easily, but when it comes to you two I'm like all lost and shit. I don't get what Lena-chan is thinking, and I certainly don't get what you are thinking either. It's obvious that you like her, and she likes you—"

Allen just had to wonder how the topic just shifted so fast to him. "I don't like her in that way—fine, maybe I did, but I gave up, okay? She doesn't like me. We're friends, and staying friends," he emphasized.

"That's the biggest lie I ever heard if I do say so myself."

"Oh really?" Allen rolled his eyes.

"Yes rly," Lavi replied with equal force. "Want to know what's wrong with that statement? First: You are completely in love with her. Head over heels, cupid's got an arrow in you and all that. You think she's the best damn thing that's happened to you since instant ramen, and it's so damn obvious when you make googly eyes at her—"

"I don't make those eyes at her—Lord, you and Cross," the younger boy huffed indignantly. "And, I don't even eat instant ramen."

"…You are not living life."

"But the size of those cups are pathetic—"

"Only for you, whatever, we're going off topic," Lavi grumbled. "Okay fine, maybe you don't make those eyes like Yuu does, but kid, trust me on this alright? I'm a goddamn photographer—I notice stuff. When you smile at people, you always give this eerie creepy vibe, because you're insecure and shit—"

"…"

"—not too sure why you hate your pretty face and awesome arm. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh right. When you smile at Lena-chan, there's only one word to describe it. It's blinding. And you want to know why? It's because she's the only person whom you truly feel comfortable with, and there's also the main thing," Lavi paused to breathe. "You love her."

"…"

"Are you going to admit it?"

"…I can't win against you, can I?" Allen finally muttered, sighing.

"I can't even believe you even thought of trying."

"Yes, fine. I do," The British boy admitted, but then again, he knew he was only bidding time since the beginning. He could bet Lavi knew anyway, and he never lost a bet. "For six years and counting."

At this point, Lavi choked. "Holy shit—s-six? SIX?" he repeated incredulously. "OH MY GOD, SIX?"

"Stop rubbing it in," Allen grumbled. Honestly.

"No, I mean, like six fucking years?" the redhead echoed. "How the hell are you alive? I would've…would've died of heart ache or something—"

"Let me try again," the younger boy deadpanned. "Thanks, Lavi."

Lavi coughed apologetically. "Well, that just means you've got to get together with Lena-chan, and pronto, 'cause you guys are missing out on years—"

"That's where you don't get it," Allen groaned in frustration. "Lenalee doesn't like me. She doesn't like me in the way you think that she does, okay? I've tried, and it didn't work. End of story."

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough."

"I bloody tried everything!" he nearly shouted into the phone, and it was lucky he was lying on his bed or else there'd be a loud slam where his fist had hit. "I was nice to her, took her out, gave her flowers, I was even this close to asking Komui to help me—"

"But you didn't ask Komui for her hand in marriage."

"…" Even he had enough sense that that. "You know what I'll be after that happens?" he asked slowly. "Dead."

"You're exaggerating," Lavi laughed nervously. "I mean, Komui is threatens us all the time, but I haven't actually seen him kill anyone—"

It was obvious that Lavi didn't even believe himself.

"He threw a chopper at me before," Allen supplied. "And that was when he thought I was trying to bring Lenalee out on a date."

"…Were you?"

"No! We were just going to catch a movie!"

Lavi shook his head. "Same thing. Anyway, did you even confess?" he asked. "Like, the actual 'I like you' shit straight to her face and not the bogus phone call or text message confession, because I can totally understand if she rejected you if you did that."

"I said it to her face," Allen sighed. "Lavi, just let me give this up, okay? I tried. Maybe Lenalee has her reasons, maybe she doesn't, it doesn't really matter. I respect her decision, and I don't want us to become something awkward. She's my best friend, I'm not about to screw that up. Can you understand that?"

"Sometimes you're a bit too unselfish, Al," Lavi commented finally, frowning. "l get where you're trying to come from, but…maybe you've got to love yourself first before you love someone else."

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno," the redhead shrugged. "You're a smart kid right? Figure it out yourself."

"Huh," Allen snorted, turning his attention back to his comic now that the heavy talk was over.

"L-lavi?" there was a surprised feminine voice that sounded further away. "You're back earlier than I thought."

