Cantarella Chapter 10, a d.gray-man fanfic

-Cantarella-

"What's that disgusting smell?"

Kanda sniffed the air—that had somehow turned stuffy with a sickly sweet musk to it—and scowled. He crossed his arms, leaning on the doorway to his kitchen and caught the surprised jolt Reiichi jerked with. She looked rather guilty, but she did not stop stirring whatever was in the pot on the stove.

She had purposely chosen to do this late in the night in the hopes that Kanda would not find out—but he did. Normally she would have done this over at Bookman's place, like she did last year, but there was just no time to go over and her cousin would've blabbed it to his best friend either way.

"Chocolate," she answered, resigning to the fact that she had been found out. "For tomorrow."

Valentine's Day, Kanda noted mentally. He stepped in, half gagging at the horrible scent that flooded the air. "Why are you making so much?" he frowned, eyeing the several trays that already had been laid out.

After all, wasn't it just for him?

"I don't want it," he added, just to make sure. Never again was he going to eat something that was sweet just because he had to.

"It's not for you," Reiichi retorted, lowering the heat on the stove. "The rest of the design team wanted some, and a few others…" she rolled her eyes at his deepening scowl. "It's just obligatory, you know that."

"Tch," he grumbled, peering into the pot. A sniff indicated that he clearly disapproved of chocolate, and he pursed his lips finally. "You better not stain the pot with that horrible thing."

"I'll wash it, don't worry."

Soon, Reiichi noted that the chocolate was getting creamier with each stir of the pot, and a few minutes later she turned the heat off. After a while she deemed it to be cool enough and took a small sample with her finger, licking it experimentally.

Hmm, it was rather sweet, but she liked it that way.

Suddenly she noticed Kanda staring at her with twice the usual intensity, and a deep grimace was upon on his lips.

"Do you want some?" she grinned, holding a scoop up for him.

"No," he refused vehemently, turning away at the offered treat. "I'm not going to eat it ever again."

"Jerk," she muttered, taking the refused scoop and started to pour it into the empty mould trays. "I spent so much time making it for you."

"I didn't ask for it."

He didn't, but it did not change the fact that she had agonized so much over it last year. She scowled, continuing her task in silence. Soon, the moulds were filled and there was just a small portion of the chocolate that was left over in the pot. Since it was such a waste to throw the rest away, Reiichi went to take a spoon and dug in, savouring the warm chocolatey flavor that filled her mouth.

Kanda only watched in barely concealed disgust.

Another spoon disappeared into her mouth, and he just didn't understand how she could eat it like it was fucking delicious or something. It was as if she worshipped the stupid sweet treat—the way she licked the spoon slowly after taking out of her mouth was giving him images that had nothing to do with the said chocolate.

"Quit eating that," he grounded out, swiping the spoon from her hand. "It makes me sick."

Reiichi frowned at the loss of cutlery for a moment before using her finger to dip into the pot. "But it's pretty good," she shrugged, licking off a chocolate covered finger.

She eyed the trays that were left on the counter to cool while she continued eating the left over chocolate, mentally estimating the time needed that was left before she could refrigerate the sweets. Well, she should be cleaning up at any rate…

Kanda just wondered why he was standing there watching her eat chocolate past midnight. The main reason he exited his room was to find her to tell her something, but currently he didn't really remember what because he was just too distracted by her mouth.

Fuck, she was definitely teasing him.

Did she really need to drag the tip of her pink tongue so fucking slow? Did she really need to make that kind of noise that was just…just…

Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck.

There was just no way she was not doing it on purpose—especially with how she licked her bottom lip slowly and smiled with a satisfied hum. It seemed like she noticed his gaze because she looked back questioningly, finger on the edge of her lip.

She blinked, and that was all it took for him to crash his mouth against hers. She took an unsteady step back in surprise and let out a muted murmur, clutching the front his shirt reflexively. His hands found way towards the back of her neck and the edge of her jaw, positioning her mouth for the right angle to devour.

He tasted chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate—and he was annoyed with how he couldn't seem to taste her, so he kissed her harder in hopes that somewhere out there he would. Desire was stirring dark within him, and he wasn't satisfied with how everything tasted so disgustingly sweet.

He stroked her neck with feather light touches that caused her to moan so deliciously against his lips and finally…finally…

Finally.

"Urgh," Kanda coughed finally when he pulled back after a minute more. "How can you even eat something like this shit?" he complained, licking his own lips to wipe off any excess chocolate.

It was suddenly extremely quiet in the kitchen except for his and her own heavy breathing, and then he noticed Reiichi staring at him with one of the darkest blushes she ever had on.

"What?"

That seemed to make her more flustered. "N-nothing," she managed eventually, staring at his chest.

It was just the thought that he did something like…that. She touched her lips with slightly trembling hands, because something that she thought would never occur with Kanda had just did: him eating something that was in her mouth. Wasn't that kind of a….she didn't know how to explain it, but it was just something she thought he would have done over his dead body.

Apparently Kanda didn't think it was much a of big deal, because he scowled in confusion. "Huh," he snorted when she just kept quiet, averting her eyes.

He didn't know what she was thinking about, but he knew that it was about him at least—because she only ever had this particular look on when it was him. He smirked, placing both hands beside her on the kitchen counter. It was barely a step forward that it took to press her up against him.

She could barely swallow and her breathing had definitely slowed to the point where she couldn't breathe, but she touched his around his waist, cautiously at first, and then holding him close. Her heartbeat was pounding too loud to hear anything else as he just stared smugly back at her like he knew how much she wanted him.

Normally she would've hit him for teasing her when it was already so obvious that she did, but this time she decided to let it slide—because she figured it was okay to boost his ego just this once—and she leaned up to kiss him again.

Kanda did not disappoint, leading another intricate dance. He started out slow, but maybe it was because of the heat that had generated quickly between their bodies that he sped up the pace. He slipped an experimental hand up her shirt, and when it seemed like she welcomed his touches, he crept his other hand up the side of her body. Her skin was cool in contrast to his warm palms, and he particularly liked running his fingers over the curve of her spine.

It wasn't enough. He wanted to taste more, feel more, hear more.

He broke a passionate kiss, breath tickling the side of her face before he targeted her neck. He ran his tongue over the patch of delicate skin, earning a shiver that went through her body frame, and smirked.

Mmm. Salty.

"W-wait," Reiichi gripped his shoulder breathlessly when he was about to do it again. "We have work tomorrow and I don't want to wear a scarf in the office."

Kanda looked up back at her steadily flushed face. "I don't," he answered blankly, and then leaned down to brush his lips over the same spot again.

"K-kanda!" she scowled, shoving him a bit. "Wait," she paused when she registered his words. "You're not going to work tomorrow?"

Something clicked in Kanda's mind. That was what he had intended to tell her when he left his room, but well, he wanted to do something else now. In any case, his original mission had been accomplished.

"The usagi isn't as well. Going to the office on that stupid mushy holiday?" he cocked an eyebrow. "You want me to get raped or what?"

Last year Valentine's day fell on a weekend, but this year it wasn't. Kanda was (relatively) safe in his house since he had the law protecting him from stalkers, but if he went to the office, it was possible that his fans would storm the place trying to give him chocolate. In fact, she could bet that it probably happened before, and that was the reason why he was so agreeable with taking a day off. She highly doubted that just because Kanda Yuu was officially attached now meant that the love letters would stop either.

"That makes sense," she nodded.

With a satisfied grunt, Kanda turned his attention back to her neck, totally ignoring her request to not leave marks. He started to suck at the skin—and Reiichi knew a hickey would be present after. Maybe a light one, but still noticeable nonetheless. Even if it felt good to the point that she had to control a gasp that was threatening to slip, she protested, trying to pull back.

"Rei…"

It came out as some sort of a low husky whine, and she trembled under the breath that was way too close to her ear. It was downright seductive, and more heat quickly crawled up her face. She involuntarily groaned when he actually sunk his teeth into the skin below the edge of her jawline.

Since when was she so weak in resisting his advances? With only one more futile half hearted shove, her mind blanked at the sensations burning like fire on her body. She didn't realize how far his hands had roamed up her shirt until he tugged her bra up and cupped her breast. Immediately she jerked—he had never touched her so intimately before, and it was like leading on to….to…and at that thought, more blood rushed to her face.

It seemed like he wasn't giving her a chance to refuse, because he carried on kissing her skin, exploring her body, pleasuring her by eliciting louder moans that she muffled into his shoulder. Never before had he been so straightforward—and could only hug him tightly by the neck, because if she let go, she surely would've fallen.

Kanda groaned when he started to feel quite uncomfortable in his pants. It was hardly unexpected considering he was extremely tempted to undress her the moment they started, but he held back—as much as he could. It was just that the feel of her skin against his own was just too pleasurable to resist. And maybe her taste, and moreover she smelt so fucking good—

He trailed his mouth up the nape of her neck. "Bedroom," he whispered, licking the shell of her ear.

It was a request.

Maybe the first ever request he had made regarding physical activities with her. He wasn't about to rape her, of course not—he was still thinking coherently, sort of.

Suddenly he realised how she had stiffened after moments of silence. Internally he groaned, because that definitely meant a no, and also he had to take care of his problem. Fuck, he didn't think a cold shower would do it. Reluctantly he leaned back, and a sudden thought that he had pushed too far struck his mind. Shit.

Reiichi looked the most crimson he had ever seen in his life.

Actually, she looked like she was on the verge of freaking out—maybe she was already doing so. She bit her lip and her eyes were shifting towards everywhere except him. With a sigh he stepped back, but unexpectedly she caught the front of his shirt frantically.

"It's not that I-I…" she stuttered, staring at the floor. It's not that I don't love you. Was what she was trying to say, but her mouth just wasn't working. "Um, I…"

Kanda raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to look guilty of all things.

"You're not ready, I get it," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Stop freaking out—I'm not going to force you."

She blushed even harder and huffed, dropping her hand. For a moment he just stared at how she looked so entirely embarrassed at something he didn't think so much about.

