DISCLAIMER: I do not own D. Gray-Man or any of the characters that I care to portray here.

WARNING: Drama bomb! That's all I'm gonna say.

The next morning Allen fastened the collar of his cloak, heaving a small sigh as he sat on the bed. He wasn't prepared for this mission at all. Komui had given him as much information as he had about what was going on, but being stuck on a mission with Kanda? It reminded Allen of one of the first times he'd met the other exorcist: the two had been stuck on a team then as well, even though their dislike toward one another was clear. Allen wasn't sure what made Kanda dislike him so much at first, but now there seemed to be a numerous amount of reasons that he didn't even want to think about.

Sure enough, Timcanpy was irritated with Allen that morning once he'd been switched on and had flown off somewhere, leaving Allen to sulk alone in his room as he got ready. Soon the teams would be sent out, and the young exorcist could feel something gnawing in the pit of his stomach. There just wasn't something right with these missions; Allen couldn't quite put his finger on it, but that nagging feeling of something wrong about to come just wouldn't leave him alone.

"Well, there's no point in worrying about it," he muttered to himself, though he knew that his statement was entirely inaccurate. All he could do was hope to get through the day, and to somehow survive his next mission.

Everything was already packed and ready, but he checked all of his belongings anyway, really just looking for a way to stall for time. Interrupting his meaningless review, Lenalee came in with a knock, hardly waiting for Allen's okay before bursting into the room. "Allen!" she exclaimed, rushing up to the younger exorcist with a beaming smile. Her hair fell around her face in a joyful frame as she paused in front of him, her hands clasped in front of her as she leaned back and forth on her heels.

"Yes, Lenalee?" Allen asked with a small sigh, screwing his face up into a forced smile. Although he was happy to see the female exorcist, he couldn't help but feel that she had a knack for showing up at the wrong times.

If she noticed anything amiss, she didn't show it. "Komui sent me. He wants to know if you're ready to go yet." Lenalee looked around the room; it was as if she were looking for something that Allen had forgotten to pack. "Do you have everything?"

No. There was no point in him lying; if he told Lenalee that he wasn't ready, she would just stay here to help him, instead of taking the hint and giving him the alone time that he wanted. Who are you kidding? All the alone time in the world wouldn't be enough for you to sort through this shit. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do," he said, giving another attempt at a genuine smile for his oblivious friend. "I just have to find Timcanpy and I can go!"

"Great!" Lenalee clapped her hands together, her eyes lit up in excitement. Allen wasn't sure why - she wasn't going on this mission. "Come with me and we'll find him! Maybe Lavi knows where he is."

Picking up his suitcase, Allen followed Lenalee out of his room, trying to keep a happy face while he did so. Normally he liked going out on missions, but with all the drama that was going on at HQ, Allen hardly wanted to go out on one... Especially with Kanda, of all people. Getting away from the place that seemed to be the focus of his current problems would have been nice; Allen just wanted to go out on his own, mission- and worry-free. Lenalee must have sensed something, because she started to speak as they walked past a few stray exorcists going to and from their rooms.

"Allen?" she asked with a less perky tone in her voice; Allen listened carefully.

"Yes Lenalee?"

She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him, slowing her pace as she did so. "Is... is there something wrong?"

Allen felt a sharp pit drop into his stomach; he hesitated before replying. "Why would anything be wrong?" Not exactly the truth, but at least he wasn't lying to her.

At this Lenalee stopped, pivoting completely to face Allen. "Tell me the truth. I know there's something going on that's been bugging you; you'd have to be blind not to see it."

Blind? Was she right? Could everyone see the mood that he'd been in for the past two weeks? He thought he had been doing a rather good job of keeping his real emotions under wraps... "Look, there's nothing wrong with that!" Interrupting his worried inner monologue, Lenalee reached over and grabbed Allen's shoulder with a stern grip. Allen looked up, a little surprised at her actions. "If something is bothering you, I want you to know that you can tell someone about it! You can..." she looked down, her face darkening slightly. "You can talk to me about it. I mean, if you want to."