There was the sound of a door closing, and Lavi's reply. "Yeah well, Yuu drove past three red lights, and he was speeding like a mad dog because he wanted to reach home earlier to cook for you—"

"Shut up!" a deeper, angrier voice. "You were the one who stole my fucking car–WHY ARE YOU USING MY GODDAMN PHONE?"

Allen was not amused.

"Lavi," he started seriously. "For every time you put me on speaker, you owe me a week's worth of lunch."

"But—"

"Goodbye."


It had been a hectic week.

Kanda could profess this and you know he wasn't kidding around, especially since he was Japan's top male model. The shoots were fine—he was used to them—but then just in the beginning of the week he had practically denounced his bachelor status to the world. He didn't really care what other people thought, of course, just that other people's resulting actions started to gyrate on his nerves.

He did not understand why he was suddenly being dumped with more fan mail than usual—they all went to the dustbin without a glance anyway—and if he thought girls would leave him alone now that he was attached, he was sorely mistaken.

The flirtaous winking got bolder, and the coy smiles more obvious when he was forced to enter anywhere public. That was when they weren't fainting or screaming at the sight of him. It was as if these girls actually thought they could change his mind or something—which was laughable.

Then there was Lavi's constant presence around such that he couldn't even think of a time when he was actually alone with Reiichi—and that thought kind of pissed him off. Then again, Reiichi was starting to act a little weird too. She wasn't talking as much as she usually did—thank god she never talked as much that the stupid rabbit—but it could be due to well…female body problems though.

And finally he was beyond frustrated with his own family issue. He had talked to Lavi about it—after much whining and begging from the other—and neither of them came to a conclusion.

He was supposed to have a talk with his…aunt (he wasn't even sure if he should call her that) before his twenty first birthday, but it just didn't happen. He refused to go back again, that much was obvious. Tiedoll called many times, he ignored it. Then his birthday passed, and he received a call from one unknown number. Without much thought he answered it—and immediately snapped his phone shut upon hearing that cold condescending voice.

There were no calls after that.

Truthfully, he thought he was disowned at this point.

He thought he'd feel relieved, happy, or at least, free. He didn't need to think of Iseki anymore. He didn't need to think of any family obligations he would have, or forced to attend omiais, and Reiichi, he didn't have to worry about her getting hurt again. But time to time when he would sit in his room and re-read the letters his parents wrote, there was just a heavy feeling that wouldn't go away.

Looking at the small black lacquer box, it just felt like he had only brought a small piece of he had wanted to find from that place, and the rest of it was still lost.

It was stupid, wasn't it?

He hated that place so much, but it was that one place which held so many answers.

Still, he wasn't going back. He wasn't going to talk to that one person who ruined his childhood.

Months passed. Nothing happened.

That was until Tiedoll sent something to him in an envelope a month ago. He was curious, of course. Tiedoll hadn't told him he was sending something, so he tore the letter open and poured out its contents. It was a dog tag with the initials R.A.R. He didn't even need to see it to know that it was his father's and also, there was another small photo that slid out to his palm. Despite a bloodstain at the corner, the woman in the photo captured his attention immediately.

Long silky black hair tied up neatly at the back and smiling serenely to the camera wearing a traditional kimono he always saw back at the household—there was no mistaking that he looked so much like his own mother, except the eyes. But he remembered those eyes. They looked after him when he was much younger, always watching when he ran out to the gardens to play, softly chiding when he dirtied his clothes.

The natural thing to do was to call Tiedoll. The old man was in the middle of a recital, but he couldn't care less. Why was did he send him all this—only at this time?

Tiedoll only said Iseki sent those to him.

Such a cryptic way to do about things, but he definitely knew what she wanted.

Call back.

But it was weird, wasn't it?

Why was his aunt giving him so many chances? Trying to make up for the past? Or was she just so stuck on tradition?

Or why did she even keep the dog tag and photo? It was obvious that both belonged to his father before his death. Did that mean she kept his things despite the fact that his father was someone she hated and cursed upon every time she screamed at him?

That didn't make sense, did it?

And what was he supposed to say?

He didn't want to take over as family head. He had his own job, his own house, and well, Reiichi.