"Do you…" she spoke up suddenly. "Do you want help with…with…" she shut her eyes so hard that Kanda was curious at what she was being so flustered over, "With that?"

"With what?" he frowned.

"Um…." She couldn't say it out loud—of course she couldn't! Frustrated, she made some kind of gritted noise and slapped a hand over her eyes. "Your…I mean…ugh," she groaned, gesturing to some direction below his hip. "That."

Kanda cocked an eyebrow, looking down at himself. Oh. Well, she probably had felt his bulge when he was pressing himself so close to her just now—but really, what was the big deal? He practically just asked her to sleep with him.

"What, are you offering me a handjob or a blowjob?" he asked bluntly.

If possible, she turned past scarlet at his words, and couldn't even manage a retort. She didn't even know if he was being serious or whether he was joking—then again, Kanda rarely joked about anything—

"Don't say things you don't mean, idiot," Kanda scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"I did mean it!" she protested, then faltered. "I mean…I.…I…"

She always wondered if it was a bit unfair that she was the one being pleasured, and wondered if maybe she should do something, but…but….

It was truly amusing to Kanda to see her so frantic about this. It didn't really occur to him until now that she was a virgin, and what that really meant. Fuck, it was kind of a turn on.

"Really," he drawled in his deep baritone, taking one step closer to her.

His eyes glinted with lustful interest and he smirked darkly, reaching out to brush her cheek. She wasn't breathing at this point, and he ran a thumb over her bottom lip in near erotic fashion.

"Then…"

Her eyes snapped to his hand that lingered at the edge of his pants, and he made a slow show of pulling them ever so slightly down—

At this point, Kanda couldn't take it anymore.

He covered his hand with his mouth and turned his face sideways, coughing violently. Reiichi watched bewildered as tremors racked his body, and there weren't signs of stopping even after a minute. She furrowed her eyes, wondering how the situation took such a drastic turn, and then when the hacking didn't subside, she noticed him glancing at her at the corner of his eyes with the most amount amusement she had ever seen him posses.

Was…was he laughing?

Kanda continued to smother his coughs. It had been too irresistible to tease her about it—she practically looked like she was going to cry out of embarrassment.

Yes, he was laughing at her.

Immediately she dropped the worried hand that was about to touch him, and scowled darkly. She couldn't believe the nerve of him to seduce her and laugh at her reactions—and it seemed like minutes later he still wasn't stopping.

"Kanda!"

He merely continued to cough, and a sort of low rumble emitted from behind his hand several times. She never felt more mortified in her life—maybe even worse than whatever Lavi had done to her.

With a glare, she kneed him.

The next morning, Reiichi reached the office alone in the taxi, still feeling sour about how she had been laughed at by someone who never laughed. Kanda was probably cooped up in the dojo when she left—he was probably sulking at how she had actually managed to hurt him. He deserved it, in any case.

She never did anything like she did with him before—was it really her fault that she didn't know how she was supposed to react or what she was supposed to do?

Absently she tugged at her high collared blouse with a scowl, and frowned deeper upon remembering the deep red mark on her neck. She couldn't believe how he had purposely ignored her request and instead made it worse—the love bite didn't seem like it was going to fade in days. Another reason to hit him when she got home, provided she survived the day in the office.

When she stepped out of the taxi, she was mildly irked at how she immediately spotted a sizeable queue of girls hanging around outside the glass doors, no doubt for Kanda Yuu. All of them turned to look at her and some sighed in defeat when they realised she had came alone. However, a few of them headed directly for her, and she started to feel a sense of apprehension.

"Kuroshi," one of them hugging a heart shaped box to her chest narrowed her eyes at her. "Is Kanda-sama coming?"

Warily, Reiichi eyed the gaggle of dolled up ladies in front of her. "No."

"She's lying!"another muttered, giving her a hard glare. "She just wants to keep him for herself!"

The redhead wasn't quite quick in keep bubble of irritation that rapidly grew bigger. "Look," she started, feeling indignant. "If you don't believe me, that's your own choice. I need to work, so if you girls would please," she smiled tightly, "Excuse me."

Before she could brush past them though, one of them caught her arm and pushed a wrapped box into her hands. "Pass this to Kanda-sama, will you?"

She didn't have time to decline when the others likewise started to shove presents unto her, and she was left standing at the foot of the steps with a big pile of boxes. She couldn't believe how she had been insulted so blatantly—of course the girls knew that she was Kanda Yuu's girlfriend, yet they asked her to give a gift of confession to him? Surely they were right out of their minds.

She growled under her breath, glaring at the stupid heavy presents darkly as the girls dispersed. Why did Kanda have to attract girls wherever he went? It was unfair and it certainly got annoying.

"Do you need some help?" a deep familiar amused voice drawled, and she whirled around to see Tyki Mikk leaning against his black car—how had she not recognized it—in one of the parking lots.

"Do you want these?" she answered flatly, not in the mood. She sighed a moment later. "Sorry. That was rude of me."

Tyki chuckled, searching his pockets for a cigarette. "Indeed," he agreed. "Your boyfriend's bad influence is rubbing off you more than I thought."

Reiichi grimaced when he lit a roll. "So," she started. "You lied to me."

He cocked an eyebrow, smirking. "I would never lie to you, Reiichi."

"You said your family isn't involved in the creepy letters that were sent to me," she stated.

"Well, I didn't know it at that time either," he shrugged. "Lulu doesn't tell me much, you know."

Reiichi frowned at the name. "So it's Lulubell," she muttered grimly under her breath.

"Oh. You didn't know?" Tyki glanced at her, surprised. "Then how did you know it was from us? Wild guess?"

"Matsumoto was involved, so I pieced the rest together," she explained.

"Let me guess," he smirked, taking a drag languidly. "Kanda Yuu knew who it was, yet he refused to tell you, and thus you took a chance in guessing that it was from us," he grinned when she couldn't say anything in response. "Seems like he really doesn't trust you, Reiichi."

"Why did Lulubell sent me those letters?" she asked finally after moments of silence.

"It's too easy if I just tell you," Tyki rolled his eyes.

"Mikk—"

"It's Tyki," he replied.

Reiichi narrowed her eyes. "If you're not going to say anything, then goodbye," she smiled wanly, turning on her heel.

The boxes in her hands were getting rather heavy, not to mention she started to feel disgruntled that Kanda hadn't told her anything. Granted, it was her fault putting off asking him about it because she was waiting for a right moment to ask in which the probability of him answering was the highest.

"Reiichi," Tyki sighed, tapping his cigarette. "Your temper is getting shorter each time we meet," he shook his head. "I can tell you this though—Lulu isn't targeting you," he shrugged.

"Then…" there was only one other person. "She's targeting Kanda?" she demanded when he just stopped there. "Why?"

"Come on," Tyki snorted, grinning. "I'm the bad guy—what's in it for me if I do tell you everything, hmm?"

"You've got a point there," she nodded slowly. Actually she was kind of wondering why he seemed to seek her out whenever something happens. "If you're not here to tell me anything, then why are you here?"

"Can't I wish you a happy Valentine's day?" he asked innocently, producing a red rose from his front pocket. "It's just one flower, dear," he added when Reiichi frowned. "Nothing fanciful. It's not like Kanda Yuu would give you one, am I right?"

"Well, thanks," she sighed, defeated. Giving him a smile, she took the flower. "The thought is appreciated."

"Aren't you supposed to give me something in return?" he asked cheekily. "I came specifically for those chocolates—and I'm not going back without them."

She raised an eyebrow. "Since when were you such a chocoholic?"

"I love chocolate," he sniffed. "Especially on skin—"

"I didn't need to hear that," she cut him off quickly. With an exasperated smile, she set down the boxes and dug into her bag to produce one of the many packets she packed in the morning.

Tyki took it with a grin. "Two more," he held out his other hand, grinning. "Three, actually."

"You're being rather bold," she commented, slightly amused. "I do have other people to give them too, you know."

"I'm taking them on the behalf of the twins," he explained, twitching his fingers. "They're on tour now as you should know—"

"Since when did you listen to them?"

"Since they were being downright assholes," Tyki grumbled, but didn't elaborate anything more than that. "And Skin wants one. Well hey," he shrugged. "I'm not going to share."

"How can I trust you to hand it over to them?" she asked, fingering the extra packets.

"You can't," he smirked, flicking the last of his cigarette to the ground and crushing it with his heel. "But you wouldn't want someone of your office to think you're cheating on Kanda Yuu, considering the extra long conversation you're having with me," he glanced towards the glass doors where an obviously displeased Emilia stood staring.

Reiichi narrowed her eyes and handed over the chocolates. "I'll inform the twins that you have them," she stated.

"You do that," he smiled flippantly, opening his car door. He paused for a moment before grabbing her hand and bringing it to his mouth.

"Thanks for the chocolate," he brushed his lips across her hand, staring right back at her. "You should be more careful, Reiichi," he muttered lowly, golden eyes glinting. "You shouldn't trust us so much."

With one last wink, Tyki got into his car and drove off with a salute. It was kind of disturbing whenever he used that kind of eerie tone with her—and truthfully, it sounded more like a warning than anything else. Reiichi didn't have time to dwell upon that though, because Emilia practically pounced on her the moment Tyki's car drove away.

"Reiichi!" the French girl scowled, poking her shoulder. "What are you doing? Giving chocolates to Tyki Mikk? What about Kanda-sama, huh?"

"Obligatory, Emilia," Reiichi sighed. "And, you do know Kanda hates chocolate, right? He specifically asked me not to give him any," she muttered, still feeling a little spiteful.

"Yeah, but he did eat those you made last year, didn't he?" the older woman grinned at how she flushed slightly.

"Still," Reiichi grumbled. "I made some for him this year, but… I guess I should just eat it for him," she muttered dejectedly under her breath. "Anyway," she forced a smile, taking the boxes she had set down. "Help me carry some of these—I don't have enough hands."

Emilia rolled her eyes, swiping the boxes out of her hands with ease. "Reiichi, sometimes you're a bit too…" she frowned, hefting them in her arms and strode towards the bin at the side of the glass doors.