What? While Allen wasn't really surprised by her friendliness, he was surprised that Lenalee felt so strongly about this issue. He'd been upset about things before, and while she'd been there for him, she hadn't exactly pushed herself on him like she seemed to be doing now. What was this - an intervention?

Besides, Allen knew that if for some reason he decided to open up to Lenalee, he could never tell her the truth. How would she react? Would she, could she even believe him? Now more than ever he wanted someone to talk to, but there seemed to be nobody who he could safely tell... Not without them treating him like a suffering victim and confronting Kanda about the act that Allen himself couldn't understand.

"Okay, then," Lenalee sighed after Allen didn't react for a few seconds, staring at his bit lip and lowered head with a stony look in her eyes. "Don't talk about it."

"Lenalee..."

The young woman abruptly brought up her hand, cutting Allen off from his pathetic excuse that he was trying to summon up. "What I mean is, if you don't feel comfortable with talking about all the details, then don't. Be as vague as you'd like." Lenalee pursed her lips together, glaring at Allen with a look that he couldn't discern between anger or determination. "But you still need to talk about it. Allen, you're not the kind of person who can just keep things bottled up inside. Maybe you are used to bearing everything in silence, but you need to learn to let others in, to let go of those chips that you're bearing on your shoulder once in a while."

Allen looked at the hand on his shoulder with a hesitant glance before looking to the floor and sighing. "Fine, Lenalee... You're right. I should talk to you. But... Can we not do it here?"

The joy that lit up Lenalee's face swiftly faded in confusion before she realized what he meant. She gave a wide grin, back to her normally cheerful self. "Yes, yes, of course. I'm glad that you're willing to talk to me about your problems."

Not that you gave me much choice, Allen remarked to himself while smiling grimly.

"But I understand that you'd rather be in a more private setting. Tell you what: why don't we discuss it when you get back from your mission? How does that sound?"

Actually, it made Allen feel a little dismayed. Not that he was really willing to lay all his cards down on the table with Lenalee, but he thought that maybe at least talking about the stress he felt and such with her would relieve some of his anxiety and tensions before he would have to face this trip. The look on his face made Lenalee frown a little in confusion. "Unless you need to talk about it right now...?"

"No, that's fine!" Allen suddenly interjected, holding up his free hand to brush off her concern. What else could he say? He would just have to wait before he could unload his problems onto someone else, for the time being. "We can talk about it later; that'll be great!"

The rest of the journey through the halls was much less tense; Allen could feel Lenalee peering at him with worry less, and he gave a mental sigh to this. The last thing he wanted to do was worry his friends, but he should have known that this was bound to happen; they were bound to notice something. Suddenly a wave of anger rose up in Allen. This is Kanda's fault. This is all his damn fault. If he hadn't done what he did in the first place...

It wasn't too much longer until they ran into Lavi, who was walking down the hallway with Bookman and none other than Timcanpy flying languidly over his shoulder. "Hey Allen!" Lavi greeted, giving the exorcist a mischievous smile. "Timcanpy just came back with us from the kitchens; seems he was hanging out with Jerry all morning."

That explained the golem's sluggish movements. The pig, Allen thought with an irked grimace. At least he got to spend the morning carefree, stuffing his face.

"So," Lavi continued, giving Allen a sly grin. "Does this mean you're feeling better?"

Allen turned away from the golem that was now settling himself onto his shoulder with a confused look. "What… Feeling better? What do you mean?"

"That look on your face," Lavi continued to grin, a laugh hidden in his smile. "The one that looks like Timcanpy just ate your Christmas dinner." Allen continued with his puzzling stare, so the Bookman apprentice continued. "You looked kind of strange yesterday, but I felt a little bit weird asking about it. Are you and Kanda having another fiiiight~?"

"Fight?" Lenalee leaned back over, now interested in their conversation. "What is he talking about, Allen?"

