I apologise for this chapter being uber-short, but I didn't want to put it in with the next one cuz...I like the ending on this one XD and I updated early because it's mega-short...however, the next update will still be five days from the last one so...this Thursday. Aren't I generous? Lol.

I appreciate all the kind reviews and all. To Ann On E. Mouse, thanks for the offer but the events for the two weeks are sorted now so I don't need any more ideas. (Does Kanda even have a sweet side? -is shot-) Lol and I don't take any offense in that. None of my stories will ever feature yaoi. I mean, I used to be a fan of yaoi and, maybe because of that, the characters I write about who are supposed to be best friends sometimes seem a little more than that. If it ever seems like that to anyone, then please lemme know right away!!!

...Cuz I'm picky about the little things...

ANYWAY! If anyone's got any ideas for LK one-shots but can't be bothered to write em, then lemme know cuz I'm writing a series of em but I just can't come up with anything :(


Kanda was getting tired. And the more tired he got, the angrier he became. But he did his best to hide his irritation because he'd been mean enough to Lavi today so he had to be a little more agreeable.

First, Lenalee and Miranda had wanted to investigate a newly opened ladies' clothing store. Allen and Krory escaped after saying that they were just going to take a short walk and would be coming back in a while. Kanda probably would have gone with them had Allen not invited him to come (of course, Kanda had to refuse whatever proposals that idiot bean sprout came up with). But Lavi was having a great time helping the women pick out new outfits so Kanda was stuck anyway.

They left the shop laden with shopping bags (well, Allen was the only one who had been forced to carry it all).

"H-hey, how about we all get something to eat? I'm hungry." Allen said from somewhere beneath his heavy load.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too!" Krory agreed.

"I suppose that's all right. But we've only been to one shop so far." Lenalee said thoughtfully.

"We can shop more later." Miranda promised.

"Sure! And what about Lavi?" the younger of the two women looked down at the little boy walking beside Kanda and smiled. "Are you hungry?"

Lavi grinned. "Yup! Lavi eat lots!"

Lenalee laughed. "That's great. So, it's decided then; we'll go eat and then shop till we drop! How about the café on the next street?"

Kanda, with his arms folded across his chest and his scowl in place, huffed. He couldn't wait to go back home. Spending any amount of time within a group was just annoying. And plus, the little kid wouldn't let go of the hem of his coat and he found it irritating.

And Lavi had gotten into the habit of tugging on Kanda's coat whenever he saw something interesting. "Papa! Look!"

Trying not to show his irritation as he felt the tug on his coat, Kanda looked down at the boy to see where he was pointing at. On the other side of the fairly quiet street, a man had set up a stall between two shops and on this stall were brightly coloured toys of all kinds.

Kanda wanted to groan but he sighed heavily instead. "What?"

Lavi looked up at him with a bright-eyed gaze. "Lavi look?"

"You don't need to have a look." the man said, not bothering to hide his annoyance this time. "I thought you were hungry?"

Lavi's lip trembled and his eyes became glassy. "B-but…papa…"

Kanda could feel his will wavering as Lavi started to cry. He didn't want the child to cry again…or indeed be the cause of the boy's discomfort, so he sighed and gave in. "All right. Fine."

"Yay!"

From some ways ahead, Miranda gazed back as Kanda turned to cross the street. "Um…a-are you two going somewhere?" she stammered, as she always did when addressing Kanda directly.

Kanda gazed back at her. "The kid wants to have a look at the stall over there."

Lenalee had turned to see what was going on too. "Oh? Shall we come too?" she asked.

"No, that's all right. We'll join you guys shortly." Kanda said. "Let's go, Lavi."

"Okay, papa!" Lavi took a hold of Kanda's coat again and they proceeded to cross the street.

They spent quite a while at the stall because Lavi couldn't make his mind up about what to get. Kanda was getting aggravated. "Hurry it up!" he snapped.

"O-ok!" never comfortable with being yelled at like so, Lavi picked up the closest thing at hand and gave it to Kanda. It was a bright orange ball.

Kanda suppressed a groan. "You sure you want this?" Lavi nodded, staring down at the floor. Kanda sighed. "All right." He paid the owner of the stall and then handed the toy back to Lavi. "Let's get going then."

"Ok." Lavi's glumness soon cleared as he began to play with his purchase. He threw it down and giggled as it bounced back up and nearly hit him in the face.

Kanda looked across the street where they'd left the others. But Lenalee and company were nowhere in sight. They must be in the café already. He wondered if he should just go home instead…but then Lenalee would give him an earful for making everybody worry or whatnot. He sighed in defeat.

He heard the clop-clop of horses' hooves hitting the hard ground. A carriage must have rounded the corner. He decided to wait for it to pass before he crossed over so he kept walking along the pavement. He glanced back to see how close it was…and, for a second, it felt like his heart stopped beating…because, in the middle of the road, chasing after a bright rolling ball was an oblivious Lavi.

"LAVI!" Kanda cried as he dashed forward. From what felt like another reality, he saw the terror-stricken face of the carriage driver as he desperately tried to stop the vehicle. But Kanda's attention was focused on Lavi and Lavi alone.

Lavi glanced up at Kanda's yell, his green eye wide, and he spotted the danger he was in. Kanda lunged at the child and skid across the road with his charge securely in his arms just as the furious hooves of the horses crashed against the ground where Lavi had been. But the wheels of the carriage didn't miss Kanda's right leg. The dark-haired man hissed in pain, from both the frictional burns on his arm as he skidded across the surface of the road and what felt like a bone breaking in his lower shin.

He lay there a long while. Lavi called out to him but he couldn't respond past the pain in his leg. But, again from that same another-reality kind of vision, he saw the carriage pull up on the side of the road and the driver, a splendidly dressed old man with a monocle and a black top hat, came rushing towards them. There were many other people staring now.

Grunting with the effort of keeping his weight off his broken leg, Kanda sat up. He freed Lavi, still not casting the child a glance. With an iron will, the man then forced himself to his feet, almost falling over in the process. His vision swam; he must have hit his head pretty hard and the pain…the pain shooting up from his leg was searing. He nearly staggered as jolts of agony shot up his injured leg but he ignored them and, trying not to wince as he glared at the approaching driver, he spoke through gritted teeth, not letting the other man get in a word. "Did you not see the kid? Didn't you think to slow down?"

"I'm…I'm awfully sorry!" the old man sputtered. "A-are you all right?! Could…could I perhaps take you to the hospital?! Is the child all right?!" he eyes held an expression of worry and his gaze kept shifting between the injury on Kanda's leg, Kanda's angry face, and the little child who looked confused.

"We don't need to…be…taken…to…" Kanda's vision wasn't getting any better. He tried to force out the words he wanted to say, to maintain his angry tone, but his tongue felt heavy and his vision was slipping and darkness was closing in. He gritted his teeth tightly as he began to fall back.

Why was he trying to blame someone else? It was clear who was at fault here; no one but himself. He'd not been watching over Lavi as he should have been. If he had, this would never have happened. Damn it…he thought.

But he decided he was happy as he heard Lavi's shout, as if the child were calling from a huge distance. "Papa…!"

At least Lavi was safe.


After this chapter, it starts to get crackish. I've accepted that there's no way this story would actually take place in the real storyline...but, that's what fanfiction's all about, right? Fans writing about stuff that's never gonna happen XD well, that's usually how it is, more often than not, with fanfiction.

Anyway, as I said, I'm looking for ideas for LK friendship one-shots so please help me out!

Also, I told someone that this would be epic in a lot of ways...I'm sorry; it really isn't :(

Thanks for reading!