Then again, he didn't know what he wanted in the first place or was he supposed to want anything at all from his aunt? There had to be something—or else Tiedoll wouldn't bug him all the time about it, but it'd be easier if the old man actually said something more concrete.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he jerked the moment he felt something touch his wrist, eyes snapping open and hands raised in a reflex defensive gesture. He paused when he realised it was just Reiichi kneeling in front of him, observing him.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't want to disturb you, but it's already two hours past lunch time."

He blinked, just realizing the amount of time that flew by. He had entered the dojo for Kendo this Saturday morning, and after that he thought maybe an hour of meditation would help to clear his mind, unfortunately that apparently backfired and he lost track of time. And to think he hadn't even heard her enter—he was sorely distracted.

"I can cook something for you," Reiichi was saying. "What do you want?"

"Not hungry," he replied almost automatically, frowning to himself. Right now he just felt more tired than he did before.

"How about porridge then?" she asked concernedly.

He shook his head.

"Kanda…" Reiichi started softly, placing her hand over his as she shifted closer, "Lavi told me about it," she stated, gauging his reaction. "About Iseki-san calling you and…" she trailed off, and suddenly Kanda felt guilty for not telling her anything. "If…if you need anything from me…"

He didn't answer immediately. He just stared, annoyed and defeated at the parquet floor past his own feet for a few quiet moments. "I...I'm just wondering what I should do."

She nodded slowly.

"You know what…she wants, but I…I don't know."

She wasn't used to hearing uncertainty in his voice even if she had heard it before.

"And then," Kanda began again, this time scowling. "The old man called the other day. I don't know why he's so fucking insistent on pushing me to do it. Especially when he knows what she did to me and—" he just stopped abruptly, grunting. "I hate this shit," he grumbled, flopping backwards to lie on the floor.

"Well," Reiichi brought her legs to her chest to hug, thinking. "Maybe…maybe he just doesn't want you to lose your real family."

"She never treated me like family," was Kanda's bitter response, and she moved so that she was sitting beside him.

He was just staring up at the white ceiling, face blank.

"In some ways, I can understand where Tiedoll-san is coming from," she spoke quietly, starting at her own knees. "I know you've been through…a lot…and it's difficult to forgive someone," she gave an empty smile, glancing at his marred soles. "I'm not saying you have to. I probably can't. But...she's your family. I have Lavi, but sometimes I still feel so…alone, you know?" she mumbled.

"You've got a family out there. I think Tiedoll-san doesn't want you to give it up."

Perhaps it wasn't the right thing to say, especially when their circumstances were different. Nonetheless, that was the only explanation she could think of, and she also thought back to the time when she met Zuu.

Maybe there's a part of Yuu-kun that can't let go of this.

"What should I…"

She shrugged. "I think you should just do what feels right to you."

It wasn't much help, but she couldn't make this decision for him. It was definitely easy to say what was the easy way out, unfortunately, real life was never that simple.

Kanda just lay on the floor, thinking, and Reiichi forgot the real reason why she came into the dojo when she started to zone out next to him.

"Tonight," Kanda said abruptly, frowning. "I'll call her."

He was looking at her like he wanted to say more, or add something else, but he turned away eventually and sighed. She took his hand—which was clenched tightly—unwrapping the tight fist gently.

"Together," she promised, entwining her fingers with his, gripping it reassuringly.

He grunted, maybe in thanks.

"Go and change," she managed a smile, patting his shoulder. "I'll cook something for you."

Oddly enough Kanda didn't get up. Instead, he tugged her hand closer, and turned on his side. "No. Let me sleep for a bit."

She raised an eyebrow. "Here?"

"Yes."

Seeing how he for some unknown reason wanted to rest on the hard wooden floor, she crawled closer and pulled his head onto her lap, tugging his hair tie to release his hair.

"What are you—"

"If you get a neck cramp," she snorted. "You're going to bitch for hours."

"I do not bitch," he denied, and she smiled at that anyway.

He made no move to shift, and within a few minutes it was easy to tell that his breathing was slow and even. His face was not facing towards her, but she assumed he slept anyway. She was weaving her fingers through his long hair, combing it.

There was something about his hair that was so Kanda that she couldn't really describe it. The first time she really ever noticed it was that time wherein it stormed, and she had hours to stare at him in the moonlight. His deep black tresses had been shiny, and they looked entirely too soft and perfect—until she touched it for herself later on that she realised he was really just too blessed in looks.