Allen felt his face begin to heat up and his grip on the suitcase in his hand tightened. Lavi, did you really have to say that? The other boy had been actually paying attention to some of the Bookman's lessons lately, and his senses had become more alert and in tune with his surroundings. This was great for his own purposes but only served to make Allen's life harder, at least in this case. Maybe he had been ready to vaguely discuss things with Lenalee, but there was no way he had even thought about sharing anything with Lavi. The redhead was his friend as well, but this just seemed like an entirely inappropriate matter to bring up to him... And if Lavi ever found out he'd probably attempt to start a horrible fight with Kanda. That was only if he didn't completely judge Allen for his actions... After all, it wasn't entirely Kanda's fault back in his room earlier.

"N-nothing!" he insisted, shaking his free hand back and forth in front of him while trying to banish the color from his face. Now was not the time to discuss anything; it was best to play dumb to Lavi's implications and act completely innocent to the accusations... After all, what else could he say - the truth? How'd you guess Lavi? See, Kanda's been rather mean lately and has been forcing me into having sex with him! At first it was really troubling, but now I think I might like it but I'm not entirely sure so I'm been brooding about it recently. I hope my depressive mood swings haven't gotten you down!

He imagined saying all of those things with a complacent smile and almost snorted; he probably would have if it were more funny and less realistic.

That was something that had been bothering him as well - the fact that Allen seemed to be giving into Kanda more and more. If the past week had proved anything it was that Allen should have tried to stay as far away from Kanda as he could... But he kept going back to him. That wasn't something a person normally did when they were abused, right? But he didn't have time to think about this now: he had Lenalee and Lavi still to deal with.

Putting on his most amused smile, Allen shook his head at the grinning redhead. "I really don't know what you're talking about, Lavi." Lenalee looked back and forth at the two boys in mild confusion. "I think he's just still mad because of that prank you pulled."

This reference was enough to derail the line of conversation, thankfully. "You mean that we pulled," Lavi interjected, crossing his arms. "Don't try to pin everything on me; you agreed to it, too! And besides," the redhead made a pouting face while scrunching up the right side of his face. "It's not like I hid his mugen or something... It was hardly anything. That jerk had it coming to him anyway."

Something must have clicked in Lenalee's mind because she looked over at Lavi with a new light of understanding in her eyes. "Did you pull a prank on Kanda, Lavi?" Seeing his impressed grin and the shrug of his shoulders, her questioning look became an accusatory glare and her hands fell immediately to her waist.

Allen only had one thought: Uh-oh.

"That's horrible, Lavi! How could you? I don't understand why you have to be so... so..."

"Mean?" Lavi asked in a mocking tone while pursing his lips, waiting for her agreement.

"Childish!" she spat out, her angry look still focused on the now-confused redhead. Allen felt more and more out of place in this conversation, but it wasn't as if there was anything he could really do: the exorcists took up the rest of the hallway. Timcanpy looked bored and acted as if the whole scene was putting him to sleep.

"You're supposed to be learning, training, getting stronger," the raven-haired girl continued, pointing an accusatory finger towards the other boy. "And instead you're wasting your time by playing pranks on the people who are actually going out there and trying! I can't believe that you could be so selfish and oblivious!"

"Oblivious?" The Junior Bookman dropped his teasing airs and put on a more serious face; the grin was still there, but this smile looked more harsh than amusing. "Honey, that's the last thing I am. I could tell you what the other exorcists have been doing this entire time we've been standing here. Hell, I could tell you exactly what you've been doing for the past half-hour, word for word." His arms slipped away from each other and hung stoically at his sides; he wasn't going to waste his energy mimicking Lenalee's stance, but he did look like he was standing more upright now.

"And as far as what I'm supposed to be doing, you have no place to say." Allen had never Lavi be so harsh-mouthed with Lenalee, not personally anyway, and he felt very uncomfortable just standing there adjacent to such a serious conversation that didn't really have anything to do with him. Lenalee just held her position, staring intently back at the redhead. "I'm not like you: I'm no exorcist. A Bookman's job is not to fight the Akuma with you; my job is to record history. You just happen to be a part of the history that is my responsibility to record."