"A bit too…?"

"A bit too passive," Emilia hummed, and then mercilessly dumped all the boxes into the bin, ignoring the horrified look she earned from the other. "You should've just done this," she stuffed the last remaining box in with a satisfied smile. "There. Done. I can't believe you actually thought of bringing all those home—" she demanded, "No, I can't believe you actually thought of passing them on to Kanda-sama!"

"No!" Reiichi denied, scowling. "I wasn't going to pass them on! I wanted to throw them away but…but…" she sighed, looking at the full dustbin with slight sympathy. "It takes a lot of effort to make them…and…"

"What, were you going to eat them?" Emilia rolled her eyes. "Come on. All those are store bought—hardly any effort was in it," she pushed the younger through the glass doors to enter the building. "Anyway," she started excitedly, pressing the button for the lifts. "There's a bunch of silver roses on your table!"

Reiichi blinked. "Silver?"

"Yeah! They're shiny!" the French girl squealed, winking. "I'm so jealous of you, girl. Flowers from Kanda-sama? The first ever time I've heard of it."

"I highly doubt it's from Kanda," the redhead blinked.

"Come on, I bet it is. Kanda-sama is definitely a romantic."

She almost couldn't stop the incredulous cough that immediately followed. "What?" her voice was slightly hoarse with disbelief. "Emilia," she grinned, shaking her head. "I thought you knew Kanda better than that."

"I do," Emilia insisted, dragging her to her table the moment when they reached the correct floor. "Look!"

Emilia was right—the roses were actually shiny. In fact, they looked so entirely delicate and magical and unreal that she checked the stem, and again, it looked normal. She smiled, knowing it had to be from Jasdevi. A signed picture of the twins winking at her was stuck in the middle of the bouquet proved her guess right.

It was really just too bad Kanda never did anything like this.

"You've got flowers too," Reiichi commented, looking over at the other's table.

"Kie," Emilia replied, apparently busy digging in a paper bag. "He came earlier with your fanboy—aha!" she grinned, pulling out a wrapped box. "Here you go, happy Valentine's day, girl!"

"Thanks," Reiichi accepted it with a smile, handing over hers. "You, as well."

Emilia grinned, and then her eyes caught sight of something behind her. "Oh look," she tried not to snicker, covering her mouth. "It's your fanboy."

Indeed, Maosa was lingering behind some other cubicles a distance away, but his crop of black hair was clearly seen. He seemed to be pacing around, occasionally glancing towards their direction—and stopped with a mortified expression when he realised the two of them were watching him silently.

It was really kind of cute.

He walked over sheepishly. "Kuroshi-san," he greeted with an embarrassed grin, rubbing his neck. He sent a glare towards Emilia who was failing to stifle her giggles. "Um, I…I wasn't stalking you, I swear—I was just waiting for you to arrive…um…"

"You need something from me?" Reiichi asked curiously.

"Need? Not need, but I…" he blushed slightly, looking away. "Um, I…this is extremely bold of me but…" he thrust a bouquet of mixed flowers into her direction, whipping them out from behind him. "Please accept this!" he bowed deeply.

Emilia glanced at her nails. "You know Kanda-sama will murder you in cold blood when he hears of this, right?"

Maosa turned slightly pale. "I…I'm not trying to break them up!" he insisted vehemently. "I'm just…it's a just a gift!"

"Well…" Reiichi looked at the gift unsurely, noting that it was even more extravagant then what Tyki tried to give her last year.

"It's just a thank you gesture," he pressed on determinedly, smiling sincerely. "I mean, because of you, I'm here." It took a moment's pause for Maosa to register why Emilia suddenly burst into guffaws. "Oh my god I can't believe I just said that," he muttered.

"Ha…" The French girl collapsed unto her chair, giggling uncontrollably. "You're…you're asking for death, aren't you?" she snickered, and then waved someone in the distance over. "Moor! You should've totally arrived a few seconds earlier—you would not believe what this guy just said!"

It was very understandable that Maosa was tempted to jump off their office building at this moment.

"Hmm? What did he say?" Moor asked, curious as she ambled closer.

"He said—"

"Thank you," Reiichi blushed, taking the offered flowers. She figured she should save the poor guy from more embarrassment before the entire floor knew about it. "Maosa-san," she started, holding a packet of her chocolates out to him. "I appreciate it."

He practically looked like he was shining. "Thank you so much!" he bowed, accepting her gift with excited hands. "Thank you! Well, I've got to get Yeegar-san now," he shuffled his feet. "See you around, Kuroshi-san."

"You won't have the chance to when Kanda-sama's done with you!" Emilia grinned.

"Shut up!" With one last glare towards Emilia, he hurried off towards the lifts.

"Was that really necessary?" Reiichi questioned as she wanted him go.

"What? He's fun to tease," Emilia snorted. "Besides, he needs to be reminded that Reiichi is off limits!"

"Emy, the poor guy will suffer enough under Kanda-san," Moor put in, shaking her head.

Emilia only shrugged.

"Come on, Yuu! You lost the bet!"

Kanda ignored the intensely annoying pitch and swung his bokken.

"I know you can hear me!" Lavi continued, drumming his fingers on the wooden floor. "You're swinging your sword around just for the sake of it!"

So what if he was? "So what if I am?" Kanda sneered, hand paused in mid-swing. "Get the fuck out."

"It's the holiday of love, dude," the redhead whined. "Can't you love me just once a year?"

The kendo boy had an expression nearly akin to committing suicide.

"Then again," Lavi mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "You love me every day, so that's of no difference."

Kanda didn't even want to bother retorting.

"Yuu! Stop ignoring me!" the other thrashed childishly on the floor. "Yuu! YUU! THE YUU THAT REI-CHAN LURVES~ IT'S YUUUUUUU WHOM SHE LURVES~~~~~~"

"FUCK," Kanda almost threw his wooden sword down in exasperation. "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP, GODDAMMIT!"

"I'M ALL ABOUT YUU—I'M ALL ABOUT US—"

He could feel the blood that was leaking from what Lavi had as a singing voice. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?" he demanded, rubbing his abused ears.

"The penalty of the bet in which you lost," Lavi replied simply, grinning.

"No," Kanda narrowed his eyes immediately.

"But you lost!"

"So what?" the model rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to do that. Over my fucking dead body!"

"You make it sound like it's so difficult," Lavi rolled his eye back at him. "It's not like I'm asking you to sing poetry to her or whatever—I'm just telling you to say 'I love you' once! ONCE! It's not going to kill you!"

It was clear that Kanda didn't feel comfortable discussing anything with the letter L. "Just shut up," he huffed eventually.

"Look," Lavi pushed himself off the floor and came forward with a determined glint. He stuck his hand into his back pocket and took out the paper Kanda started to hate with a vengeance. "It's on the list. Number 37: Look deep into her eyes and tell her you love her," he read, and watched the scowl on his best friend's face deepen. "Don't be a jackass, Yuu. I know she's said it to you before."

Kanda looked away, though Lavi could catch a faint tint of pink on the other's face. "I don't care. And go the fuck away or I'll kick your ass."

Lavi pouted. "What," he looked at the model suspiciously for a moment. "Did you guys fight again?"

The other kept stubbornly quiet.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuu—"

"It's her fault," Kanda stated finally, lips pursing. "Stop bothering me."

Lavi cocked an eyebrow. "So that's why you're being so moody today…huh, I bet it's your fault."

Kanda glared at him so hard he felt the burn. "My fault?" he snarled, tightening his fist. "It's not my fucking fault if she—" then he faltered when he noticed the expectant look Lavi was looking at him. "I'm not telling you," he huffed, because saying that he got kicked in someplace down there was going to warrant a giggling session from the male redhead.

The said redhead pouted. "I'll ask Rei-chan then," he stuck his tongue out. "Anyway, you still owe me one for the bet. Do number 37. DO IT!"

"And you owe me one for saving her ass that day," Kanda retorted, crossing his arms. "So we're equal. Now get out."

"But you protected her because you love her!" Lavi insisted, scowling.

"You said you owed me one," Kanda shrugged, nonchalant.

"…You're such an asshole."

Not much work was done in the office, to tell you the truth. The pink balloons hanging about was enough to distract anybody, and half the time everyone was gossiping about whatever latest hookup—and of course, Reiichi was suspected of having experience with Kanda Yuu, mostly thanks to that red spot on her neck.

"We didn't," she groaned for what seemed to be the nth time of the day.

"Well," Twi Chan shrugged, leaning against her cubicle. "That's five bucks out of my wallet."

"I told you so, dear," Edgar pouted, crossing his arms next to her. "Reiichi-kun isn't like that."

"But Kanda-kun is," his wife countered. "See that?" she pointed unabashedly to the red mark that her collar had failed to hide. "He did it in a place where everyone can see—he's definitely going to take her in a month, tops."

Edgar glanced at the mark. "Kanda-kun can control himself."

"Really," Twin smirked, leaning closer to her husband, lowering her voice. "Much like you?"

The head of Accounts spluttered. "D-darling—!" he called after his wife's retreating back, and sighed. "Reiichi-kun, please excuse us," he smiled and moved off with hurried steps.

Reiichi slapped a hand to her slightly flushed face and sighed, wondering why all the head of the departments had to ask her the same thing. Perhaps the worst part of all was realizing that it was even being bet on.

Slowly, she filed the rest of her sketches that were strewn about. The rest had left before the Chans came to talk to her, and since it had been a rather unproductive day, it was still early.

Her phone vibrated noisily on the table and she glanced over, pausing when it was an unknown number.

"Reiichi," Kanda's familiar baritone sounded, though she wondered if he was using a pay phone or something. Weird. "I'm here."

"Here?" she blinked.

"At the carpark. Hurry up, I'm not waiting for you." His impatience could be felt, almost.

She rolled her eyes. "Then why are you here?"

"To pick you up, idiot," he huffed.

"Which means you will wait for me."

"Fuck, Reiichi," he groaned. "Must you be so annoying?"