As a girl, she couldn't believe her own hair never fell the way she wanted it to when Kanda's did all the time. It wasn't fair, really.

Then again, it probably wasn't fair to all his fangirls out there who wished to be in her position now. Being with him wasn't exactly perfect—they still fought over things, misunderstood things and made mistakes like any other couple. But when she decided to love this man, seeing beyond all those made it feel perfect.

She hummed, stroking the edge of his face carefully in order not to wake him up accidentally.

And then Kanda let out some sort of noise in the midst of his sleep—she paused.

Yuu snores, so you know when he's really sleeping.

She chuckled.


"I don't want to," Kanda admitted, after staring at his house phone placed in the middle of the kotatsu for a few minutes.

It was always rare to see Kanda being scared, for when he was, he sometimes acted a little sulky and truthfully it was just so weird in contrast to his usual violent self. But she had to remember it wasn't a laughing matter, because it just showed it affected him so much.

She smiled encouragingly at him. "We can eat matcha ice cream after."

"It's you who wants to eat it," he rolled his eyes, but he took the phone anyway, taking a deep breath.

His fingers hovered over the buttons that were meant to be pressed, only, he stopped there.

"Kanda," Reiichi murmured softly, touching his arm. "Nothing will change unless you want it to."

"…I know," he answered, eyes trained hard. "You…don't say anything," he reminded her once more before quickly dialing the number and setting it on speaker, placing the phone on the table as they waited.

The first few rings were unnerving and intimidating, and she felt him tense beside her.

"The Kanda residence," a curt female voice answered the phone.

Kanda was supposed to say something, but words just stuck in his throat upon recognizing that voice. It was that old woman who followed Iseki's every order, and also, she always gave him that look like she was thoroughly disgusted by his blood—

Reiichi reached under the table to grasp his trembling hand, curling her own around his in a warm cage. She nudged him quietly.

"T-this," he began, cursing himself for stuttering on the first word, but he continued stronger when Reiichi squeezed his hand. "Is Kanda. Kanda Yuu."

There was a long pause at the other end, and finally another curt reply. "Kanda-dono has been waiting upmost graciously for your call."

Kanda resisted the urge to retort that, just because he was being spiteful, but he kept his cool, not saying anything.

The phone emitted sounds of a person padding on floorboards and the swish of fabric, and finally a soft knock and a shoji sliding open. Words were most probably conversed, but they couldn't hear it, and finally that familiar stern sharp voice of his aunt.

"Brat," was the first thing she said, and she did not sound pleased. "To what do I owe you the pleasure of this call?" she sneered.

Reiichi could feel Kanda flinch, and she held on tighter.

"I thought you wanted to talk to me," Kanda retorted back.

"Indeed," Iseki responded coldly, and it nearly felt like they were facing her again, face to face. "You've been defying my orders for a year. Realised the error of your ways?" she mocked cruelly. "Or perhaps, that trash finally left you?"

It was much obvious which trash Iseki was referring to, and Kanda gritted his teeth so hard that they grinded.

"Did I hit a sore nerve, boy?" the older woman snorted. "I taught you they were not to be trusted. It seemed like you needed a practical lesson in that."

"Read the fucking news," he spat back. "She is still with me."

"Pity," Iseki responded. "But it doesn't matter. She will never taint or take a single cent from the family. As soon as you return, you will—"

"I already fucking told you I don't want—"

"This isn't about whether you want it or not, brat," Iseki hissed lowly. "You will come back."

"Or what?" Kanda demanded back.

"That filth who defiles your blood further—" Reiichi was almost pulling Kanda back in case he took and threw the phone across the room. "She will be harmed."

It was just sickening how his aunt was resorting to blackmail for this.

"Do you have no pride left, Kanda-san?" Reiichi asked, voice shaky with anger.

Kanda stopped struggling in her hold and paused, turning to her and hissing softly. "Idiot, you were supposed to keep quiet!"

"Is that dirt beside you?" Iseki coolly asked, seemingly not surprised.

"She has a fucking name!" Kanda growled.

"Which is not fit for someone of her blood," his aunt responded in the heartbeat. "Get the girl out. I am not continuing this in her presence."

"She is staying."

"Then, consider yourself disowned," Iseki sneered.

"Kanda-san!" Reiichi interrupted quickly. "You can't just—"

"And who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?"