His eye had glazed over with a cold shine and didn't waver from Lenalee's face. "I am not supposed to get involved. So yes, sometimes I find my existence just boring enough to attempt to insert myself into your lives. Heaven forbid I leave a lasting impression on anyone by pulling a silly, meaningless prank. If that bothers you so much, princess, then don't worry - I'll be sure to keep myself from trying to be a memorable part of your life."

"Lavi, that is quite enough." The last thing any of them expected was the sound of the elder's voice to come booming into their conversation; Lenalee jumped and Allen found himself looking over Lavi's shoulder and right at the Bookman's face. When he'd showed up was unclear but this didn't matter; he'd already heard enough of Lavi's lecture.

"Not now, Panda-san," Lavi spat, turning his expression away from all of them; Allen felt a flash of sympathy for the moment Lavi had lost. "Why don't you go back to whatever foolish thing you were doing before - ah!"

"I apologize for Lavi's behavior," Bookman addressed Lenalee while pulling harshly on Lavi's cheek with his forefinger and thumb. "He has been... distracted from his training. I'll bid you both farewell." Lenalee nodded, her expression turned away from the others as well. The elder Bookman walked off down the hall in the opposite direction, pulling a desperately protesting Lavi with ease.

The trembling girl had held her stance since Lavi had snapped back at her, but now that the two exorcists were alone in the hallway she let go of her straightened pose, letting her shoulders slump forward in what seemed to Allen to be defeat. The tension in the air was so thick that he hesitated to say anything for a few seconds.

Finally he swallowed his anxiety and raised his free hand to touch Lenalee's shoulder, causing her to flinch and snap out of whatever she had been in. "Lenalee... Are you... alright?"

Funny how this sort of situation had started their conversations in this hall.

Lenalee looked back at Allen - if she had wanted to cry she had worked hard to keep it from happening: her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were dry. "Thanks Allen." She gave a grim smile and straightened up a little, turning to face Allen completely. "It seems we might both have stories to exchange later, then?" She probably meant this jokingly, but Allen could see her trying too hard to disguise her hurt; he just nodded. What had happened back there surprised him probably even more than it had surprised her, though Lenalee was probably expecting it less. Allen knew that Lavi cared a lot about Lenalee, but he wasn't sure that this point had been adequately demonstrated to her; she cared about everyone, so it wasn't as if she treated Lavi any different than she might say, Miranda or Crowley. Allen figured that Lavi might talk to her about it soon enough or at least him, but he hadn't said a word, keeping his feelings hidden behind the mask of humor and mischief that he constantly wore.

Lenalee broke into his thoughts again. "But we'll save that for later. Right now I need to get you on your way." With the previous drama it was almost easy for Allen to forget the weight of his suitcase in his hand, the weight of uneasiness pressing onto his stomach. It was time - Allen was going to leave with Kanda on a mission. They were probably going to have someone else tagging along, but with Miranda and Crowley on other missions and Lenalee staying at headquarters, Allen doubted it was going to be someone of much consequence. At least this meant he wouldn't have to deal with constant pressing questions about his getting-along with Kanda, but that was the only positive he saw in this entire situation, a positive that he forced himself to see because not only did he need to be distracted with some other thought, there was still some small, optimistic part inside of him that refused to be affected by his current depression.

If only he could get that optimism to act out more often. It almost seemed like it had been sleeping lately.

-x-x-

I wasn't long before Lenalee had guided Allen to the room where Komui was waiting for him, along with the other character joining them on their trip. Allen's stomach had been twisting into knots expecting to see Kanda around the corner, but it appeared that he either hadn't shown up yet or had been there early and had left momentarily to see to something. Komui greeted Allen and his beloved sister with a smile, his hand resting on the unnamed companion's shoulder.

"There you are Allen! This is Jamis," he announced smiling, as the man apparently called Jamis stood awkwardly with the chief's hand resting on his shoulder. "He's going to be joining you on your mission. He was with one of the last teams we sent out. Jamis here came back with one of the few survivors," Komui added with a serious expression moving over his face. This was of course replaced in no time by its earlier smile as he turned to Lenalee.