She stilled. Definitely, whoever she was talking on the phone wasn't Kanda. The voice sounded like Kanda and the words and short sentences was almost the same—but it wasn't.

"….Who are you?" she asked after a few moments of silence, feeling a bit creeped out.

Still in the same deep voice—"Hmm, what gave it away?" whoever it was sounded amused.

"Kanda doesn't call me 'Reiichi'," she stated, gripping her phone. "Who are you? Why do you know me?"

"What does he call you then?" the stranger continued, ignoring her questions. "Dearest? Honey? Sugar?—"

It just felt so odd to hear Kanda saying all those words—not Kanda.

"—Baby?"

This wasn't Kanda. It wasn't.

"It doesn't really matter, anyway," the stranger grinned. "The same mistake won't be made twice, Rei."

"Who are you?" Reiichi demanded tightly.

"I was going to introduce myself if you had came to the carpark, but I think we can play this game just a little longer—"

"I don't want to play your stupid game," she retorted. "Tell me who you are. Now."

"Me? I'm your next pursuer," the stranger laughed, and it was just…strange because this was Kanda—I mean, Kanda's voice, and… "Well, since nothing went as planned, I'll be seeing you another day. You should take the chance in practicing telling the difference between an imitation and the original voice. After all, it would be disappointing if you mistook someone else for someone you claim to love, no?"

"What are you—"

"Just saying," he chuckled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rei."

The line went dead. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but she did know one thing.

It was truly pathetic, but she had imagined Kanda to be saying the last sentence.

Happy Valentine's Day, Rei.

Not Kanda. Not Kanda. It wasn't Kanda. It was stupid to suddenly wish that maybe Kanda would say it—stupid. Stupid. Extremely stupid—

"HI HI REI-CHAN~"

Reiichi nearly screamed in shock when two strong arms enveloped her from behind, and her cousin's breath was way too close to her ear. She relaxed when she realised it was just Lavi, and he nuzzled her cheek with upmost reverence.

"I love you so much," he smiled, kissing her cheek lightly and squeezing her to death. "Happy Valentine's day~"

He thrust a rather fluffy white toy in the shape of a rabbit into her hands. It had no eyes, and personally it looked slightly creepy, but it was still cute and very huggable. "Here ya go—meet Mr Luscinia!"

"…That's its brand name," she replied, raising an eyebrow at the originality. "But thank you," she smiled, hugging him by the neck. "I made you some chocolate, but it's at home—"

Lavi's excited scream could probably be heard across Japan. "YES! YES! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" he punched his fist in the air, jumping gaily.

"I wanted to bake you some cookies, but Kanda doesn't have an oven…"

"Cookies would've been more awesome," Lavi nodded, pouting a little. "I'll take what I can get. Hehehehe chocolate…."

"If you get exceedingly high after eating them, I won't be responsible for whatever Kanda will do to you," she stated, amused.

Her cousin waved it off. "Nah, I'm bringing them back—I'm not sharing them, pft no way."

"So," she began when Lavi started to examine the flowers she received in the morning. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," he grinned, turning his attention back to her for a moment. "Yuu begged me to fetch you home and of course I could never refuse a request of lurve—"

"Or more likely," she snorted, "He kicked you out."

Lavi didn't deny it, though he smirked. "With his keys."

The underlying message was caught on. Her heart thumped a little faster but would've been rather nice if Kanda himself had came. Only, he didn't, she thought with a bit of spite, because she was still annoyed with how he had laughed at her. Unbelievable.

"You're bringing those back?" Lavi blinked, reaching to help her take the bouquet of flowers she balanced in her hands. "Yuu will throw a hissy fit when he sees them."

Like dumping them away with no remorse whatsoever, she recalled. "He won't see them then," she replied.

Lavi blinked, but didn't comment as he led them out of the building, occasionally waving to some of their colleagues lingering about. He had taken the Audi instead of Kanda's usual ride to the office, mostly because the Lambo was much more recognizable as a Kanda Yuu property and he didn't want to find himself being trailed by the entire Japan. He did have some sort of sanity—though questionable.

"Rei-chan," he started once they were on the way home.

"Hmm?" she replied distractedly, playing with the bunny he had given her in her lap.

"Does it hurt?" he glanced at her once, noting her confused expression. "Your hickey," he elaborated.

Reiichi felt rather uncomfortable discussing anything pertaining to that—considering Lavi was her cousin and Kanda's best friend—awkwardness at the highest level—but Lavi seemed rather serious about it.

"…What?" she answered intelligibly.

"There's a small bruise in it, if you haven't noticed," he stated neutrally, eyes firmly set on the road.

"Oh," she unconsciously blushed and touched the spot. "Well, it doesn't hurt…" But it is annoying.

"If Yuu is being too rough, I can tell him for you," Lavi continued, still in that flat tone of his.

"He's…" she swallowed, not knowing how to answer with the feeling of incredible awkwardness. "…not really…I mean…most of the time, he's…" it would've been just too weird to use the word gentle—which Kanda was…sometimes, "…okay…"

Lavi nodded slowly. "Okay… but if he does something you don't like, you should tell him."

"I don't…dislike it," she mumbled, staring out the window with a hand on her neck.

"Well," he looked at her as he took in her rather pink expression. "Yuu said you guys fought again so I was just wondering if that's the reason…"

Almost immediately, she scowled. "That's his fault."

Needless to say, Lavi was extremely curious. "So what happened?" he prodded.

Reiichi shook her head furiously. "I'm not telling you."

Her darker blush made him even more interested. "Come on, tell me!" he whined.

"No."

"Rei-chan…"

"You do know that you can't do the puppy dog expression because you only have one eye, right? The effect is kind of ruined."

"…That was mean."

It was warm in the kotatsu, and it was already quite a late hour, but somehow Reiichi didn't feel sleepy at all. Maybe it was because of the creepy phone call, or maybe it was because Kanda and her were still on bad terms, or maybe it was because she had something to give to Kanda but there was just no way she was going to give him something until he apologized.

Lavi annoyed them both of about tell him what exactly happened, but neither wanted to say. Eventually they were pulled into watching yet another movie—this time, some sappy romantic comedy to celebrate the day. For some reason, her cousin conked out halfway through the movie, his forehead pressed on the table while his snores penetrated the air.

She reached over to take the remote—since she hadn't been paying attention to the movie anyway—and accidentally brushed Kanda's arm.

He turned to look at her, though, his expression was one of acute disgust for he had been watching the screen with fascinated horror. "What?" he asked, tone slightly irritated though his expression relaxed a bit.

"Nothing," she grumbled back, pressing the off button.

He didn't seem like he was going to tempt to apologize when they just sat in silence save for Lavi's snores. Feeling slightly annoyed, she pushed herself out of the kotatsu, but he caught her by the arm.

"You're being unreasonable," Kanda glared, pulling her down roughly. She almost fell on him, but he was still gripping her arm.

"I'm unreasonable?" she echoed, narrowing her eyes.

"You fucking kneed me in the balls—" he scowled. "I'm crippled and shit."

"You asked for it," she retorted. "You laughed at me!"

"I didn't laugh." Okay, maybe he snickered, but he didn't laugh. That was just gay.

"You most certainly did," she insisted. "You sounded like you were dying with all the coughs—"

"See, I didn't laugh," he repeated stubbornly.

"You did."

"I did not."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Ye—fuck," Kanda muttered running his fingers through his hair exasperatedly, knowing that he had fallen for this stupid trick more than once. "Woman, why the hell are you so difficult?"

"Because you have no empathy to my feelings, jerk!"

"What do you mean by that?" He narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "You didn't want to sleep with me and I didn't force you to!"

Abruptly, Reiichi averted her eyes. "Did you…" she mumbled suddenly, "Did you….really want to…"

Despite not being able to finish the sentence, Kanda roughly guessed what she was talking about. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because…" she sighed, retracting her arm back from his loose grip to fiddle with her fingers. "Are you…are you disappointed?"

Kanda didn't say anything for a while. "You…" he sighed, and then rapped her head, earning a flinch. "You're thinking too much, as usual, idiot."

"I can't help it," she huffed, staring at the table. "I…I've never done anything like this before…and…and..." her cheeks steadily grew redder upon remembering what happened yesterday. "A-and…" she flushed darker when she heard a cough beside her. "You're laughing at me again," she accused angrily.

A few coughs subsided. "I'm not," Kanda denied, rolling his eyes. "Like I said, you're thinking too much—" then his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he snatched her arm towards him again.

"What are you—"

He frowned, and breathed in deeply. Then he frowned deeper and leaned closer to her hand, taking a sniff. "You smell like that fucking asshole."

Reiichi noted the flat accusory tone. "He came to the office in the morning," she said, watching his expression go darker. "He told me who was behind the letters."

At that, Kanda stiffened.

"Why couldn't you tell me?" she asked simply.

"I…I was going to," Kanda defended, dropping her arm. "Now you know it's her…and…fuck, I still don't know what she's trying to do," he muttered, glaring at the table. "You're going to get into some fucked up shit and—"

"Kanda…" she smiled gently, taking his hand. "I'll be alright—"

"No, you won't," he scowled deeper, and a furrow was deep upon his face.

Suddenly the atmosphere around them just plummeted—her slight irritation at him had vanished upon his obviously frustrated demeanor, and everything just felt darker.

"Mikk told me she was targeting you, though," she spoke up, unconsciously tightening her hold on his hand.

"Me?" he glanced at her, blinking. "Why the fuck would she..." he trailed off when theories he didn't want to accept passed through his mind. "Did that fucker say anything else?"

"No, not really…he left pretty quickly."

Kanda lapsed into silent thinking, and the air just felt unnerving.

"About Lulubell…" Reiichi began cautiously, watching his expression, "Is she…"

"I don't know," he answered curtly.

Reiichi flinched a bit at his sharp tone which clearly signaled that he didn't want to talk about it. "Oh okay," she mumbled quietly, retracting her hand from his.