Indeed, who was she? "No one," she replied. "But, Izayoi-san—"

"Don't you dare ever use her name!" Iseki shouted suddenly, causing both of them to flinch. "Don't you ever dare to use my sister's name, especially with your filthy little—"

"I meant no disrespect, Kanda-san," Reiichi ploughed on, determined. "But you cannot abandon your sister's son."

That seemed to trigger something, because Iseki kept silent after that.

"The reason you insist that Kanda has to be the one to take over as head is because you love Izayoi-san, isn't it? You want the line to continue with her blood, no matter how tainted you think it has become," she continued. "But Izayoi-san wouldn't have wanted it if it Kanda didn't want it. You know that much, don't you?"

"Are you saying that I am not honoring the death wishes of my sister?" Iseki seethed, voice threatening.

Reiichi didn't think she was ever this daring, but she said firmly, "Yes."

Kanda swallowed inaudibly, not liking the possible ways that his aunt would react in, but much to his surprise, there was no cursing or screaming.

"Why are you doing this for this pathetic little boy?" his aunt asked, and she sounded almost intrigued, if not amused.

Reiichi answer had been steadfast, because she knew. "Because I love him."

"Love is a foolish thing," Iseki scoffed. "However…you are more alike to her than the boy is. It's such a disgrace," she spat, "that the brat is such a weak coward, unable to fight for what he wants that he needs someone like you to do it for him. Nonetheless," she continued coldly. "It means nothing. Blame that dirty blood of yours. Perhaps, if it was clean, it might have changed something."

"I am not ashamed of my heritage, Kanda-san," Reiichi replied.

It was a miracle how both of them were staying relatively composed, as if all the tension was focused on their conjoined hands that gripped so tightly, knuckles were turning white.

"So, brat," his aunt scoffed. "I'm giving you one last chance. The Higurashi family has so kindly—"

"Okaa-san wouldn't have wanted this."

Kanda didn't know what he was speaking until it was tumbled out of his mouth, voice low and steady.

Iseki clearly paused at the mention of okaa-san, because Kanda never said it before. "Are you insulting me, boy?" she demanded. "What do you know about my sister?"

"She left me a letter," Kanda answered firmly. "You read it, didn't you?"

I left you in onee-sama's care. Don't hate your oba-sama. Onee-sama is strict. I know. But we're family after all.

Suddenly it just made a lot of sense. Why Tiedoll kept pushing him to go back, why Tiedoll always said his mother wouldn't have wanted him to avoid the subject all the time—because she truly didn't.

But we're family after all.

It was just quiet after that, like both Kandas had reached some sort of realization or conclusion.

"Kuroshi Reiichi, was it?" Iseki spoke up eventually, voice unusually flat. "I still don't accept you," then she added, "I expect a visit every new year." before the line was cut off.

Kanda and Reiichi just stared.

For seconds.

Minutes.

Maybe an hour, they didn't know.

Kanda was the first to move, reaching out to grab the phone to switch off the dial tone. Then, he did something he never or rarely did—he reached out, hand curling around Reiichi's frame and pulled her in one swift motion towards his chest, breaking their linked hands under the table to wrap the other arm around her. He was shaking—and he couldn't stop, but he held on tighter anyway, breathing in her light scent of lavender and burying his face into the crook of her neck.

Suddenly everything just left incredibly light. Even lighter than the time he visited his mother's grave. It was unexplainable, and maybe, he didn't really want to explain it either.

Reiichi slowly smiled, her own hands sliding around his waist, and it was almost stupid how she felt like crying when she should be happy—beyond happy for something that they had hoped but didn't dare to dream.

Only when he stopped shaking did he drop the embrace, but Reiichi still held on to him anyway, smiling at his averted eyes when he leaned back.

"It sounded fucking weird when you call her that," Kanda grunted, just to comment something to break the silence.

"Call her what?" she furrowed her eyes, but it was obvious that the use of profanity that Kanda was back to normal.

"Kanda-san."

"Well, I couldn't possibly use her first name," she answered. "Unless I call you…" she paused, remembering the last time she used his first name—"Nevermind."

He cocked an eyebrow. "What are you turning red for?"

"S-shut up."


"Yuu," Lavi started seriously. "I am totally thinking that you should propose to her. Right now."