As the two siblings started talking Allen looked over at Jamis. The man seemed prepared for the journey with a large pack on his back, gloved hands tightened nervously on the straps. He was a little taller than Allen and dressed in the same garb as the other Finders usually wore. This might have made Allen a little uncomfortable - reminding him of a mission he had once gone on with a mysterious Finder and Kanda as well - if not for a few subtle differences: Jamis left his hood and mask lowered, revealing a head of messy brunette highlights and a young face that made the exorcist wonder how far apart the two were in age. The Finder wore an orange and navy blue-colored headband on his forehead which spanned from his hairline over his eyebrows, its pattern mostly obscured by his long bangs.

Despite the area that his garments covered, Jamis had a very tan face and fingers, which led Allen to believe that either he had spent many years prior in the sun or his pigmentation was hereditary. His eyes, which probably should have stood out from his face, weren't anything special - just a light shade of brown that clashed with his hair and only served to make him look younger. His skin would probably be the most noticeable out of all of his features if clothed normally, but other than that he looked just like any other average youth on the street. Allen assumed that this trait was probably valued in his line of work; most Finders didn't want to look any more conspicuous than they already did, especially with whatever was going on.

"It's nice to meet you, Jamis," Allen offered, figuring that someone should attempt to relieve the boy of his anxiety; it was nice to have something else to focus on. "I'm Allen Walker."

Jamis hesitated but reached out one steady hand to meet Allen's, shaking it lightly. "Yes, I know about you, Walker-san. I hope I can... h-help you on this mission."

Allen didn't have a chance to respond to this comment before Kanda burst in and interrupted the flow of conversations in the room. His words were separated by heavy breaths, as if he'd been storming through the halls of the headquarters. "Where... is... that... spineless... RABBIT?!"

Everyone froze in position like prey that had been discovered in the midst of hiding; the older exorcist's eyes were blazing enough to simulate a predatory glare. Obviously Kanda was talking about Lavi, but it whatever he had done was not immediately noticeable until their brains had snapped back from locking up and took time to analyze the situation. Allen would have noticed it as soon as the long-haired swordsman had entered, but he had been distracted out of fear after hearing that booming, enraged voice.

Kanda should have been prepared to walk out of the door, clad in uniform with all of his necessities, just as Allen was. Instead the exorcist had entered with his hair loose around his shoulders, clothed in a loosely-tied robe that hung off of his shoulders, displaying a partial view of his wrapped chest and tattoo; his unsheathed mugen and a small piece of paper were crushed in each of his fists, respectively. His feet were barefoot - Allen assumed that this was why no one had heard him coming. The aura surrounding the infuriated swordsman seemed black and inflamed; no one dared to even get close to him in fear of him swinging his sword at them.

Both Allen and Lenalee looked away. She had probably done the act out of decency as well as embarrassment, but Allen couldn't stand seeing Kanda clothed like that... Not in front of the others. He hid his less-than-decent thoughts behind a blushed face, which he hoped no one would find out of place.

"There's no point in hiding him," Kanda practically growled, his eyes still blazing with rage. "I'm going to find him, and I'm going to kill him."

Komui pat Lenalee's shoulder, which Allen assumed was her cue to leave - she immediately nodded and walked briskly from the room. The only one brave enough to figure out what was going on, Komui walked up to Kanda and stood in front of him, probably observing that touching him anywhere would most likely set him off. "Kanda, I need you to calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down," Kanda threatened; despite this he lowered his sword a little. He might have been enraged but it was that treacherous redhead he was after, not the chief.

Nodding slightly at Kanda's action, Komui took another step towards Kanda, placing his hand on the other's shoulder. "Tell me what happened. We need to get you and Allen out on this mission," he added, hoping that would give him some incentive to move this drama along.

Kanda's angered look faltered for half of a second before narrowing his eyes at the other. "I went to get ready for today's mission, but all of my clothes are missing; someone emptied out all of the drawers in my room." If the situation hadn't been so serious, Allen probably would have laughed - after his last prank this definitely had to be Lavi's work, though Allen wondered why he hadn't told him. This was probably why they ran into Lavi in the halls earlier.