Sometimes it was just unfair how Kanda wanted her to tell him everything when he didn't want to do the same. He trusted her, didn't he? Why was it whenever it was about the Noah, he tended to react more aggressively or clam up more than usual?

Kanda glanced at her side profile, noticing the obvious disappointment and hurt that reflected in her hunched posture. Vaguely he wondered why she didn't yell at him or demand anything—and then he realised she never pushed him to tell her anything he didn't want.

Not with his childhood. Not with Lulubell.

He curled his fist, unable to stop the sudden guilt that overwhelmed him. With a deep breath, he dug into his pocket and took out a box, placing it on the table. She didn't seem to notice, so he pushed it in front of her.

Her head snapped up to look at him with surprise, but she didn't make a move to take it. Was he giving her a gift? Or was she just hoping for nothing?

"Open it," he grumbled when she just stared.

With slightly trembling fingers she lifted the cover. A silver watch sat neatly in the middle. It had a small face, rather delicate if she did say so herself, with the bracelet in some sort of a weave pattern. It looked entirely sleek, and the brand name Cartier was printed in small font on the face of the watch.

She didn't even want to know how expensive this was.

Kanda started to feel uncomfortable when she just kept silent staring at the watch—he personally could not tell whether she liked it or not considering her facial expression just conveyed surprise, shock, surprise, and more shock. He felt slightly disgruntled.

"Usagi said you were bitching about time lately—" he started when the silence grew unsettling, "and something about how you rejected all the watches he shoved at you," distractedly, he noticed her reaching up to touch the chain on her neck he gave her last year with a daze, "and it was getting fucking annoying, so—"

His breath just faltered when she curled her bottom lip and nibbled it, like she didn't know what to do. Her eyes just shimmered softly, and a small gentle smile was creeping on the edge of her lips.

"It's better than anything your stupid cousin tried to choose," he added in just to break the quietness.

"Thank you," she whispered finally, voice conveying the actual emotion of happiness.

"Quit smiling like that," Kanda grumbled when she just sat there smiling to herself. "It's creepy like the Moyashi."

"Shut up, Kanda," she scowled slightly, though she was still beaming with a bashful tint. "I…I actually made chocolate for you—"

"Don't want it—"

"But I figured you would say that," she continued, taking a box she had hid underneath the kotatsu. "So…here."

Curious, Kanda peered at a colourful mass of hair ties coiled in the box. "You're giving me pieces of string?"

"Don't put it like that," she elbowed him, grumbling. "I plaited them. I've noticed the stretchy ones you use seem to break quite easily, so I thought maybe you'd like to use these instead…" she averted her eyes. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I just couldn't think of anything else that you couldn't buy with your own money and—"

"—And you talk too much," he finished, rolled his eyes, pocketing her present.

He didn't say a word of thanks, but she smiled at him anyway. I guess that's why people like to celebrate Valentine's day, she thought, watching the slightly embarrassed demeanor of her boyfriend's. Her own heartbeat was beating too fast for it to be normal, and her cheeks felt too warm for it to be due to the heat from the kotatsu.

Then, she remembered.

Happy Valentine's Day, Rei.

This time, she would tell him about it before he found out.

"Kanda…" she began quietly, and he glanced at her, noting the sudden serious tone. "Today…" she continued uneasily. "I had some creepy phone call."

Kanda paused, and then frowned. Why is it that when he just leaves her alone for one fucking day, so much shit happens? Was this some Lulubell shit again?

"The speaker…had your voice."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"He can imitate your voice," she explained. "I don't know who it is, since it was from an unknown number."

Fucking creepy. "What did…whoever it was say?"

"Well, at first he was pretending to be you, saying that you came to pick me up from work—which I thought was unlikely considering you were still sulking—" she said thoughtfully.

"I wasn't sulking," he interrupted immediately. "It fucking hurt."

"Sorry," she smiled slightly.

He looked at her flatly. "No, you're not."

"I'm not," she agreed. "Anyway…he just said things that you would never, that's all."

"Like what?"

"Um…" she looked away uneasily, "Mushy…stuff," she coughed, suddenly feeling awkward. "Well, it's late and nothing else happened and it's actually the day after Valentine's day now, so it doesn't really matter," she quickly continued. "Help me wake Lavi up—I need to cart him to the bedroom—"

Kanda rolled his eyes, pulling her down when she attempted to leave. "What exactly did he say?"

"Um…some terms of endearment…" she answered reluctantly when he didn't seem to be letting go. "And uh, you—I mean, he…wished me…" she trailed off.

The male model could roughly guess, and he leaned closer, gazing intently. "You want me to say it," he observed bluntly.

"No!" she quickly protested. "I…I do," she nodded reluctantly when he just gave her a pointed look. "But, I know you won't, and..."

He hadn't expected her to hug him tightly around the waist so suddenly. Her hands were slightly shaking through the fabric of his shirt that she gripped, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He wasn't quite sure whether to hug back or not, feeling heat rise to his neck involuntarily.

"And…I don't need you to say it," she mumbled. "This is…this is enough."

The mere touch of his body against hers was electrifyingly thrilling. It was always so warm, so comfortable, so Kanda, that she never wanted to let go. She was breathing unevenly, and her heartbeat was pounding in a jarringly off rhythm. It wasn't possible, but it skipped even more when she felt him place a hand on the back on her head, and the other, snaked around her waist.

"Why do you guys always do this kind of stuff when you think I'm sleeping?"

They practically jumped out of the kotastu in shock at the sudden intrusion of voice. Lavi scowled, peering up at them.

"Not cool, guys. Not cool."

When Lavi said that he would stop meddling with Allena, he didn't exactly say he was going to pull out a hundred percent. He stopped bothering Allen—but he was still unhappy to know Allen didn't want to have any man talks about his problem—and Lenalee was just being mean to him.

Maybe it was because she knew he would stick into her business once he found out what exactly she was doing. Secretly, he could bet that all of them knew he was the most intelligent one of them all— he only acted stupid around them. Maybe that was the truth, or maybe it wasn't. Who knew.

Anyway, he was glad to know that Lenalee had returned home—he spotted her entering Komui's office with a cup of office as per normal. Then again, if the shrieks of LENALEE! were back, it meant that the Lee siblings were back.

Unfortunately, he had hoped Komui would've done something to Reggory—like maybe, kill him or something—but it didn't happen. He highly doubted Komui accepted the lying ass, but it seemed like the CEO wasn't breaking his precious sister's relationship up.

He didn't trust Reggory at all. The man still looked sneaky and gave him a bad feeling. He could tell that Lenalee actually did like the guy—but then again, she was young and naïve and would've fallen for any guy who flattered and showered so much attention on her. He was concerned, and rightly so, thus the moment he knew by not eavesdropping that Lenalee and Reggory were going on some sort of date to celebrate a belated Valentine's day and an early Lenalee's birthday over the weekend, he knew he had to tag along just in case.

He did consider asking Allen to come along, but it would've been considered as meddling, so that was a no. However, he had two other companions anyway.

"Yuu! Yuu-chan!"

"What the fuck are you doing, you freak?" Kanda shouted angrily, trying to shove his ex-best friend out of his room. "Get out!

On Kanda's bed lay a bunch of clothes Lavi had tossed from the closet, and Kanda Yuu didn't like mess.

"But I'm just trying to choose your clothes for today!" the redhead whined, fighting against the half-naked model who had just stepped out of the shower after the morning kendo workout. Actually, if he just pulled the towel from his best friend's waist, it would've been sort of like a nude photoshoot.

"What the hell for?" the potential nude model demanded.

"You're bringing Rei-chan on a date!" Lavi announced happily, somehow managing to wrestle Kanda to the ground. Well, he did have an advantage since he was purposely tugging on the towel.

"Since when?—quit trying to pull the towel you fucker!"

"Since now," the redhead grinned. "I told her that we're going to the zoo today, and we need a ride."

"Go take a fucking taxi," Kanda retorted, trying to kick Lavi off him. "Get the fuck of me and quit touching me!"

"Yuu-chan! Yuu-chan! Yuu-chan!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" he roared, frustrated when Lavi kept pulling at his towel. He was a model and damn, he knew his body was awesome, but it was fucking creepy to be nude in a room with someone who looked like he was going to rape you.

"Fine," Lavi pouted. "Katou!"

Kanda's glare immediately darkened. "You call me that one more fucking time, I'll—"

"What? What did you say?" the other grinned, gesturing to the windowstill where he had brought his beloved cactus along. "I couldn't hear you over my love for Katou-cha."

"YOU—"

"Er…." Reiichi started, peering toward the ajar door with apprehension. She had heard the shouts and screams clearly and wondered if someone was dying. She wasn't expected to see a fully clothed Lavi straddling an almost naked Kanda on the floor. "Are you…raping him?"

"Nah, Katou here is just—"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Katou?" Reiichi blinked. "Like, Gantz Katou?"

Lavi stared for a moment. "You read Gantz?"

"What the fuck is that shit?" Kanda frowned.

"It's blood, violence, gore…and sex," the male redhead replied nonchalantly. Then, his jaw dropped and he quickly scrambled off Kanda and yanked the door wide open, shaking his cousin's shoulders. "Oh my god, your innocence!"

"What the hell," Kanda scowled, picking himself off the floor. "You watch porno?"

"I don't watch pornography!" Reiichi flushed brilliantly, horrified. "Gantz is a manga!"

"It's just a hentai manga," Lavi grinned.

"It is not! It's shounen!" she insisted, huffing. "I just read it because Haru wanted to watch the live action movie and I wanted to know what the storyline was about first—stop giving me that look!" she snapped. "Both of you!"

"What? What look?" Lavi blinked not so innocently, waggling his eyebrows.

Reiichi frowned at her cousin, and then she distractingly noticed Kanda was standing there in just a towel. "N-nothing," she grounded out, turning on her heel to walk away. "Let's go, Lavi."

"Wait for us, Rei-chan!" her cousin shouted at her retreating back. "Yuu is coming too!"

"I'm not!" Kanda growled, kicking his door close and shoving his closet open.