"Shut up."

"I would marry her," the male red head continued. "If only it wasn't incest. But you get my point!"

"No, I don't. Now go away."

"Heh," Lavi smirked. "You're in a good mood today, eh?"

"You keep that up, and I will break the coffee machine," Kanda threatened, pausing in his sip of tea to look at the other coolly.

"Fine," Lavi huffed, crossing his arms. "But man," he grinned, "Only Rei-chan, huh?"

Kanda rolled his eyes, because Lavi had been going on about his cousin ever since he heard about the family issue update last night. It was a Sunday—wasn't god supposed to give him a rest day?

"And you're right about the name thing," the redhead was saying.

"What name thing?"

"Her calling you 'Yuu'," he answered happily.

Kanda rolled his eyes, again. "I wasn't asking her to—"

"It's only too bad I made a bet with her," Lavi continued to himself, frowning. "I can't say anything about it until you guys get married!" he exclaimed, disappointed. "Or maybe your first child. We didn't actually confirm the details, come to think of it…anyway!" he suddenly pointed to the male model. "That's why you have got to propose to her man!"

Kanda just turned back to the newspaper he was reading.

"Rei-chan!" Lavi whined, presumably to someone who cared. "Rei-chan~ Your koibito is ignoring me!"

Reiichi glanced back towards the house, eyebrow raised at her cousin calling her name for god knows what. She shrugged, walking towards the letter box, and was mildly surprised to see that there wasn't at least a bag full of letters sitting outside the gate this time.

She opened the letter box flap, and a mountain of letters just poured out to her feet.

Well, at least the numbers were dwindling as the days passed.

She didn't read any of the letters that were addressed to her. Although there was a personal debate on how rude it was to those who genuinely thought she and Kanda was cute together and all that—but it was just a more practical choice, in case she read something and got upset over nothing. She learned her lesson the last time on the online forum, and she wasn't about to do it again.

She knelt down to shuffle the letters in a stack, and froze at the sight of one plain white envelope.

Again.

Ever since that last weird letter, there was one every subsequent day after that. It was just odd that it was never addressed to anyone, yet it was plainly for her. The message inside was also always the same—the bold dark lettering upon the stark white paper. It could have been a joke. At least, she hoped it was the time she saw the first letter, but with it occurring every day it was just too unlikely to ignore.

Today though, the message changed.

I'm thinking the Tokyo tower would be a good place to jump.

And the world will know that I died because of you.


Owari.

I don't even know what I was writing in the first half of this chapter because the main point was Kanda's family issue. Lavi annoyed me a lot when I went back to re-read…I hope it's not too off putting. /headdesk

Not sure if you guys ever watched the RUSS-K commercial by Johnny Entertainment's NEWS, but it was kind of really popular till it spawned lots of anime parodies of it. You should totally watch the DGM one, BECAUSE KANDA DANCES. I KID YOU NOT.

(www. youtube .com / watch?v=zkrg_TLR2ZE) without the spaces, of course.

By the way for those who are NEWS' fangirls, I totally LOLED so hard when I found out Kanda was dancing for the part of Nishikido Ryo—'cause both of them are just as sharp tongued and snarky :D

I know a lot of Allena is in Allen's POV for now, but Lenalee's side will come later on, I promise. I realised Allen hasn't admitted it to Lavi yet, so there, Lavi has it all in print for him now.

IT'S ALWAYS SO HARD TO WRITE A DEPRESSED/SCARED KANDA WITHOUT MAKING HIM SORT OF OOC. I just wanted to clear up Kanda's family issue once and for all so we can move on to bigger stuff yay. FAMILY IS IMPORTANT. I just feel Kanda shouldn't write off his aunt although he has all the reasons to. And obviously Izayoi would've said some things to Iseki before her death, thus that was what Iseki was reminiscing when she kept quiet. I hope her decision wasn't too abrupt in the story.

Just think of Iseki's position like Snape's to Harry Potter's. She hates Kanda because of his father, but she cannot let go of him because she loves her sister.

(YAY HARRY POTTER FINAL MOVIE IS COMING SOON)

Whoever is sending Reiichi those notes won't be revealed so soon, so maybe you guys would like to guess…? New OC or someone already mentioned?

NEXT UP: PAPER FACES ON PARADE.