"I came out of the bathroom and found this on my bed," Kanda spoke through clenched teeth, motioning to the robe he was currently wearing. "Along with this." He held up the piece of paper in his hand that had been mashed by his tightened fist; Komui took the piece of paper out of his hand and smoothed it out a little to read it.

For your own decency~

As if Lavi's handwriting wasn't recognizable enough, the prankster had drawn a small picture of a bunny's head under his words like a signature. Komui gave a small sigh as he lowered the note, shaking his head slightly as he touched his forehead. As if he didn't have enough to do already around here... Now it was his job to keep all the little children from fighting? This is ridiculous. Komui couldn't even understand why Lavi would pull such a prank knowing that it would be obvious who the culprit was... unless he wanted to be found out. He was getting tired of the way Lavi was constantly messing with everyone; he would have to talk to Bookman about this.

"Go to my office, Kanda; I'll go find Bookman," Komui finally said, crumpling up the note in his hand and shoving it into his pocket. "I'm sure he'll be able to find your clothes. In the meantime, Allen, Jamis," he addressed the other two turning to look at them for the first time since Kanda had come in. "You may wait here until I get back. If you wander back to your rooms or the cafeteria, let Lenalee know so she can get ahold of you once we're ready." Kanda looked over at Jamis, scrutinizing him with narrowed eyes as if he hadn't noticed the Finder when he initially walked in; Jamis was facing Allen and didn't notice. After nodding, Allen watched Komui walk briskly down the hallway he and Lenalee had emerged from earlier; he tried not to notice Kanda turn on his heel and dart off in the direction of the Chief's office, so he couldn't tell if the robed exorcist had looked back at him or not. He wasn't sure if he really wanted him to.

So he was left in the empty room with only a stranger and his thoughts for company. Jamis shuffled a bit before finally settling in one of the chairs that leaned against the wall, as if waiting to see what Allen might do first. He decided this was his cue to follow and took a seat next to the Finder, Timcanpy finally stirring from his place on Allen's shoulder; the golem appeared to nap through the recent debacle.

Letting out a mental sigh, Allen enjoyed the silence for a few minutes before the boy next to him spoke. "So Walker-san," the brunette asked shakily, as if he were nervous to upset the silence.

"Yes, Jamis?" Allen asked after it seemed that he might not finish his question. "What is it?"

There was a pause. "Does... does Kanda-san... always act like that?"

The question sounded so timid and honest coming from the Finder that Allen found it difficult not to laugh; he broke out into a grin instead. "Only if you get on his bad side, Jamis." This made Allen think again, and his grin faltered before he decided to change the subject. "He should be fine on the mission. I would just advise to stay out of his way."

"...And Jamis?" he added after a moment of silence.

"Yes, Walker-san?" The Finder looked over at the white-haired exorcist through his messy bangs.

"You can just call me Allen, you know."

-x-x-x-
Phew! Okay, before you all start yelling at me and finding out where I live so you can beat the tar out of me, let me just say this: I am SO sorry.

I have had some major real-life issues going on, I won't lie. Truthfully that's not much of an excuse and I will admit that I lost interest in this thing awhile ago, but I'm hoping that by finishing this thing you can all forgive me. Maybe. Please?

I have this bad habit of starting things and never finishing them, so I can't tell you how many stories I have that I've started and left lying around. Finally, however, I have decided to start finishing all of the things that I've ever starting, beginning with this fan fiction.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, though I will admit there is more drama here than anything else. The next chapter will have more Allen and Kanda moments, I promise!

Three more chapters left and this thing will be finished, so just hang in there! If you've added this story to your alerts then you should have no problem getting updates, but if you added this to your favorites without adding it to your alerts you might want to do that if you would like to finish the story. It's just convenient for everyone.

Comments are GREATLY appreciated. If it weren't for all the comments I'd received previously on this story, I might not have picked this thing back up. Thanks so much to all the fans out there that inspired me to keep going! So much love goes out to you guys! ^-^