"Yeah, you are," the male redhead leaned against the back of the door and grinned slyly. "Hey Yuu, you wanna let her walk out in that? Where everyone will be staring at her? Are you sure you wanna do that to Rei-chan?"

Lavi totally noticed the sudden stiff pause of the other. Oh yeah, he smirked, because he obviously noticed how Kanda hadn't been looking at Reiichi's face when she came in, but instead was staring at her thighs all the way—because she had been wearing a short skirt and stockings, revealing a strip of enticingly pale flesh.

"It's a weekend," Lavi continued, commenting flippantly. "And the zoo would be pretty crowded, so I won't be surprised if some guy kept looking at her, and it'd be a real shame if you only saw her in that for a few seconds since she would change out of it the moment we get back and—"

What the fuck? How the fuck did Lavi know about—fuck, the rabbit knew everything about him, especially to a creepy as fuck degree.

Kanda scowled at the knowing smirk.

He was so fucking screwed.

Somehow, Kanda found himself standing grumpily in the middle of a sizeable weekend crowd at the zoo. The only source of comfort he had was that people didn't recognize him, and that was only because of what he wore. He grouchily tugged at the hoodie he wore over his button up shirt and his inky jeans. The Vans upon his feet kicked at the ground with slight irritation as he pushed the black framed spectacles up upon the bridge of his nose.

Okay, maybe another source of comfort was how Reiichi kept sneaking glances at him during times she thought he wasn't looking.

He still didn't get why she liked the stupid piece of plastic that had absolutely no use to him whatsoever, but well, it helped in his disguise and her reactions were entertaining to watch.

Reiichi sort of understood why Kanda had to wear those frames—but it was just so…unfair that she wanted to kick him. It was odd to see him having his hair hidden under a beanie too, and that coupled with attire he usually never wore equaled to a short haired cute, geeky Kanda that tugged at her heartstrings.

Maybe it was payback for what she was wearing—in her defense, she hadn't known Kanda was coming along. Emilia had given her the current short skirt she was wearing as her Valentine's gift (with the obvious implication implied), and she just thought to wear it since winter was ending soon and the air was warmer than usual.

It was just a bit shorter than what she was used to, and it looked good with over the knee socks—she really didn't purposely intend to carry out zettai ryouiki. Really.

She wouldn't have ever noticed Kanda having any sort of fetish if she wasn't told about it—but because she knew, she observed how he kept looking down, not at her face.

"Kanda?"

He snapped up to meet her eyes, coughing lowly in his throat trying to pretend he wasn't doing something rather perverted. "What?"

"Lavi's waving us over," she informed him, walking towards the excited bunny jumping near the entrance with tickets in hand.

He watched her go, eyes immediately trailing down back to her legs.

"Kanda?"

He blinked, realising that she had turned back again and titled her head.

"Are you coming?"

He just nodded, because his throat was kind of dry and… and Lavi was smirking not so subtly at him as he neared. Fuck.

"Alright! Let's go, children!" Lavi grinned, slinging an arm around both their necks and patting the beret Reiichi wore on her head to cover her recognizable red hair.

"Why the hell are we here?" Kanda grumbled, pushing his glasses up again.

"Because Rei-chan likes animals," the redhead replied as they passed through the entrance. "And well, we've gotta watch Reggory in case he does something horrible to Lena-chan."

Reiichi rolled her eyes. "They've been on dates alone before—you're being meddlesome again."

"Am I?" he frowned.

"Yes," she answered bluntly. "I still think you're doing something unneeded, and I don't know how you're going to find them in this crowd."

"Easy," Lavi blinked, thumbing behind him. "They're there."

Indeed, just a short distance away, the couple of Reggory and Lenalee in date clothes were looking at the map with much concentration.

"How did you—" Kanda stared disbelievingly. "Nevermind."

"Lavi," Reiichi narrowed her eyes seriously. "Don't you dare disturb their outing. If you want to watch, just watch, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lavi sniffed, and then grinned. "I won't disturb your date either."

"We're not—"

The male redhead suddenly ducked his head in panic. "Quick! Rei-chan! Hold Yuu's hand!"

"What?"

"Don't look!" he whispered furiously, turning all of them around. "Lena-chan is looking suspiciously in this direction— just do something that you guys usually don't do—grab his hand!"

"Er…" Reiichi craned her neck. "But they're not looking at us. They're walking off towards the left."

Lavi pouted. "How did you guess?"

"Because it was fucking stupid," Kanda answered reasonably, pushing the arm off his shoulder violently.

"Huh," the male redhead frowned, unhappy that whatever he had hoped hadn't worked. "Come on. You're dating Rei-chan, aren't you? Why can't you just hold her hand?" he grumbled, kicking the floor. "Look, no one here has recognized you guys yet—it's fine, isn't it?"

"You're gonna take some crappy photo," the model scowled, narrowing his eyes at the camera that was slung on the photographer's neck.

Lavi rolled his eye. "So? But Lena-chan and Reggory are doing it! And so are all the couples around you!"

Kanda merely gave him a look which he interpreted to be shut the fuck up because I don't give a damn.

"Yuu—" Lavi stopped suddenly realizing the absence of his cousin. "Hey, where's Rei-chan?" he looked around and spotted his dear cousin walking off with her gaze in the map in her hands.

Then he turned back to his best friend—who obviously wasn't paying much attention to him as the other stared at something.

"She's got Grade A down to pat, doesn't she?" Lavi commented, smiling.

Kanda scowled, though his face turned slightly pink. "Shut up."

"Let's go, my dear boy!" the redhead grinned, jumping excitedly after Reiichi in the distance. "Come on, Rei-chan, let's just follow Lena since I think they're just going to follow the route!"

"Okay," Reiichi nodded, trailing a finger to where the said route was. "I think the first one's the Panda enclosure."

"Pandas, huh," Lavi snickered. "I've got to take a photo of them for the old man."

"Bookman will just throw the picture back at you," she replied, shaking her head, but a smile was wide on her lips. It was obvious that she was excited about seeing the animals. "Let's go."

Lavi turned his head towards the lagging model behind (lagging doing what exactly?) and smirked knowingly. "Yuu, hurry up!"

"It's so cute!"

"Isn't it? Oh look! It's looking at us again!"

Kanda rolled his eyes and tapped his feet impatiently on the ground. For nearly two hours he had endured the continuous 'cute' comments whenever they entered a new enclosure—honestly, how the fuck was any of the stupid animals they were looking at considered cute?

Seriously.

How could that…that…thing with beady eyes and scaly skin—Kanda was quite sure he was sane, because the other two were cooing over a snake. Boiga irregularis, a brown tree snake. It didn't even look remotely badass or cool and it was definitely not cute.

"Awwwww."

"How the hell is that cute?" he snapped, tired of hearing Lavi fawn over the small creature.

"But it is," Reiichi replied, still staring at the reptile.

"Yup," Lavi agreed, lifting his camera to take a photo.

Kanda scowled, walking over the empty bench at the side of the viewing enclosure to sit, since he figured the redheads wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. The couple they—I mean, Lavi—was stalking had already moved on. Lenalee and Reggory acted pretty much like a normal couple, nothing scandalous or whatever Lavi had hoped.

Come to think of it, Kanda still hadn't figured out why he was trailing after the relatives. He didn' t really give a damn to animals, to be glanced towards the other two once more.

She's leaning too far forward, he thought with a growl, noticing the skirt shorten with the movement, and he narrowed his eyes toward some guy who had glanced in Reiichi's direction—Fuck off. So what if she was wearing a short skirt? It didn't mean those fucking assholes had to look.

"Kanda?"

He jerked his gaze up again in haste. "What?"

Reiichi looked at him with a bit of concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

Shit. He hoped she hadn't picked up on his staring. "I'm fine," he stated. "Whatever."

"Lavi went to get a drink," she said. "Wait here for a moment—I want to get something too."

Absently he nodded and she went off towards some cart with a vendor…and walked back holding a cone. Ice cream. He should have known.

"Here," she smiled, offering the weird wasabi coloured cream cone.

"I don't want it."

"It's matcha."

She looked at him expectantly like that was the answer to everything, in which he gave her a flat look in return. Sighing, she sat beside him in defeat and licked the cone, quietly eating the dessert. There was nothing else to do while they waited for Lavi, so Kanda found himself looking at her lap—trust him, there was really nothing else to do.

Her fingers were on the edge of her high socks, and she tugged at it absently, adjusting the length. The skirt rode slightly higher since she sat down, so Reiichi probably didn't even realize what she was doing by patting the fabric down, occasionally brushing over the revealed section of her skin.

He never noticed how fair her skin was until today—because it contrasted quite nicely with the black stockings. And also how slim her thighs were…but maybe that was because she was too skinny. Perhaps he should feed her more.

"Did he get lost?"

Damn. Why did he want to touch her thigh so badly? Her cool skin would feel great beneath his palms. Especially now that he was bored and needed something to distract himself and—

"Kanda?" Reiichi touched his arm, halting the creeping movement of his hand.

"What?" he grounded out, frustrated that he was so close—

"Haven't you heard a single word I was saying?" she asked, taking a last bite out of the wafer cone.

"No," he answered honestly.

"I said Lavi's taking a long time," she repeated, chewing the last of the dessert thoughtfully. "Do you think he got lost?"

"He probably went to stalk Lenalee and her shitty excuse for a lover," he replied.

Reiichi frowned at his choice of words, but nodded slowly. "So…should we just continue?" At his silence, she prodded on. "Well, which animal do you want to see? Do you have a favourite animal?"

"I don't really like any."

"Hmm," she hummed, already expecting his answer. "Let's go then!" she grinned, pulling him up from the bench.

Kanda raised an eyebrow, curious as to why she suddenly became so enthusiastic. He trailed after her as she weaved through the crowd with her head in the map, and finally when they came across a huge sign board—he understood why.

Petting Zoo.

"Come on," she beamed, grabbing his hand and dragging him in excitedly.

"Yes! That's it Rei-chan! Hold his hand! Don't let go!" Lavi grinned to himself, creeping behind some bushes at the corner with his camera in hand.

Kanda let himself be dragged, since he figured she wasn't going to take no for an answer anyway. The place was crowded with children, and he nearly squashed one when the small kid ran into him. He glared at the child as much as he could before he was pulled further in without a word. At the corner of his eye, he distractedly noted that Lenalee and Reggory were in the same place, crouching where the miniature donkeys were.

He wasn't sure if Reiichi noticed—considering she was highly focused on buying food from the kiosk to feed the animals around. However, he was pretty sure she was holding his hand on purpose, because she entwined her fingers with his and gripped tightly, not looking at him once.

She led him towards a less crowded area—much to his relief—and stopped in front of a wooden fence where the sheep were located. Smiling, she held out several food pellets in her hand, and they were quickly stolen by a large fluffy one.

"Here," she turned to him, placing some food in his free hand. "Feed them some."

"It's going to bite my hand off," Kanda muttered, eyeing the gathering of sheep who belatedly loudly upon realizing food was present.

"It won't," she chuckled.

"It is," he insisted, glaring at one of the sheep who started to sniff at his hand.

She rolled her eyes, and grabbed his wrist, shoving his hand through the opening.

Kanda nearly had a heart attack. "What the f—" he grimaced when the evil sheep he was glaring at used its tongue and licked the pellets off his hand. Eww.

Reiichi snickered underneath her palm, grinning. Reaching out, she petted the same sheep on the head, marveling at the soft wool beneath her fingers. "You're so cute," she gushed, eyes sparkling with glee.

The male model snorted. "It's disgusting," he grumbled, staring at his infected hand.

"That's it…!" Lavi furiously pressed the button of his camera, hoping that he was pressing fast enough to create a gif image of his best friend curling his hand around his cousin's. "Yuu, be a man! Don't you dare drop it!"

He took a few more pictures until Reiichi pulled Kanda off into another direction, and the model reluctantly followed with an eye roll. It was always so incredible to watch them when they thought no one was looking—why did they always have to act differently when they were alone? Couldn't they do the same when he was around?

It was a good thing that he managed to convince both of them to come—if not, they'd be missing out on this awesome date that they had him to thank for.

He shifted his attention back to Lenalee and Reggory who was at the other corner oblivious to the fact that their colleagues were in the exact same place. It was getting a bit boring watching them, because nothing out of the ordinary happened—they held hands, and err, did dating things. Nothing that his best friend and cousin would've done, but still considered normal among normal dating couples.

He tried to watch Reggory in case the other groped Lenalee or something, but his hands were always either around her waist or on her back, never straying too low. It was frustrating, since he was waiting for an excuse to punch the asshole.

Huh.

Lenalee looked happy/excited/giggly or whatever normal girls were when they were on a date. However, he spotted her staring off in the distance once, like she was thinking of something else, only to be interrupted by Reggory. She shook her head, and smiled back at her boyfriend. It was only one time that he caught Lenalee spacing out, but it seemed to mean something.

He wondered what it was.

Kanda refrained from rolling his eyes off as he watched his girlfriend cuddle a spotted rabbit. Okay, maybe he could agree that the small creatures this time were…cute, or at least, a normal definition of cute—not to him, of course—but did she have to smile like it was the best damn thing that ever existed?

Come on, he was the best damn thing that happened to the world.

Reiichi rubbed the animal in her arms behind the ears, heart melting at the adorable sight of the bundle of fur curling comfortably. She loved cute things, and she would have kept a pet if it wasn't so much trouble. It was also a plus point to see Kanda interacting—reluctantly, of course—with animals, since he practically looked like he was being hypothetically forced to hypothetically cut his hair.

It was kind of funny.

She held out the rabbit and pressed it towards him. "Hold it."

"What?" he snapped his head up again, for he wasn't listening—cough, cough.

She just pushed the rabbit into his hands. Kanda didn't have a choice but to take it—or he could let the blasted thing drop dead to the floor—and he held it unsurely. If he just squeezed a little more, maybe the bugger would crack and die or some gory effect…thing…

"Stop glaring at it like it has offended you," Reiichi shook her head exasperatedly.

"Che." It offended him by existing.

She guided his hand to place it on his shoulder, which the rabbit seemed to take a great liking to—especially how it twitched its nose in his direction and what the fuck—it licked him!

"No, no, hold it there," she insisted when he shoved the animal back at her.

"Rei…" he growled, but then he noticed something else. "Why are you blushing like hell?"

Reiichi flushed at the direct question, wanting to knock her head on something hard. Did he have to be so blunt all the time?

"Because you look…cute."

And she was speaking the truth. Fine, Kanda did look cute more often than she liked to admit—especially when he yawned—wait, her thoughts were digressing. But it was just something about how he looked so hesitant at something so small and harmless and cute. Maybe it was the spectacles. Or how his front bangs stuck out from under the beanie.

Unfortunately, Kanda never thought the same way.

"What the hell?" he grumbled, trying to find a way to put the damn animal down. "Why of all fucking things do you think I'm cute?"

"It's a compliment," she scowled, turning redder.

"It's insulting," he retorted, heaving a sigh of relief when she took the rabbit back.

She turned her attention back to the animal, fawning over it, ignoring him in the process. He scoffed, crossing his arms. It was truly inconceivable how a man like him of twenty one—coming twenty two—years of age could be considered cute. Most inappropriate description ever.

Why couldn't she describe him as something else?

He was good looking, his body was attractive—hell, he in general, was awesome. He was Kanda fucking Yuu—except Reiichi didn't care, and probably would never care.

Huh.

He glanced at her, and she was still cooing over the creature. Vaguely he wondered how long more they would be in the zoo before they could go home—he eyed the edge of her skirt unconsciously. How come she never wore stuff like that when they were alone? There was just too many fucking people around here, and—

"Kanda."

And he wanted to run his fingers over it so bad—

"Kanda!"

He growled in his throat, but he quickly looked up in case she noticed. "What?"

Reiichi wasn't looking at him though. "The boy sitting on that bench…" she started, glancing toward her left for a second, "That's Allen, isn't it?"

The said boy was shuffling his feet on the ground as a young goat rubbed its head on his lap. He looked like he was busy being entertained by the animal, but the side glances toward where Lenalee and Reggory were were too much of a hint, even if his hair was brown in colour.

Kanda grunted in affirmation.

"You don't seem very surprised," Reiichi commented.

"If he wants to watch Lenalee like a love sick puppy, let him do it," he stated. "It's none of our damn business."

"I…I'm going to talk to him," Reiichi decided after a while of painful observation.

"And do what?" Kanda raised an eyebrow. "Comfort him? Yeah right."

She elbowed him for the sarcastic tone. "It's just…sometimes I think about them and I think about us…and I wonder if we would've turned out differently," she answered quietly. "When I…told you I liked you, I didn't ever think that you would like me back," she explained. "And what if you didn't? Would we be where they are now?"

Whenever she thought about Allen and Lenalee, she would always be reminded that one could not choose who to fall in love with—she was extremely lucky to have Kanda Yuu love her back, and she would treasure him, all the more.

"The Moyashi's problem is different," Kanda said eventually.

"Maybe…" she replied and took a deep breath, setting the rabbit back into its cage. "I'll be back."

Kanda didn't stop her and watched her trot off towards the kid. Damn, now he really had nothing to do.

Reiichi still felt slightly unsure whether this was really Allen, since she was too used to seeing a crop of snow white hair. As she got closer she spotted his pentacle scar beneath his long fringe. Allen didn't seem to notice her even when she sat on the bench, assuming she was a stranger—and he nearly yelped off the bench when she touched him.

"Allen, it's just me," she smiled gently.

"Oh," Allen blinked sheepishly. "Reiichi. Hi," then he paused for a moment. "If you're here, then…"

"Kanda's there," she cocked her head towards where the male model was leaning against some fence with great boredom. Kanda immediately sniffed and glared at him—to which Allen returned an equally creepy tight grin. "Lavi is…he sort of ditched us some time ago."

Allen couldn't help the sigh of relief. "How did you know it was me?" he asked curiously, touching his brown hair.

"Just a feeling," she responded. "What happened to your hair?"

"I dyed it back," he answered, almost depressingly. "Shishou's been bitching about it for ages—I got sick of it."

Oh. It actually never crossed her mind that his white hair wasn't natural.

Reiichi nodded, even though it was such an obvious lie. "Allen…" she began softly, fiddling with her own fingers. "If you want to talk to someone that isn't Kanda, or Lavi," she added in as an afterthought. "I'm here for you."

He had offered the same thing to her before—and even if she didn't take it up, she could do the same for him.

Allen sighed, flicking his bangs out of his eyes. "I…I don't know what to do anymore," he admitted, plucking at his gloves. "And I don't even know what I'm doing now either." He kicked at the ground. "Komui told me to keep an eye out for her but…but I think I did it because I…I just…" he trailed off.

Reiichi placed a hand on his shoulder, unsmiling at his demeanor.

"I just couldn't help it. It hurts so much. But I…I love her more than anything and…" he continued. "I would be happy if she was happy. That's enough."

Was it? Was it really enough?

"But Lenalee isn't even talking to me anymore…and I don't know what I did. We were fine until…until that day," he mumbled. "It seems like I'm not important to her anymore."

"I…don't know what Lenalee is doing," Reiichi confessed. "But I do not believe that she has forgotten about you."

Allen smiled, almost sadly. "What am I supposed to do now?"

It took a while before Reiichi found something to say. "Don't give up."

As Reiichi and Allen were deep in conversation, Kanda took the chance to stride over to Lenalee. He didn't really care about Reggory and thus basically ignored his existence when he yanked on Lenalee's arm.

She was about to scream when she blinked disbelievingly. "…Ka…Kanda-kun?" she gaped, looking at him up and down for a few moment.

Kanda did not like the fact of being reminded that he was wearing whatever he was wearing.

Reggory turned to him, but Kanda just glared at the other before he could say anything.

"Lenalee," he lowered his voice, staring flatly. "You're not fucking blind, are you?"

Lenalee looked uneasily at the side. "Are you here alone?" she asked, trying to change the topic.

"With Rei," he answered curtly. "Answer my question, Lenalee."

Reggory looked uncertainly at the duo. "Lena…"

"Give us a moment, Reg," she forced a smile and pulled Kanda a distance away.

Seeing that the male model looked at the end of his non-existent impatience, she reluctantly sighed. "I'm not blind."

"Then you should know that you're being too harsh on the kid," he snapped. "You have no fucking idea how much he—"

"I know! I do know!" she interrupted him heatedly.

"If you really knew, you wouldn't be such a fucking bitch to him!" he growled back. "If the brat commits fucking suicide over this—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" she hissed. "I've never wanted to hurt Allen but I…I-I can't look at him anymore! It hurts so much when he looks at me that I—"

"You're being a coward," he stated suddenly.

"I—"

Kanda glared right back at her with disappointed eyes, turning on his heel. "I never took you for one."

"Where the hell did you guys go?" Lavi demanded as he watched his favourite couple near the exit.

He had stalked them enough to know what exactly they had been doing for the past day—Reiichi, looking at the animals, Kanda, looking at something else—and finally decided it was time to call them and head out for dinner.

"You were the one to ditch us," Reiichi replied, rolling her eyes.

"That was not my intent," her cousin argued, though it was clearly a lie. "I just gave you guys more space—since it's rare that Yuu takes you out on a date."

Kanda who wasn't paying much attention as he trailed after Reiichi looked up as his name was called. "What?"

"Nothin' Yuu," Lavi smirked with a knowing eye. "Nothin'. I'm just wondering if you can drop me off in town after dinner. I've gotta stock up on some ink."

"Why can't you just use normal pens like every other fucking person?" Kanda demanded, grumbling.

"I don't know," Lavi shrugged. "Ask Panda. Anyway, quills are kinda kickass to write with—it makes me feel like I'm in Harry Potter."

"But in Harry Potter, the quills are self-refilling," Reiichi put in.

"Barry Botter, whatever," Kanda sniffed. "We're not in it, freak."

"Where's your imagination?" Lavi huffed. "I swear, with your kind of attitude, you'd be in Slytherin," and then he grinned creepily. "Mind if I Slytherin your car?"

Reiichi almost laughed. Almost, because it was such a bad joke.

"What the fuck is a Slither-in?"

"Come on, Yuu," Lavi sniffed. "You've watched like, all the movies with me before and the last time I made a Harry Potter joke you nearly cut my head off!"

"Did I?"

Then again, Kanda has tried one too many times to cut his head off, so maybe the other wasn't sure which incident it was. Oh well, Lavi could always remind him again.

"Wanna make some magic together?" he smirked. "My wand is at the ready."

At least Reiichi had the decency to flush. "Lavi!"

Her cousin ignored her, glomping Kanda around the neck. "One night with me, baby," he grinned, "And they'll be calling you Moaning Myrtle."

"What the f—"

"Have you heard of platform nine and three quarters?" Lavi continued, having way too much fun with the confused look on the model. "Well, I can think of something else with the exact same measurements," he gave a pointed look towards his own crotch.

Reiichi shook her head, walking off ahead of them, clearly embarrassed to be in their presence.

"I don't know a thing about Merlin's pants," Lavi whispered, "But I'd love to get into your—OW!"

"Fuck, shut up," Kanda scowled, rubbing his temple, having some not so nice memories flood his mind. "Did you just, hit on me?" he grimaced in such a horrified fashion like it was the first time Lavi ever tried something like that (it wasn't).

"I bet you want to try them on Rei-chan," the male redhead grinned, and dodged a swipe. "But first you have to actually look at her face when you ask the question. Just saying."

The car ride home was torturous. For Kanda, at least. He had to drive—which meant that his eyes had to be on the road—but his gaze kept straying down. Fuck.

She was definitely doing everything on purpose. Definitely.

Why did she have to keep adjusting her socks?

Reiichi wasn't oblivious—it got quite obvious that Kanda kept staring at her legs after he kept zoning out in her direction, not paying attention to his surroundings. She honestly hadn't expected him to be so attracted to his fetish, and it was getting harder to pretend like she didn't feel his eyes on her when she walked.

It was flattering, but at the same time, it was tripping her heartbeat to a rapid pace that she didn't feel comfortable with.

It also didn't help when he was still wearing that stupid stupid pair of spectacles that she, ugh, was going crazy trying not to think so much about it. I mean, it was for his disguise, and so what if he actually looked incredibly good in it?

Absently she trained her eyes hard out of the window, fidgeting her fingers at the edge of her skirt.

Immediately, Kanda caught the movement with his eye and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

He hoped he wouldn't crash before he reached home.

After the agonizing car ride, he mentally heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that his driving skills had not failed him. After all, it would've stupid if he swerved just because he was looking at something else—and her skirt ruffled up when she sat down, so she was busy pulling it straight again and—

"Kanda?" Reiichi paused. "Are you coming out?"

"Y-yeah," he cursed under his breath, almost slamming his car door open in the haste to step out.

He really did not know how much more of this he could take, considering his gaze kept slipping down—like now—whenever she walked, and he nearly walked into the closed half of the front door. Fuck. Maybe he should just quickly walk—because Kanda Yuu didn't escape from things—to his room before he dragged her along—oh fuck.

"Um, Kanda…"

He wasn't supposed to sleep with her but it was just extremely tempting now. Maybe he could convince her or—

"Kanda."

—Or at least let him have a taste of that creamy white skin—

"Kanda!"

Reiichi lifted his head up to look at her face, and he blinked for a moment before it dawned upon him that she knew what he was doing. Heat involuntarily rose up his neck and he cursed the high heavens. Shit shit shit—Kanda Yuu did not get flustered over menial stupid small things—

It was not every day that she saw Kanda turn red—and it was so cute that she wanted to melt in her own feelings. His spectacles slipped down and he scowled, pushing them up, trying to pretend that he hadn't been caught staring with a perverted leer.

"W-what?" he demanded, yanking the beanie off his head and running his fingers through his hair to ease any tangles.

She didn't answer, and he made to pull off his hoodie since it was getting quite hot—only, he forgot that he was wearing glasses, and thus cursed when he realised he had to take those off first—

And that was when Reiichi couldn't stand it anymore.

Her fingers reached out, grabbed the front of his hoodie, and she practically crashed her mouth against his. There was just no way she was going to miss this chance to kiss him while he was wearing glasses—and a hoodie—because he looked so irresistibly cute and young and adorable.

She pulled back hastily, suddenly realizing she had slid her arms around his neck. "Well, um," she bit her lip, slightly mortified at her own actions. "Good night."

Before she could leave, however, Kanda gripped the back of her waist possessively, leaning further forward to speak directly in her ear.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Low, husky, full of lustful intent.

Whatever self control he had in him snapped the moment she touched him, and he tore the spectacles off from his face before leading a furious kiss. Quickly he ripped her jacket off her shoulders before cupping her jawline, advancing towards the couch in all his movements. It wasn't long before she was pushed down, and he climbed over her, making sure to rid his own hoodie in the process—it was just getting hot, hot, and hotter.

His lips ran everywhere, from her mouth, to her jaw to her neck and collarbone, and there was nothing more pleasurable than to hear her tremble and moan beneath him. He especially sucked harder on the same spot he had marked the previous time, earning a shuddering gasp. One of his hands was caressing her thigh that was propped up beside him with near reverence, and it felt a million times better than he would ever imagine—all that soft supple skin under his finger pads, and he tugged her stockings further down, stroking the revealed skin over and over again.

She in turn was leaving scratch marks on his back from the amount of desperate gripping, and needless to say it just turned him on more.

It was amazing. He could manipulate her, make her want him so much, moan more, ask for more—all through the touches that roamed beneath her shirt.

"Rei…" he whispered hotly into her ear.

He received an unintelligible moan in reply.

"Undress me."

She breathed heavily, face flushed and hair strewn messily about, only able to look back at him with half lidded eyes when he leaned back slightly.

"Undress me," he breathed against her lips once more before kissing her on the mouth, slow and intimate, till she was melting incoherently under his ministrations.

He tried to urge her to accede to his request by pleasuring her all ways he knew with his tongue, and slowly he felt her delicate fingers fumble with the first button of his shirt, one by one they became undone. His shirt slipped down past his shoulders but he didn't really care because he wasn't going to pull his hand out from her skirt just to toss it aside—that was just too much time wasted.

He didn't know how he had planned to end this without leading it on to the bed—basically, he knew he was screwed the moment she kissed him first. But it was too good to stop, and there was no fucking way he was going to stop it either, especially when he found another erogenous spot of hers. He licked the area right behind her neck at the curve of the beginning of the spinal cord, and she arched desperately into his body, whimpering.

"Ka-kan..da…"

That was the last straw, and he was prepared to carry her back to his room—hell to whatever refusal she might make, because his arousal was getting painful.

Unfortunately, being too caught up on the couch, neither of them heard the clicking of keys and the rustling of the door knob. They also didn't hear the joyous greeting coming from the doorway until the culprit dropped a box of take away pizza that he was holding.

Lavi could only summon one word.

"Woah."

Owari.

The first time Kanda laughs, he gets kneed for it lol. *pat*

Gantz: It's not hardcore sex but there is quite a bit of nudity in it. And lots of gore and violence. I believe Reiichi is the type to be quite detached about these kind of things when she reads, because she just considers them part of the story and artwork. If you like being mind fucked, you'll like Gantz.

Allen's hair is symbolic. :D

I feel like I made Kanchi make out too much in this chapter hahaha. It's still not M, I hope? Poor poor Kanda. He's just gonna snap one day. XD The next chapter will be more serious and emo and touching—and it'll probably only get written after I settle in college. I hope the beginning of term won't be too busy :)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, since I poured so much fanservice XD Writing his fetish was the funniest thing ever (and I do hope Kanda wasn't OOC—I TRY MY BEST EVERYTIME.)